Sometimes i turn key and get nothing... then a few minutes later it starts fine (but with a very different starter noise than i've heard before. maybe someone can explain what i am hearing). Also, the wipers stop working on occasion on any speed...few minutes later they work again at all speeds. What's up??
Voltage? How's your battery(s) and alternator?
Any other weird symptoms? Have you done the visor test?
You need to update your "Mein Auto", engine problems are very different between 740 & 750 and electrical problems are very different between 1995 & 2001.
hm... visor lights are working now. did visor test (put key in #2 position, opened passenger visor and opened mirror [that's not a joke, right? a very weird diagnostic!] and the wheel did nothing. does this mean i passed the visor test?
other symptoms (new car for me. ive had it for 2 days) include:
- new alternator (seized 5 miles into ownership)
- intermittent wiper failure (seems they stop when on rain sensing position and then don't work in any position). they stop for a few minutes then start again. ODD
- tailgate doesn't close (prev owner had jammed 30amp fuse in 20 amp slot for tailgate [why is tailgate to friggin heavy?? struts are out] put new 20 amp fuse in and it popped right away.
- can only listen to front speakers. rear speakers hum very loudly.
- sunroof leaks down C pillar on passenger side. I am currently looking for instructions for checking rear drains without having to pull down headliner
That's it for now. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Correct, if the wheel did not move than it passed the test and that is kind of the bad news. If it fails the test there is a 99.9% chance you need to replace your ignition switch, but if it passes that doesn't mean the switch is good. Intermittent problems you might want to try the test every time you get in the car until you have resolved this issue.
Sounds like you bought a car that needs some work, hope you got a deal because a lot of that is probably not all related.
paid $4500 for a car with 105k miles. flew down to memphis for a car i had seen on eBay and put a down payment of 500 on. should have had a round-trip ticket so i could walk away. some hail, s#$* paintover, trim hastily removed and barely reapplied. papers showing recent replacement of things ($$thousands in recent repairs) made me think it was a pampered garage princess. engine strong, good tranny, looks great from 20'. all in all i''m pissed off and sick about it...feels like a mistake. didn't want to take on a big project right now. my 528iT tranny failed with 210k miles and wanted something different.
so do the visor test every time i get in the car? could you explain what i am looking for or where i might look next? The fact that the no start issue and no wiper issue are so dramatically intermittent....good/bad within minutes of one another. only had the no start issue so far around the time of the alternator seizing. once just after i shut it down as the belt squealed, smoked and broke. Slept in the back seat. Saturday morning had it towed to garage as i had no tools so far away from home. mechanic turned it over (to my surprise) pulled it onto the lift; worked on it (at this time the trunk started to not latch) started it again to take it out of the garage with new alternator and turned it off. Then i get in to start my 1350mile drive home and it didn't start. Threw my hat at it a couple times; poor mechanic started scratching his head and i tried it again and IT STARTED!
I am hoping the no start issue was isolated. The no wiper thing happened 1200 miles into my trip in the first rain i encountered in the car. 5 min on (rain sensing setting), 2 min off, 5 min on (rain sensing), 2 off and then an hour on (continuous wiping). strange intermittency.
writing this partly to document it for myself. My first priority is fixing rear sunroof drain.
I didn't know there was any rear sunroof drains so I can't help you there...unless the problem is the fronts are so blocked off the water is just escaping through the back meaning you need to fix the fronts. Do you know if the windshield has been replaced? Actually an improper windshield replacement could also screw up the rain sensing wipers.
There are a few V12 guys on here, I'm not one of them. Random no starts in these can be really hard to find as you should know if you ever had that problem with your E39 - EWS, fuses/relays, starter, DME, cam/crank sensors, etc. Have you tried checking for any codes?
Wait a minute...are you getting water under the passenger seat? There is a bank of huge fuses sitting in a little well under there designed to collect water, and when it does you get rust/corrosion and funky things start to happen.
So back to the visor test. If your problems are intermittent than what ever is causing them is intermittent which means if it is the ignition switch than it is working some of the time so the visor test will pass some of the time, in which case you should spend the 10 seconds to do the visor test over and over to see if you can catch it being intermittent unless you find something else to be causing your problems. All you are looking for is if the steering wheel moves when you open the mirror. A faulty ignition switch can cause almost as many weird symptoms as a low battery in these things.
