Tech Forum : Electrical Problems

g323	Posted Tuesday, Oct 24th 3:59am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 2 California 323i 1982	Right now, my car has the following electrical problems Since I bought the car: Mirror switch doesnt work. Interior lights dont work. Recent Problems: Interior clock does not turn off Radio does not turn off. Using horn with stero on causes the horn to sound in radio too. Flashers dont work Turn signals dont work Electrical work done to the car since aquiring it 4 months ago. All new fuzes(old fuzes were oxidized, or wrong current) Fixed flasher switch whcih got stuck in the on position. Changed bulbs in back lights. cleaned mirror switch connectors. cleaned interior light switches in doors. Installed new stereo(car-audio place claims to have wired the speakers differently) What can I do about these problems, i feel like it must be something simple, that i just dont know how to locate. The really annoying new problem that just happended recently is that the radio and dash-clock dont turn off, and the horn thing.

JDBeyer	Posted Tuesday, Oct 24th 5:43am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 229 N. Humboldt county Ca. 82 323i on steroids	Wow, thats alot of stuff going on. I have a few ideas for you to check. Mirror inop... look at the wires from the door to the "A" piller. they break over time, a new wire harness is still avalible. Interior light.... bad ground at door switch, thats the screw that holds it in..or switch contacts, new switch is a few bucks. Clock ect. not turning off... BAD ignition switch. Might just be the electical part at the end of the whole thing, but there are 3 parts to the ignition switch, tumbler, intermediate and the electrical... you will have to get it apart to be sure. but you can do the electrical part without pulling the whole mess apart, but it is tricky.. Be sure to check all your grounds at the battery and the one from the block to the body, just clean them.. Hope thats a start, Jeff

Remuxer	Posted Saturday, Dec 23rd 7:33pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 8 Atlanta GA USA 83 320i	With that many problems I'd back up and look at some root causes. Moisture/Friction!! Borrow a dremel with a wire wheel attachment, disconnect the negative terminal to the battery and clean every friggin' contact in the fusebox -make those suckers shine!! Just replacing oxidized fuses won't solve much as you will find with a magnifier that when the fuses oxidize a bead of oxidation is certainly on the fusebox contact side as well- sometimes impossible to see. Also the dielectric plastic fuse housing breaks down and ends up on the contacts -especially white fuses. Un-tined copper fuses will oxidize almost before your eyes but provide better conductivity when still functioning. clean that fusebox up and you will be amazed what other problems get cleaned up. My fuel pressure, erratic idle, and over all performance improved -I swear! Next take that dremel and clean up all major grounding junctions. clean between stacked ring lugs. Next check all wiring that penetrates a bulkhead or entering the door housing. These grommetts go bad and pinch,strip, and short wires. e21s are famous for this. If this doesn't solve it -it will have solved a hell of a lot of other emerging problems. Even so if you are brave you can take it to the next level............ 4) Check all grounding and connections behind the dash.-not fun. 5) disassemble your doors evaluate electrical and reseal moisture barrier and window seal(very important).-and not fun either. 6)finally the doosey and most important!- unbolt and flip your fusebox upside down, unplug every underside contact including ground buses(about 40-50 connections) .inspect, dremel, and clean!!(this is not a task for the easily confused!-few ever see these conections but they are the life blood of your car.) -Here's the trick which makes this repair easy for even a novice... -screw the wiring diagram and screw documenting where each wire in the harness came from or goes (the manuals are not 100 percent right -I know of atleast 10 errors in the haynes US diagram.. mostly color variances) factor in the wiring options that came with your individual car(fog lights etc) and WHAMM you we be confused and pissed -and have a very dead car! --Instead go to a junkyard and cut the wiring harness on both sides of the fusebox of an E21 of similiar year, unbolt and and unplug the other harness and remove entire fusebox. Pull-a-part in Atlanta charged me 7 bucks for the entire assembly. Now for 7 bucks you have an incredible reference tool that even has the same wire fading as your e21. If you aren't lucky enough to have a good junkyard I can send you a very very good picture of mine. Anyway re-wire your box according to your junkyard version. Tape up and seal all electrical connections and run a hot glue gun bead around the fusebox base and where the clear cover meets the base -this will help prevent re-occurence. As for your stereo, they probably either removed the dash fader wiring and instead each speaker is fed by one of four outputs of your head (thus enabling the fader in the head unit) and or they ran a dedicated wire of the required gauge of your head unit strait from the battery with fuse. Those stock BMW wires are puny!! But if they didn't document this work on paper then I would assume the did jack and even if it is on paper it might not be accurate. Good luck