a few eletrical issues...

[scobaru]

I'm not to sure where to even start. I'm going to start out with the basics, check the switches then check if its getting power then check the motor with most of these problems.

First off I just bought the car in the horrible condition that its currently in but I've fixed a lot of cars just not one that has had all of these problems at once. So on with the issues...

1st
power mirrors don't work at all. I haven't tested anything yet

2nd
power windows don't work. I tested both motors buy manually applying power and they both go up and down. the switches work because of how the previous owner rigged it. he had constant power to the switches and in return the battery would drain. somewhere in between something isn't working, possibly a relay? I haven't looked further due to more important issues

3rd
the turn signals don't work at all. The hazards work, the bulbs will light up reverse lights, brake lights, day time running lights all of that does light the front driver was hit and that one doesn't light up I haven't looked into it any further but the clicker for the blinking does work so my guess would be the stalk? I haven't tested for the stalks yet but I'm starting to believe thats what it is.

4th
the blower motor doesn't work. its most likely the switch. the last owner rigged the blower on a switch so it got straight 12 volts ((high)) or off. I haven't tested anything too but I'm pretty sure its in the switch .

Any insight on ANY of these problems would be great. I'll try out whatever you guys have to say or else just go off of what I know and try to diagnose it my self.

does anyone have a diagram of what the fuse box lay out is? I was told to check a few fuses and relays.

thanks in advance
Dan

[DaveSmed]

Oh boy, rigged stuff. GL with that.

For one and two, first check the large connectors located in the doorjamb by the hinges. Unplug them and clean them up, see if any pins broke off.

For three, turn stalk or hazard switch warrant a close look.

Four? God only knows. resistor? switch? unloader relay? PO's creative wiring?

[Addissimo]

what year is the car?

If its a late model, your unloader relay is messed up. There is a wire on the starter, and that is either disconnected, or the relay is bad, or you have a bad connection somewhere. Do you have a bentley? If you have a problem with your unloader relay both the windows and the blower motor stop working.

Fix that, and if you can, go back to the stock wiring for the windows.

I can't help with one, because I have no experience with it, as far as three goes, I'd also guess its the stalk, or bad wiring to the stalk.

Good luck,
Addis

[scobaru]

WOW this is some good information thanks a lot guys.

I unghetto rigged everything and it wasn't to bad. For the power window IT looked like he just put direct power to the driver side window switch so it had 12volts all the time and would drain the battery because the switch lit up. So for the windows we are back to square 1.

for the Blower motor he had direct 12volts to a switch that went to number 4 for the blower motor. I checked with a multi meter the oem switch it self and its fine so most likely the switch isn't getting any power it self.

Theres 1 fuse that keeps on blowing thats a 15 amp fuse that closer to the right of the car. I'm not sure what it is I think it might be the turn signal stuff.

that unloader relay sounds a LOT like what could be the issue of the car. I'll check it out tomorrow. I do not have a bentley i'm assuming thats the book that would help me out a lot huh lol.

hazards work fine but turn signals do work so a lot of people are finger pointing to the stalk. its a pretty cheap if it isn't so I'll most likely just pick one up.

Thanks for all of your responces u don't even understand how grateful I am that somebody responded lol thanks!

[scobaru]

oops double post

[scobaru]

There isn't a lot of power getting to the relays because the fuses seem to not have ANY power. I can't find the wire that goes to the starter that triggers the relays so I'm going to have to do some creative searching for that. Relays k5 and k7 are in full working order too after i tested them.

Turn signal fuse 4 keeps on blowing I don't even know where to start with that one... That is most likely the cause of non working blinkers

[scobaru]

I'm making head way. I found the wiring diagram for the car and everything more or less goes though the hazard switch I took it out put fuse 4 in and it works! no blown fuse. it looked like someone rigged the hazard switch when I looked behind it. some soldering that doesn't look factory

theres power going to the fuse for the blower motor the relay for the blower motor works too when u put direct power to ANY of the 4 wires it will work the blower motor fuse works too. SO somewhere inbetween where the fuse sends the power to where the switch gets powered its getting lost. I think if I fix the blower motor it will fix everything else.

[DaveSmed]

You know, it's stuff like this which makes me wonder why people feel some weird urge to redo what the factory did. BMW built a perfectly functioning car, and sold it. If something stopped functioning perfectly, wouldn't it make more effing sense to figure out why and fix it instead of "fixing" it by coming up with some half ass rigged bullshit that is guaranteed to be a fire hazard, a bigger problem in the future, or just plain stupid (constant power to the windows? WTF?) or as is usually the case, all three?

