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Thread: Weird Wires & Switches Between Pedals and Steering Wheel

  1. #1
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    Weird Wires & Switches Between Pedals and Steering Wheel

    So today I was in the process of removing the black shroud near the pedals to get to the EWS unit and found some interesting things. There was some spliced wires for sure, electrical tape, a weird blue toggle switch and a single press black switch. As well as 2 black boxes looking like relays etc? I made sure to not switch the switches or mess with anything. There was also a random wire hanging around...


    Here's some of the photos I took of the odd stuff.

    https://imgur.com/a/YHxGy

    20180417_164107.jpg20180417_164121.jpg20180417_164138.jpg

    Also; looking up the black boxes they appear to be some sort of relay. Someone please help me figure out wtf this stuff is and why it would be there.

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    I did a Google search on that relay and it come up to this link.

    https://www.directed.com/

    Looks like a place that sells car alarms and remote starter equipment. I'd either call them or send them that pic and see if they can tell you what you have installed there.
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    A couple of possibilities come to mind; Perhaps the car had a security/convenience system made by DEI (Directed Electronics which makes/made Viper, Clifford, and Avital to name a few of the more popular brands from the past) and the relays were wired up to aid in remote starting the vehicle, actuate the window motors, or similar via the security remote. The switches/buttons make this seem most plausible as these systems often had over-rides and programming switches hidden by the installers to setup/maintenance. Relays could possibly be used to remote-on a multiple audio amplifier setup as well.

    Trace the wires down and compare destinations/origins to wiring diagrams for your car and you will almost certainly deduce what they were used for. I'm betting it was an alarm/remote start/window install though.
    Last edited by slandis; 04-17-2018 at 07:33 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by slandis View Post
    A couple of possibilities come to mind; Perhaps the car had a security/convenience system made by DEI (Directed Electronics which makes/made Viper, Clifford, and Avital to name a few of the more popular brands from the past) and the relays were wired up to aid in remote starting the vehicle, actuate the window motors, or similar via the security remote. The switches/buttons make this seem most plausible as these systems often had over-rides and programming switches hidden by the installers to setup/maintenance. Relays could possibly be used to remote-on a multiple audio amplifier setup as well.

    Trace the wires down and compare destinations/origins to wiring diagrams for your car and you will almost certainly deduce what they were used for. I'm betting it was an alarm/remote start/window install though.
    I doubt it was an alarm, the car's factory alarm most definitely works quite well as the hood sensor and tilt sensor were causing it to go off quite often for a little while. Plus the red mirror thingy flashes when locked meaning the factory alarm is armed. The remote start sounds plausible but why? It's an older car and doesn't seem worth it, and for the windows, BMW provides rolling down functionality by default & rolling them up is possible if you program it yourself... Still odd but makes some sense.

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    Remember that your car is at least 15 years old (I don't see a year noted for yours) and that there are a lot of folks who own these cars who have no clue about programming etc. Many people know you can haul it to your local audio installer and have them slap in the functionality you think you're missing and then you can go brag to all your friends about your cool new remote start with window feature. Never underestimate the lack of knowledge possessed by a previous owner about your car.. I've seen some ridiculous install and hacked together garbage in these cars.
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    Quote Originally Posted by slandis View Post
    Remember that your car is at least 15 years old (I don't see a year noted for yours) and that there are a lot of folks who own these cars who have no clue about programming etc. Many people know you can haul it to your local audio installer and have them slap in the functionality you think you're missing and then you can go brag to all your friends about your cool new remote start with window feature. Never underestimate the lack of knowledge possessed by a previous owner about your car.. I've seen some ridiculous install and hacked together garbage in these cars.
    I 100% endorse everything said right here. Even proper "Indy BMW shops" seldom know how to reprogram all the stuff that can be done and I hear about otherwise 'good' shops making dumb recommendations about stuff when with 15mins of programming the owner could have XYZ feature for free (or at least just charging for the time...) Hell with the 'remote windows up/down' feature sometimes people even HAVE the feature turned on but don't know about it!

