DIY - E36 window switch retrofit

[bimmer_E30]

can you upload the pics again, Josh?

[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.

[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.

[Erick]

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

[franco90]

Luke do you own your own bussiness

[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

[87e30]

The switches have some bizarre character issues.

When you press the "Up" button, the up wire goes to ground,so no biggie to trigger a relay...but when the second stage (1 touch mode) is triggered, the down wire goes to ground.

I really want this to work in my car, so I might grab an E36 body control module and wire it in.

I would rather do it with all aftermarket stuff though.

Hmmm. Well I ask becuase I have an e36 parts car right now and it has the small based switches so I was hoping there was a way to do this. I have NO wiring skill though so I guess I'm out of luck.

If you want a car to practice on I'm close by. :D

[StereoInstaller1]

So no one has made the small based switches auto down feature work?

Seems odd to me...

The switches have some bizarre character issues.

When you press the "Up" button, the up wire goes to ground,so no biggie to trigger a relay...but when the second stage (1 touch mode) is triggered, the down wire goes to ground.

I really want this to work in my car, so I might grab an E36 body control module and wire it in.

I would rather do it with all aftermarket stuff though.

[87e30]

So no one has made the small based switches auto down feature work?

Seems odd to me...

[Erick]

Alright so I spent about two hours on trial and errors and got nowhere.

First of all, I checked my '89 325i. The 325i has the same wiring harness colors as the 318iS, which do not match entirely what you have. It's not by much, but it's definately different.

Left switch wires: (Port # / Color)

1 Black

3 Green/Gray

4 Brown

5 Brown

8 Violet

Right switch:

1 Black/Gray

3 Green/Gray

4 Brown

5 Brown

8 Violet/Gray

Now, if you put this alongside your hand written schematics, it's not too hard to guess where the colors go since what has any black in it would mix with the solid black, and what has any violet in it would mix with the violets/blues.

Well, in that scenario, I did not blow any fuses, but I also got it all mixed up. With both windows down, when you power the car, the left window will start going up automatically. The passenger window will go up when you press the DOWN button. All other commands are unresponsive. None of the switches light up either.

I mixed and matched the + wires on your diagram and blew some fuses (which is making me think one of those you mentioned might be a ground), but there was one other combination (which I didn't write down) that didn't blow a fuse. But at that point, no commands were responsive either, hence why I didn't bother writing it down.

Now, switch must be bad right? It happened with all four switches I have in my possession.

Maybe he base is bad? Nope. I wired the switch straight to the harness (no base) and still nothing.

So right now I'm somewhat lost with no idea what's going on. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated.

[Erick]

My findings so far

Thought, I'd contribute.

This is not the case with the 318iS. The harness has different colors for the + up and + down wires on both left and right switches. There is a black wire, but I'm almost convinced it is for something other than what Aptyp's diagram shows.

Following Aptyp's diagram, the only thing I get when I turn the car on is that the window will automatically go up (my windows were down). The switches are completely non-responsive. I have four switches and tried two of them out, neither one changed the result.

I'm using blue base switches. I'll see if I can find something else in it... maybe someone already covered this 318iS different color dilemma here.

I'm going to the 318iS right now to resume this and see if I can figure it out.

- Erick

[Aptyp]

I checked, and they're all the same 2 browns, 1 green/gray, and violet and black. I don't know how 318 is different.

... and welcome the rest of you guys.

[Aptyp]

Erick, I'll get you right schematic. When I was checking diagrams, they all seemed the same...

[Wh33lhop]

Alright, so at least it worked for someone... because my 318iS has somewhat different colored wires.... and I got nothing. After enough trial and errors, I got nothing but blown fuses.

/frustration

I'll try to figure it out again tomorrow.

- Erick

Blown fuses means you are probably hooking a power or ground wire up to the output of the switch. Which switches did you get?

[Erick]

Alright, so at least it worked for someone... because my 318iS has somewhat different colored wires.... and I got nothing. After enough trial and errors, I got nothing but blown fuses.

/frustration

I'll try to figure it out again tomorrow.

- Erick