My friends and I steer way clear of cars with much more than an aftermarket radio install, and even then that is almost guaranteed to be a hack job in these cars. Alarm systems are something I'm especially leery of, finding a clean install is so rare these days that automatically assuming theres a hack job lying in wait is the safest course of action.

I'm sure Luke has seen some scary shit over the years that people drive, oblivious to the disaster that is the PO's "handiwork"

EDIT: Speaking of Luke.... If you stumble upon this, clean your PM box. I wanna buy some stuff from you. ;)

[scobaru]

with my budget I couldn't really afford much for what I was looking for. But I know I can fix this car with my experence and the help of the internet :)

Anyways heres an update....
I tested for power at the switch for the blower and as I expected it has no power. I put power to the switch and all the fan speeds work as I expected too.. I tested for power to the fuses 17, 19, 20 and none had power to them. I tried to bypass the relay and nothing still happen well...It looks like I bypassed the wrong parts of the relay after looking at the wiring diagram. the I jumped 30 to 87 and blower motor works now! I tested the relays and they tested out fine. So I think it could be taht the relays arn't getting power. I have the wiring diagram this time around so I can go off of what the diagram shows.

[scobaru]

Power is getting to the Relay the problem is on the other end of the relay. The ground tested to have high resistance. I grounded the relay and the fuse for the cluster blew. replaced the fuse and now i'm off to look at more diagrams...

Also I manage to get the power windows to work with the bypassed relay only problem is the fuse will blow IF
~you go all the way down and hold the button wile its all the way down
~you go all the way up and hold the button wile its all the way up

it seems like theres to much of a load wile the window is up fully so the fuse just blows

[DaveSmed]

Power is getting to the Relay the problem is on the other end of the relay. The ground tested to have high resistance. I grounded the relay and the fuse for the cluster blew. replaced the fuse and now i'm off to look at more diagrams...

Also I manage to get the power windows to work with the bypassed relay only problem is the fuse will blow IF
~you go all the way down and hold the button wile its all the way down
~you go all the way up and hold the button wile its all the way up

it seems like theres to much of a load wile the window is up fully so the fuse just blows

This is due to improper ghetto rigging. Restore the proper ghetto rigging (Bmw's dash mount circuit breaker rated 5A less than the fuse so that blows and is easy to reset IF you hold the window) and all will be well.

Waaaaaait. Tell me exactly what you did (how you grounded it) and on what terminal, as well as what terminals are reading what. Was it by chance fuse 10?

[scobaru]

Where is that Dash breaker? it sounds like that is having issues...time to refer to the diagrams again...

the diagrams I was using was a really shitty one that was hard to read. I found a much better one that I can go off of. and yes it was fuse 10, after looking at the new diagrams I found out why it was blowing.

it also looks like that both sides of the relay are getting power... so this looks to be the problem...

[DaveSmed]

Both sides? Im guessing at the starter solenoid the unloader relay wire is connected to terminal 30. (battery+ lug)

They should be connected to terminal 50, the same terminal that comes from the ignition switch. Some solenoids have an additional lug, which does not apply to your car, all of the small gauge wires at the starter go on the same lug.

Betcha the PO did a starter and then by some strange coincidence the windows and blower stopped working. Couldn't have been the starter he just did, whats that got to do with the windows?? Damn BMWs.

[scobaru]

well for some reason theres only 1 wire to the starter. that one wire is the ground side for the relays since I grounded the wire my self to test the whole system and if it was working and it works!!!

everything is solved the solenoid isn't grounding like it should with key on engine off or engine on for that matter it's power all the time.

I doubt he did the starter the guy was to dumb to even take an interior apart he damaged some of the center console when he could of just taken 1 plasic screw out and it would of been perfectly fine. But now that the electronics are sorted out time to work on the rest of the car...

[DaveSmed]

Thats really odd. BTW the window circuit breaker is in plain view on the dash, usually by the hazard and rear defog buttons.

I checked my diagram and you are right, there is one wire. The strange part is if the solenoid works, it should provide a sufficient enough ground for the relays. If I understand right, if you disconnect terminal 50 from the starter and touch it to ground, both relays actuate? And with terminal 50 connected the car cranks+starts fine?

Does this car by chance have/had/show evidence of an alarm system at some point in its life? If someone added a starter kill relay in the wrong spot, it would explain a lot.