What Is This In My E34??

[EyExR]

So I brought my touring to get aligned today. The boneheads at Mavis must have left a light or ignition on because they killed my battery. They called me in to 'take a look'... lol. Anyway there are a couple of mystery LEDs on my dash and I never knew what they were for. But there was a beeping coming from under my steering column. When I'd crank the car the yellow light would come on and a red light would flash with this strange cricket-like bell. Then when the car would run the red would go off but the yellow stays on and the bell just keeeeps going. Crazy annoying.

Anyone know what this is??

[BlackSpeed66]

Probably some long-forgotten aftermarket alarm system a PO had installed. The bottom LED sorta looks like the ones they used on the old Clifford alarms...

It doesn't look anything like the factory alarm/keyless on mine. Time to get into the dash and see how bad the wiring is hacked up.... best of luck!

If it helps, I just had to go through this on my gf's '82 Vette.... Somehow that car wound up with THREE alarms (including the factory one) over the years. Yeah, that was fun sorting out.....

[E30NJ]

My dad has the same alarm system in his E34 525i. He disabled it after the car became undesirable to steal. Im not sure what brand it was though.

[rcsoundn1]

Bingo, its an alarm. Prob best to just take it out

[EyExR]

Well I haven't dug into the dash yet but I stopped by an audio/alarm shop and they actually think it's some sort of radar setup! I'm not so sure about that...

I do have an alarm system and it's working fine.

The car drives and starts just fine. I'm going to simply unplug the speaker and cut and cap all wires and see how it goes. Perhaps I'll find a fuse somewhere first, though.

[E30NJ]

You might be on to something. That might very well be a radar setup. Drive by a building with a newer alarm system, (a bank is the best) and see if it starts going crazy. In the 1980's/1990's police radar used a radio band which is now used by home and business alarm systems. Let me know if you figure it out. My dad had one red LED which (when alarm was armed) blinked when he locked the car.

[EyExR]

You might be on to something. That might very well be a radar setup. Drive by a building with a newer alarm system, (a bank is the best) and see if it starts going crazy. In the 1980's/1990's police radar used a radio band which is now used by home and business alarm systems. Let me know if you figure it out. My dad had one red LED which (when alarm was armed) blinked when he locked the car.

I was at the bank yesterday actually. Nothing happened.... I almost want to ask a cop to point a radar gun at the car. lol. But they probably don't use the same technology today, I assume.

When I set my alarm a separate LED blinks near the rear center console. So that's not it. And the alarm system is working just fine.

[EyExR]

Found the switch to turn it off. It was under the knee bolster. It's gotta be a radar detector but I have no idea how it works. At least I can turn it off now.

[tomwas]

Sold one of my old Volvo 940s to a girl, she went to show the car to her Grandma and by mistake hit the switch below the bolster... She called me very upset when the car wouldn't start, luckily she was in the neighborhood a few blocks away, showed her where the switch was and at least we both found out the deactivation worked on the car and she was then really pleased to have her "new" car back up and running...