RE: <E30> Weird Headlight Problem Fixed (or is it?) <long>

["Chao, Harvey" <harvey.chao@xxxxxxxx>]

Glad to hear you tracked down the gremlin!

Now - have you checked your main and fuel pump relays lately?  What's "good"
for headlight relays can also be good for those relays, only those relays
will leave you sitting at the side of the road!  By the way, in E28s, the
main relay is unique, but the fuel pump relay can swap out with a couple of
other relays. Note that when it came down to basics, the external contacts
for the relay looked fine, but when I opened/removed the covers to look
inside at the actual relay contacts, they were dirty, oily, and pitted.  I
found that using a bench supply to power the coil and an ohmmeter to measure
contact resistance, the relay tested fine, but when installed in the car and
pulling "real" current through the relay contacts, it was intermittent.  I
cleaned and burnished the contacts and reassembled the cover and threw those
relays in the trunk as emergency spares and installed new relays.

Harvey

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