E36 wiring loom changes between countries????

I have so far spent 3 nights (on non-consecutive weekends) trying to find the right wires for doing various things (alarm/remote locking/audio, etc) and am starting to get the feeling that my RIGHT HAND DRIVE Australian '92 E36 has a back-to-front wiring loom compared to the pictures I have seen from the US (and the official US wiring diagrams too).......

For starters...... where the Americans and whoever else has a glove compartment on the right hand side of the car, some of the modules that are hidden behind that glove box are in fact on the OTHER SIDE in my car....... (thats where MY glove box is.... on the left) but some are still behind my steering column. Excellent.

I can tell you, when wiring up a car alarm, this gets extremely frustrating.

One wire I can not find (of a few) is the L/H door courtesy light switch wire. The colour/tracer I am looking for is simply NOT in the door loom at all.

Now, I would assume that they only ever used 1 colour combination for 1 application on every wire in the loom (so no doubling up on colours and no chance of finding the wrong wire)..... but is there a chance that the wire colour is for the DRIVERS DOOR, regardless of which side it is??? Surely they used the same wire colour for all 4 doors to turn the interior light on??

At this stage, all I can do is take the door trim off (again.... damn it... and i'll break another clip, I bet) to find the courtesy light switch (which I assume is in the door, cos I cant find it anywhere else) so I can find the colour of the wire connected to it.

Does anybody know of this wiring issue being a common thing?

Please tell me my car hasnt been hacked EVEN MORE by a previous owner!!! (its a long story)

P.s. Dont get me wrong, I do enjoy this car...... but sometimes I just wish it was as easy to fix as a Japanese car.

Originally Posted by M3wannabe

Now, I would assume that they only ever used 1 colour combination for 1 application on every wire in the loom (so no doubling up on colours and no chance of finding the wrong wire)..... but is there a chance that the wire colour is for the DRIVERS DOOR, regardless of which side it is??? Surely they used the same wire colour for all 4 doors to turn the interior light on??

Not on a ZKE-equipped car. BMW uses a uniquely color to connect each switch to the ZKE so that you don't mix up the doors when troubleshooting with the diagnostic testers, for example.

At this stage, all I can do is take the door trim off (again.... damn it... and i'll break another clip, I bet) to find the courtesy light switch (which I assume is in the door, cos I cant find it anywhere else) so I can find the colour of the wire connected to it.

I would tap into the wire near the ZKE (central module) -- assuming your car has one -- before I took off the door panel.

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When you say "ZKE - Central Module", I assume that you are talking about the digital display which says things like "brake light failure" etc etc..... (because that is all I can think of that resembles that name)

Mine doesnt have that unit.....

http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...42_29_full.jpg
click for a pic


Its not a problem removing the trim anyway..... already done it a few times to the whole car...... and still need to do the whole lot one more time at least (to find some annoying rattles). I just prefer the POP noise to the SNAP noise when it comes off.....

Originally Posted by M3wannabe

When you say "ZKE - Central Module", I assume that you are talking about the digital display which says things like "brake light failure" etc etc..... (because that is all I can think of that resembles that name)

ZKE is short for Zentrale Karosserie-Elektronik or the central body electronics. It controls the windows, locks and interior lighting. If your car has one rather than a ZVM, it will be a wide flat module with five connectors across the front, behind the glove box. I can't tell from your picture as it only shows the pretty but uninteresting facade.

Originally Posted by johnf

...... It controls the windows, locks and interior lighting...... a wide flat module with five connectors across the front, behind the glove box. .....

AH.....

This module wouldnt happen to have alot of mostly brown wires coming out of the top, would it????


Mine, by the way, has non-standard electric windows..... so I guess that ZKE module may be missing a plug or 2.....

Originally Posted by M3wannabe

This module wouldnt happen to have alot of mostly brown wires coming out of the top, would it????

Not really. The wires come off the front and back. The ZKE also hooks into a good many things and to avoid confusion repeats few if any wire colors.

Mine, by the way, has non-standard electric windows..... so I guess that ZKE module may be missing a plug or 2.....

As in your electric windows are not from BMW?

Correct - it is some cheap kit that a previous owner installed. 90% of the wiring in the electric window loom(s) are plain RED, so if something goes wrong i'll be lost for days while tracing the wires. At least he was smart enough to use the correct switches and switch locations.

As for the ZKE - um.......... I think i'd better pull the glovebox out again this weekend.

Ta.

(Picture stol... um... borrowed from bimmerdiy.com)


I'm guessing that the ZKE is the one with the black, green and yellow connectors?

Yes. One of the small hooded connectors should have the wire running to the door switch. There is also another one on the back of the ZKE if you can't find the wire running into one of the yellow or green one. I believe the top module with the white hooded connector is the cruise control.