Electrical Gremlins

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Mon May 28, 2012 6:00 pm

The electrical gremlins have struck my 2005 3.0 D sport.

It started a few months ago when the seat belt warning kept going off, I then noticed the airbag light was on as well. Also some, or sometimes all of buttons on the steering wheel didn't work, they didn't light up at night either. The fault is intermitant and when I had it hooked up to a diagnostic nothing major appeared but the car was behaving itself that week.

Then for some reason everything went OK for a couple of months, but this week the gremlins have returned in force. Now the wipers, mainly rear sometimes front wont work and the radio doesn't switch off when you take the key out. When the airbag light is on it's dim and then it may or may not (depending on what mood it's in) light up properly. If it does light up properly it usually goes out and most things work normally. All this is still intermitant and the car was OK on the way home tonight.

The car is still on the original battery and I believe that batteries on thier last legs can often start sending the electrics haywire, so yesterday I disconnected the battery and put my smart charger on it till it was fully charged. This made no difference, the gremlins were still playing this morning.

I'm getting it hooked up to the diagnostic again later this week. Last time he hooked it up he thought it may be the steering wheel coil spring. Anyone got any ideas

Thanks in advance.

Sanj · Post by **Sanj** » Mon May 28, 2012 6:04 pm

[quote=""Brutus""]Last time he hooked it up he thought it may be the steering wheel coil spring. Anyone got any ideas

Thanks in advance.[/quote]

I'd still get a new battery, not try to charge your current one - cells could be dead giving you partial charge. EuroCarParts have discount code (discussed on this site) and you can pick up a very good Bosch S5 for Â£80 odd (I think).

If it's diagnosed to be the coil spring, give me a shout I have one available for substantially less than dealer prices!

stevox5 · Post by **stevox5** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:48 pm

Hi mate

Sounds like the ignition switch is playing up this is a common problem on E53 and E39 models .Get the guy doing your code read to look for terminal R faults stored in the modules also you could remove the steering column cowls and pull the wiring at the block connector to the switch when its playing up.To be fair the switch is not expensive so if the diagnostics lead you nowhere i would check the battery and connections and if ok replace the ignition switch and see what happens. Also get him to chec for water ingress into the box where the battery is located in the boot while he is in there.
HTH

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:38 pm

Thanks for the quick replies lads.
Sanj. I was thinking of getting a new battery before next winter anyway so I'll just get one a bit sooner. I'll let you know if I need the coil spring.

Stevox. I thought it may be something to do with the igition switch because if you switch the car off when everything is working but leave the key in, everything still works when you re-start it. I didn't look at the bottom of the battery box when I charged it up but everything seemed to be dry.

Thanks again for your help and I'll keep you posted.

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Thu May 31, 2012 9:57 pm

Quick update.

Removed the steering column cowls and had a fiddle withsome of the wires. I then disconnected the big plug on the left hand side of the column and then re-connected it making sure it was pushed in all the way, and hey presto, everything worked perfectly.

That was a couple os days ago and luckily everything is still OK. I'll see how long it lasts, but I'm hoping that it was just a bad connetion or a bit of muck in the plug.

Thanks again for the help.

Sanj · Post by **Sanj** » Thu May 31, 2012 10:06 pm

Nice one!

That was good call. Hope it stays sorted!

stevox5 · Post by **stevox5** » Thu May 31, 2012 10:29 pm

By doing that test I think you have proved you have a failing ignition switch mate. If the symptoms return change the switch only about Â£30 from main dealer.

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:09 pm

Oh well. The temperary fix was just that and it recently started playing up again. So today I went to the dealer and got a new switch which they relieved of £61 for.

I'm now struggling to remove the old one. I've undone the 2 bolts and taken the plastic surround off but I can't see what is still holding it in place. I don't want to force it and break something else. I've had a search for a 'how to' but can't find anything. Can anyone help please?

Steamyrotter · Post by **Steamyrotter** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:14 am

I know its a fellow site, but full of ionfo and was a temp home for us:--

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/ ... ssues.html

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:10 pm

All sorted now. Fitted the new switch this morning and everything works like it should.

Thanks for your help everyone.

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