On a side note, doesn't really sound like you got a deal there. The 750's are a bit harder to find than the 740's but that doesn't necessarily make them more valuable (yet), and around here that car doesn't sound like it would go for $4500. On a good note, that is still pretty cheap for a V12 car you were able to drive home over 1000 miles - without screaming about the transmission. For that price you could have gotten a 10 year old Impala that would be in better shape, although likely double the miles, but there's no fun in that. You had an E39 so you should know once you get the issues worked out you're going to love it.
no water under the seat. someone had done a cheap paint job on the car, perhaps to mask some hail marks on the top (I was furious when I first saw the car and had him lower price from 6k to 45oo...I was in for 500 deposit, 500 in airfare and it would have cost me maybe 900 to fly back onway on short notice...ack). The outer gasket around the sunroof is missing and the area took in a lot of water as it was raining when I got home and the car sat in driveway overnight. I don't believe its been taking in water for long....so presuming (I should learn better) that nothing has been soaking in water in the car as the carpets still have a sort of softness to them.
I will keep doing the visor test and order a gasket. I do believe the sunroof has rear drains based on what I saw in another post here.
so am I to understand that I am rooting for an ignition switch issue? thank you again for your thoughtful attention.
The "visor" test is used not to just see if the steering wheel moves...but to see if you can get the car to replicate any of multiple electronic gremlins. Since there are multiple things tied to the ignition switch...when it fails (or begins to fail)...you can have a myriad of electrical gremlins occur...as seen in a couple of videos that have been posted for a while. Things like interior lights turning off/on, radio turning off/on, DSP control unit turning off/on, steering wheel movement, seat movement, odd warning lights with no actual failure, etc.
And yes, the sunroof cassette has 4 drains...there's a drain in each corner.
The "visor" test is used not to just see if the steering wheel moves...but to see if you can get the car to replicate any of multiple electronic gremlins. Since there are multiple things tied to the ignition switch...when it fails (or begins to fail)...you can have a myriad of electrical gremlins occur...as seen in a couple of videos that have been posted for a while. Things like interior lights turning off/on, radio turning off/on, DSP control unit turning off/on, steering wheel movement, seat movement, odd warning lights with no actual failure, etc.
And yes, the sunroof cassette has 4 drains...there's a drain in each corner.
Q to the rescue! Good info to know...I've read a few years worth of threads and never heard about the rear drains, it's always the front drains causing water to come down the A-pillar inside the cabin and screw up the electronics.
So about the visor test (I'm not always able to watch videos so I rarely try), when other goofy stuff happens is it possible for the steering wheel not to move (different circuits)?
the drive home from Memphis was very nice. people get out of your way in the passing lane when you come up to them in a black 7 series. i only had one piece of trim blow off (had i known it was a $60 part i would have stopped for it...but likely it was run over by those behind me). Winding along a 2-lane road through the spring Ozarks was particularly satisfying. the engine is strong and no sign of tranny issues at this point. on second day i covered 900 miles in a 12-hr span that included 2 sit down fast food meals and fueling....much of the time had cruise set at 90. hope to get this car in shape but i am finding tons of trim pieces both inside and out that were hastily torn off and put back on by some f*#@ bag a$$ hole who didn't give a $hit about what he was doing.
For anyone parting out i need:
passenger side B pillar trim (leather & wood for a black interior)
passenger side headlight washer nozzle
driver side windshield trim
Sounds like you have a number of unrelated issues.
Check your ebox, under the big modules, to see if there is water in the bottom. Both your wipers and start relay reside there. Iggy switch could still be going bad. It's not a bad swap out and is probably original to the car. I would do it for peace of mind myself.
Check the trunk wiring in the boot that comes from body into the lid. Not unusual to find frayed wiring there.
trunk wiring is a great lead. currently the trunk won't latch closed...no power it appears. this happened while mechanic was replacing alternator (crazy that coolant cycles through the alternator...german engineers just allowed to run riot with their wild ideas). I checked fuse behind battery (2 batteries?! new one for me!) and found a blown 30amp jammed into the space for the trunk "stuff". Put in a 20 amp and it snapped right away. Presume taligate short is likely in that wiring too (that was a major trouble spot in my e39 wagon...working to soldier tiny lengths of wire fished out from the roof of the wagon). Will turn my immediate attention there.
