Re: E34 Central locking

[Drew Mouton <drew@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Gerry,

Your problem sounds similar to some issues I recently resolved in my E34 
(92 525i).

See if this is the case: under the rear seat on the left side of the car, 
is there a supplemental fuse box? And if you remove the cover, do you 
have fuses, a handful of yellow relays, and two (or three) plastic boxes 
about the size of a paperback book?

If so, those paperback book-sized boxes are probably green (one of them) 
and black (the other one). They plug in and out, and can be easily 
removed.

The black one is a Relay Module. It has a dozen or so relays which sit 
in-line to control your windows, sunroof, locks, etc. That's likely what 
generates the 'clicking' sound you describe.

The green box is a General Module, which contains a circuit board and 
some logic to further control some of your supplemental systems.

When one or the other of those go bad, you might see the problems you're 
seeing.

In my case, I had some wacky problems I couldn't reason out (eg, all the 
driver side windows worked, the passenger side windows stopped, and at 
one point if I activated the drivers window control it made the sunroof 
go back). After beating my head against the wall for a few weeks, I 
called up Vines Automotive and had them send me tested replacements 
(pulls, which were about $150 total), I swapped them in, and instantly 
all my problems went away.

(Well...not ALL my problems...but at least those having to do with the 
car...)

Now the central locks work perfectly, as do all the window switches. 
Definitely a do it yourself-er if you're willing to take the 15 minutes 
to order from Vines (or any other aftermarket parts seller) and 30 
minutes to pull the old ones out.

Good luck? 'Course this could be nothing even related to your problem. 
But it worked for me.

Cheers,
Drew


It appears that on 12/2/2002 4:52 PM, Gerry Phillips at 
gphill03@domain.elided said:

>Hello all,
>
>I'm trying to get some ideas about a problem I'm having with my central 
>locking and electric window operation.  I'm really trying to find out if 
>the two problems are related somehow.   About two weeks ago, my 
>independent mechanic told me that my driver door wouldn't lock because I 
>need to replace the lock actuator.  The front passenger door and two rear 
>doors lock, but not the driver door.  Okay, so I figured I'll just replace 
>the actuator and get back to living a normal life again.  Now, I notice 
>when I unlock the other doors from outside, get in the car and drive off, 
>after a while the window switches lose their illumination and I can't open 
>the windows or the sunroof.  After a few minutes, the switches illuminate 
>and everything works again.  When I turn the engine off, I seem to hear a 
>very faint clicking sound that sounds like it's coming from the other 
>three doors.   Is there something that the doors and windows have in 
>common?  I'm guessing so because of the feature that allows you to lock 
>all doors and close all windows and sunroof from the outside with the key 
>turned and held to the right.  I just want to get a handle on this so I 
>can get back to my mechanic armed with some information.  Excuse my 
>ignorance if I'm simply overlooking the obvious.  This one has me 
>scratching my head. 
>
>Peace and blessings!
>
>Gerry A. Phillips
>'89 535i
>'87 325is
>BMWCCA #157658
>Peachtree Chapter/Atlanta

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