    I doubt it's just an alarm only, but some people really do get all super bonered up about having remote start and agree that's what I suspect it is.
    (If car is indeed from a place like Chicago, that's probably understandable in winter I must say. )

    Some guesses - assuming its a remote start mess there, the toggle switch probably an enable/disable in case you want to disable remote start for some reason (going on vacation, or, working on the car and don't want somebody to start it while your hand is in the fanbelt, etc.) but the owner was asked "do you want us to drill a hole for a disable switch in your dash" and the owner said "hell no, no holes!". Same thing with what looks like a light - probably the 'enabled' light. The other weird pushbutton... who knows what that is...

    The only thing is, autostart boxes on this car usually require a spare key to be stuck under the dash in a secret box that gets wired up to the EWS and then it switches from the factory key antenna to that to start the car or let the factory key antenna behave normally. Do you have anything that looks like it might have a small compartment inside it?
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    If we run with the alarm+remote start theory at least one of those toggle/momentary switches is for valet mode. The others might be for programming or any other trigger input the alarm had. GG is also spot on about looking for some kind of box or holder for an extra key which may also have been what was attached to the mystery wire. I'm intrigued.. OP you need to track this wiring mess down so we can have some closure!
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    I 100% endorse everything said right here. Even proper "Indy BMW shops" seldom know how to reprogram all the stuff that can be done and I hear about otherwise 'good' shops making dumb recommendations about stuff when with 15mins of programming the owner could have XYZ feature for free (or at least just charging for the time...) Hell with the 'remote windows up/down' feature sometimes people even HAVE the feature turned on but don't know about it!

    I doubt it's just an alarm only, but some people really do get all super bonered up about having remote start and agree that's what I suspect it is.
    (If car is indeed from a place like Chicago, that's probably understandable in winter I must say. )

    Some guesses - assuming its a remote start mess there, the toggle switch probably an enable/disable in case you want to disable remote start for some reason (going on vacation, or, working on the car and don't want somebody to start it while your hand is in the fanbelt, etc.) but the owner was asked "do you want us to drill a hole for a disable switch in your dash" and the owner said "hell no, no holes!". Same thing with what looks like a light - probably the 'enabled' light. The other weird pushbutton... who knows what that is...

    The only thing is, autostart boxes on this car usually require a spare key to be stuck under the dash in a secret box that gets wired up to the EWS and then it switches from the factory key antenna to that to start the car or let the factory key antenna behave normally. Do you have anything that looks like it might have a small compartment inside it?
    I'll have to search around in a bit for that, there were no extra wires in the EWS unit.

    Quote Originally Posted by slandis View Post
    If we run with the alarm+remote start theory at least one of those toggle/momentary switches is for valet mode. The others might be for programming or any other trigger input the alarm had. GG is also spot on about looking for some kind of box or holder for an extra key which may also have been what was attached to the mystery wire. I'm intrigued.. OP you need to track this wiring mess down so we can have some closure!
    Ya the remote start theory sounds plausible, the guy who owned it before me lived in Chicago iirc so he probably had to park it outside which makes remote start make a lot of sense. Also would explain why the EWS has had 5 keys already programmed to it & I only got 2...

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    Quote Originally Posted by 1823alex View Post
    Also would explain why the EWS has had 5 keys already programmed to it & I only got 2...
    Could.

    Although don't underestimate the capability of previous owners to just be complete effin retards and lose / not handover keys when they sell the car. Its a miracle from the diaper of baby jesus himself that I got the plastic-emergency-key and 2 working OEM keys w/ my M3. Normally the proletaritards throw the plastic-spare/valet/2nd-key in a kitchen / desk drawer when they buy the car and forget about them for 10yrs until they sell the thing. Same goes for wagon/SUV cargo covers. And rear-seat-headrests. They get pulled off in the first few months, go in the attic/basement/garage/shed, and then after the car is long gone, the hateful brainless jerkweed goes "oh! this thing! yeah, what should I do with this!? I guess I'll throw it away."

    Just like they do with all our perfectly good spare keys when they find those.
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    UPDATE: So last night I was taking off the door panel and accessing the window regulator to figure out why it was making awful noises (was missing the rubber pads that hold the glass), and then I found 2 blue wires from the original photos above that went through the door grommet into the door panel wiring harness and we're spliced in with electrical tape...