Side note, the car travels fine at any speed and over bumps with a trunk that isn't latched closed....i should say a trunk with struts removed.
i turn the key to start... and i hear a kuh-tink sound, with the tink part definitely metalic in nature. the lights dim slightly and for a second i hear what sounds kinda like a rope tightening under load (thinking now that sound is a vent closing or something in the hvac system. after a second the lights go brighter and sometimes i hear a very metalic TING!. sometimes these noises are less pronounced but they are similarly timed. hope this is diagnostic
As Q posted above...when you did the visor test did you notice anything unusual?
Did you check the ebox in the engine bay for water/corrosion as Mayorchuck posted above?
Not sure it stops the starter from cranking, but there is an issue with coolant wicking up the wire from the thermostat to the ECU and causing all kinds of corrosion, this is in that same box.
To really check it all out in there:
1 Pop the trunk
2 Wait for the car to go to sleep (16 minutes)
3 Disconnect the batteries
4 Since the batteries are disconnected...clamp the cables together (c-clamp or vise grips)
5 Pull out and inspect everything from the ebox
6 If all OK, reverse order it back together
i hope to have time to do this this weekend. I noticed no reaction to my visor test. wish i had, as fixing all issues with a new ignition sounds wonderful.
for #4: clamp cables together...you mean just so they don't touch the battery?
He's referring to a battery nap. It's known to fix odd electrical glitches in the car. Touching the cables together for a moment helps drain/clear any residual from the modules. If you have NAV, make sure the light is out before you do this.
With all the issues you are having, you may have a parasite drain on the battery. Low voltage may be preventing the solenoid from being able to turn the starter. It may be engaging the starter but unable to crank it. That may be the sound you are hearing. Put the car to sleep and see what your mAmps are reading on the battery. Tim shows how to do it here:
i have a parasitic draw in my fiat spider.... a real pain in the arse. don't yet believe there is one in the bmw. i left the ignition on...perhaps out of frustration and left the house. came back almost 2 hours later to a clicking sound from the car. it was a repeating pattern of clicks. i went to take the key out and tried to start it again. Whoosh! it started. doesn't seem like a low voltage problem since it should have had less juice after clicking away for almost 2 hours.
i will check battery amperage when i can. work has me....uh.... working today.
it does appear there was water once in my electrical box, maybe the hint of a waterline. why would there have been water in this apparently sealed plastic case under the hood of the car? I think i have a detatched sunroof drain on passenger side that defines my next job on this recently acquired eBay headache (though i friggin LOVE the e38 750iL...and will forever own and drive one [less so if gas is no longer <$2/gal.]). (Passenger floor is dry)
It seems like brain surgery pulling apart/unplugging masses of wires (that can only go back one way i hope...i'm taking pics and it seems wires have been so packed in place that they will steer me to their original sites).
Question: in what way should these connections be treated presuming they have gotten wet? I pulled the two blue square things (cube shaped relays?) the red one and the larger brown one and saw no corrosion. There were 2 shiny contacts on each of the tabs...so good contact. Everything looks clean in ebox....water line might be imagined.....
Depending on the year of your car, you have either one or two wiper relays at the bottom of the ebox. A clean relay can be deceiving. If there was water sitting down there, it corrodes the connections on the bottom side. You have to unplug the relay and pop up the connection and inspect the bottom of it. There is a drain in the bottom of the ebox. A single piece of debris can clog it. Water seems to find it's way in the side where the harness goes in. At least that's my guess.
Now, if you have a sunroof leak on the passenger side, then all bets are off until you inspect the fuse block under the seat to make sure it doesn't look like this.
This sits in the lowest part of the floor so water likes to pool there. It should look like this.
that fuse block is nasty.....going to give me nightmares... i am working on getting my headliner back in after reconnecting the rear passenger drain hose. do i have to pull out the passenger seat to get a view of the those fuses??
that fuse block is nasty.....going to give me nightmares... i am working on getting my headliner back in after reconnecting the rear passenger drain hose. do i have to pull out the passenger seat to get a view of the those fuses??
don't think our issues are the same (i had forgotten what my post was originally on). my wipers run for a while then stop... but stop in the down position. few minutes later they run again and stop in down position. i've only experienced this once as i've owned the car for about a week and haven't driven it in the rain as i was dealing with a sunroof leak. (headliner is no fun to take down and put back up....but that problem is solved. 2 down, ?? to go...)
I believe you are correct. Think I will start a new thread.
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