DIY - E36 window switch retrofit

[StereoInstaller1]

Can I come and steal the body controller and switches?

I won't be able to pay for them, but will help you do something?

Luke

[franco90]

Luke do you own your own bussiness

[Erick]

Anyone ran into the color pattern I have? I'm kinda lost at this point and my harness is all cut up :p

[StereoInstaller1]

Luke do you own your own bussiness

Well, kind of. I closed my shop last november, now I am just freelancing until the wife and I get settled.

[flyboyx]

i went through the shit load of e36 switch i have gotten and figured out what did what.

E30 Switch:

Window Up 1 - Black or (Black/Grey)
Positive (+) 3 - Green/Grey
Negitive (-) 4 - Brown
Negitive (-) 5 - Brown
7 - Black Yellow (i had this, it did nothing)
Window Down 8 - Purple

The e30 switch is very confusing...... there are tabs that come from the up and down leads and its always touching, im guessing it has more resistence the more it is pushed down.
I tried to go from Power (Green/Grey) to the down lead (Purple) and it blew the curcuit. so im guessing it controlls the amount of voltage? thats what im confused about.
n


There are 3 different White Basee switches that i had, please check your colors. the Numbers on the switches still all lined up.

E36 White Base #1:

Negitive (-) 1 - Brown
Window Down 3 - Black/Yellow
Window Up 4 - Blue/Green
Positive (+) 5 - Red/Brown


E36 White Base #2:

Negitive (-) 1 - Brown
Window Down 3 - Purple/Grey
Window Up 4 - Black/Grey
Positive (+) 5 - Red/Brown


E36 White Base #3:

Negitive (-) 1 - Brown
Window Down 3 - Black
Window Up 4 - Green
Positive (+) 5 - Red

here is a little update on this upgrade. i started working on this swap today a found out a few things. i have the white base switches from a 4 door. i had the three wiring harnesses listed above on my plugs plus a fourth type.

e36 white base #4

ground(-)1 - brown
window down 3 - violet
window up 4 - black
positive(+) - red/brown

also for the e30, i have a 91 vert. as stated above, the e30 window switch has 5 wires whereas the white base e36 switches have 4 wires.

here is how to keep them straight:(at least in the case of my car)

there are two browns that are ground and these can be connected together to terminal 1 ground (or negative as stated above)

all of the e30 power window wires on my car are a variation of a solid color with a colored strip. this is to say that all 4 switches have a black wire and a violet wire for the up/down function. however, 3 of the 4 have a colored stripe. the blacks are up and the violets are down.

all four e30 switches have a green/gray wire for positive power in. these need to be soldered to the e36 brown/reds

since my car has the power cutout button, i swapped in this switch from the 4 door e36. the e30 switch has 2 wires. both a variation of green with a stripe. the e36 cutout switch has 3 wires. two greens with stripe and one brown/red. to make this switch work, you need to connect one of the e30 greens to one of the e36 greens and the other e30 green to the brown/red on the e36 switch. the second green wire on the e36 switch will be left unused.

[bimmer_E30]

can you upload the pics again, Josh?

[BraveUlysses]

can you upload the pics again, Josh?

Seconding this, but maybe use something less shitty than photobucket, like imageshack.us instead?

[Aptyp]

moved photobucket folder...

[Wh33lhop]

So, I hooked up a small white base (1-touch down) window switch. It illuminated, but no matter which way I hooked up the signal wires would not do crap to the window. It seems these were meant to use relays or something as the gauge of the signal wire is a lot smaller than the E30 ones.

[kronus]

So, I hooked up a small white base (1-touch down) window switch. It illuminated, but no matter which way I hooked up the signal wires would not do crap to the window. It seems these were meant to use relays or something as the gauge of the signal wire is a lot smaller than the E30 ones.

They go to the window controller module, which has internal drivers for the motors that the switches control. You won't get anywhere using just the late-style switches.

[BraveUlysses]

Anyone have a wiring guide for hooking up the e36 window lock switch to replace the stock one?

[Wh33lhop]

They go to the window controller module, which has internal drivers for the motors that the switches control. You won't get anywhere using just the late-style switches.

Yeah, so basically extensive modification if I want to give it a shot. Then again, I wouldn't mind 1-touch windows... is it just a single module for all of the windows or do they each get an individual module?

[Wh33lhop]

Anyone have a wiring guide for hooking up the e36 window lock switch to replace the stock one?

Uh... seriously? Both lock switches have two wires, unless you've got a crazy E36 switch that I'm not aware of, it doesn't matter which way you orient them.

[BraveUlysses]

Uh... seriously? Both lock switches have two wires, unless you've got a crazy E36 switch that I'm not aware of, it doesn't matter which way you orient them.

The E36 switch I got has 3 wires :???:

I guess i could just try experimenting.

[2002maniac]

Has anyone integrated the e36 one touch module? I'll have to pull out my e36 manual and look at how crazy the schematics are.