    I've attached some photos, but this is making me begin to think this isn't a remote starter as why would it be necessary to connect to connections in the door & why not splice in farther back inside of the car?



    20180717_214331_HDR.jpg20180717_214339_HDR.jpg20180717_214349_HDR.jpg

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    Well I think actual that confirms that its a remote starter.

    Quick eyeball at a wiring diagram suggests those wires go to the S47 lock (detection) switch.

    That "lock switch" (I'm adding the 'detection' bit because its not the user-switch to lock the door...) tells the car whether the drivers door is locked or not. The central locking won't want to allow the EWS to start the car if it thinks that the car is still locked. So. Those wires were (OK still guessing but almost certainly) there so the remote-start could override that switch and make it look like the drivers door was unlocked, when it actually was not.

    The reason they need to do it in the door is those wires go from the switch to the 'drivers door module' (which also happens to be the master window/mirror switch unit), so to intercept them you need to get into the door.

    Case closed.
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    Twist-n-tape, huh? Nice install.
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    Well I think actual that confirms that its a remote starter.

    Quick eyeball at a wiring diagram suggests those wires go to the S47 lock (detection) switch.

    That "lock switch" (I'm adding the 'detection' bit because its not the user-switch to lock the door...) tells the car whether the drivers door is locked or not. The central locking won't want to allow the EWS to start the car if it thinks that the car is still locked. So. Those wires were (OK still guessing but almost certainly) there so the remote-start could override that switch and make it look like the drivers door was unlocked, when it actually was not.

    The reason they need to do it in the door is those wires go from the switch to the 'drivers door module' (which also happens to be the master window/mirror switch unit), so to intercept them you need to get into the door.

    Case closed.
    Interesting, now my next question is how can I make the system function again and use it for myself? I was never provided any remote start info or keys for it etc when I got the car unfortunately.

    EDIT: Could it possibly be the "Viper 5301" remote start / alarm system?

    EDIT2: I pulled the kick panel down again and took a closer look at the wiring and things. It's definitely a Viper 5900 SST (based on the switches, antenna and the box) Also has the 556u for the key, I didn't open it to take the key out cause I don't wanna mess with anything.
    Last edited by 1823alex; 07-20-2018 at 06:38 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by computiNATEor View Post
    Twist-n-tape, huh? Nice install.
    Previous owners never cease to amaze I guess haha.

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    Well you can't use it without the proper security coded remote, I'm guessing those are hard to get from Viper (for theft prevention reasons obv, otherwise we could all call up and get remotes to steal our neighbors cars...) but you could research it.

    That is such an utter screaming crap install I would personally ABSOLUTELY not even THINK of using it. Relays and modules flopping around loose, unconnected wires... twist-and-tape splices... Hell its amazing the car hasn't caught fire or burned out some other module by now.

    If it were my car I'd rip the whole thing out and put it back to factory as fast as humanly possible. Shouldn't be too hard as long as you rejoin all the factory color coded wires that they "intercepted". The bonus would be you get a known-good factory key out of the box.
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    Well you can't use it without the proper security coded remote, I'm guessing those are hard to get from Viper (for theft prevention reasons obv, otherwise we could all call up and get remotes to steal our neighbors cars...) but you could research it.

    That is such an utter screaming crap install I would personally ABSOLUTELY not even THINK of using it. Relays and modules flopping around loose, unconnected wires... twist-and-tape splices... Hell its amazing the car hasn't caught fire or burned out some other module by now.

    If it were my car I'd rip the whole thing out and put it back to factory as fast as humanly possible. Shouldn't be too hard as long as you rejoin all the factory color coded wires that they "intercepted". The bonus would be you get a known-good factory key out of the box.
    It looks like you can buy the remotes separately on eBay and then program them to the unit. But the remote is like $70...

    Ya I would wanna rip it out as well but right now my dad is worried about it breaking from removing it somehow / If it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm sure he'll wanna get rid of it or redo all the wiring nicely to reenable the system.

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    mmmmyyyeeeaaah. I'd be way more worried about it forking up and STRANDING me than in my ability to restore the wiring properly.
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