Let's Play: What are these plugs under my center console?

[CoconutPete]

Well ... I'm undoing a "dubious" stero install by a previous owner and doing my own.

The center console is out. I know what I unplugged, but there are other things.... it could be un-used from the factory, or it could be a sloppy re-install. Who knows! Let's play!

Exhibit # 1: This is an interesting one. I can't tell if this is a button or not, it has a giant square opening in the middle w/ a metal piece there. The wires are Brown and Purple/Blue.mystery_01.JPG

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Exhibit # 2. This guy looks like he really really belongs in the OBD connector, but he just doesn't quite fit. Too big to be the power for the clock. Who is this little guy and where does he belong? loves long walks on the beach and has a black and a purple/brown wire.Mystery_02.jpg

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Exhibit # 3. OK so this one is not much of a mystery. It's bulb!! It's for illumination! The thing is ... there are already 2 bulbs in the heater control, and the clock has 3 wires coming out of it, it appears to take care of itself. So ... where the hell does this bulb plug in?
Mystery_03.jpg

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Mystery # 4: This is some sort of small self-contained button. What does he do? What does he turn off? Who the hell knows? He has 2 wires, blue and green/brown and he is looking for a forever home where he can frolick.
Mystery_04.jpg

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Mystery # 5. This guy is pretty self-sufficient. He doesn't need any help with what to do. Why you ask? Well .. he doesn't have any buttons or plugs! He is some sort of self contained little unit with 2 big plastic "fangs" and some distinct mounting points. He just needs to be told where the hell to go and he'll be happy. He has 4 wires. Brown, Brown/Red, White/purple and Red.Mystery_05.JPG

[Randy Forbes]

Yep, I know (all five)

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I'll let this go a while, to let somebody else answer...

[BruceWarne]

#1 is OE radio switch for alarm (if fitted).

The others. I'd love to know, since my center console currently resembles yours.

[s8ilver]

I'll take a stab.

#2 would accept an OEM lighted shift knob...at least it reminds me of the plug on my M and assumed the harnesses are identical.

#3 bulb probably fell out of the cigarette lighter socket. Mine was hanging around when I pulled my console.

#4 stumps me, never seen it.

#5 sort of looks like the OBD port, but the holes are 90 degrees so I'm stumped there too.

[CoconutPete]

This is fun!!!!

OK... i'ts after 11 and I need to go to bed. I have to at least physically make it into the office tomorrow.

Here is our update for the current standings. Thanks to all who have played so far. I hope more will participate.

# 1: Radio alarm is the clear front runner. "The Google" seems to agree. Since I am going all aftermarket, this will be going bye-bye. Also, FYI. No alarm, except some super 90's looking remnants from a PO. Will be removed. I have a cheap chinese keyless entry which will eventually make it in there.


# 2: Lighted shift knob. Now there's an interesting one. I'll slap a tester on it and see if it just puts out an old fashioned 12V.


#3: Cigarette ligher. This is a good suggestion. The cigarette ligher was DESTROYED (WTF) and I replaced it with a USB outlet so if this is indeed for the cigarette ligher I'll need to eliminate it since the USB port is lighted. By the way... the cigarette lighter positive lead is hot all the time. I feel like my whole childhood has been a lie! I always thought of foreign cars as having them shut off w/ the ignition!!! I mean my first BMW for crying out loud ... a 1999 328i.... same engine, trans.... etc. The cigarette lighter would shut off ... ok ... we are getting off track.


#4: We're dead in the water.


#5: We're dead in the water.

[Randy Forbes]

#4 is the micro-switch on the back of the HVAC control.
#5 is the OBD-II port (there are two sets of mounting holes; straight on AND 90*).

I agree with the answers for #s 1-3!

[Randy Forbes]

Not the best picture of #4, but you get the idea...

[CoconutPete]

Thanks for that pic Randy! I remember it now! I actually unplugged this one. Can't blame this on the PO. I had the temp control panel off to repair the broken "nub".



We are almost wrapped up! This place is amazing!




# 1: Radio alarm: Eliminate.


# 2: For lighted shift knob. Cover w/ electrical tape.


#3: Cigarette ligher. Remove bulb. Cover w/ electrical tape.


#4 Micro-switch on the back of the HVAC control. Plug back in (duh).


#5 OBD-II port. Here is why I was confused on this one. There is a HUGE circular plug hanging loose also. I thought it was the OBD port but I must not have looked closely enough. Now I wonder what the hell that one is. It almost looks like one of those old trailer plugs. Green plastic in the middle, black on the outside. I'll post a pic and add it as # 6 when I get home tonight.

[CoconutPete]

Actually if you go to page 6 in this PDF, that thing that's hanging down next to the speaker - I'm pretty sure that's it.

http://www.onlyz3.com/bricosZ3/Altav...bsw_wikiz3.pdf

[Randy Forbes]

Actually if you go to page 6 in this PDF, that thing that's hanging down next to the speaker - I'm pretty sure that's it.

http://www.onlyz3.com/bricosZ3/Altav...bsw_wikiz3.pdf

That's a gong, attaches at the LH side of the console where the slots are cut.

[CoconutPete]

Yes, Yes it is! That is indeed the gong!

I'd like to thank all who played the game, we have officially assigned a name, function and location to all the items in question!

Please consider playing again when CoconutPete makes his way to the trunk and I'm sure he'll find more wacky stuff!

# 1: Radio alarm: Eliminate.

# 2: For lighted shift knob. Cover w/ electrical tape.

#3: Cigarette lighter. Remove bulb. Cover w/ electrical tape.

#4: Micro-switch on the back of the HVAC control. Plug back in (duh).

#5: OBD-II port (right side of console)

# 6: Gong (not pictured). (Left side of console)

[s8ilver]

# 2: For lighted shift knob. Cover w/ electrical tape.

Or...https://www.leatherz.com/collections...ort-shift-knob

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[khammack]

# 1: Radio alarm: Eliminate.[/COLOR]

Just an FYI - this one is already disabled. It was used to tell if the original radio was removed. If it is unplugged from the switch, it is then inactive.

[CoconutPete]

I would have added a lighted shift knob if it wasn't for the fact hat I already purchased a non-lighted ZHP shift knob to replace the crumbling wood-trimmed one she had when I brought her home :-D

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I'll trace the wires from the radio alarm tonight and hopefully get rid of them. Maybe they lead to the other end of that small square purple mystery plug with almost no slack in the wire immediately to the right of the shifter.

Or the larger rectangular one under where the cupholders were. There's a lot of mystery plugs in this car!

[s8ilver]

I would have added a lighted shift knob if it wasn't for the fact hat I already purchased a non-lighted ZHP shift knob to replace the crumbling wood-trimmed one she had when I brought her home :-D

I hear you. I did a standard ZHP knob in my 2.8 as well. My M gets all the fancy stuff.

I have a weakness for wood shift knobs. I think I have collected 3 or 4 over the last year.

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I've since decided to ditch all the wood and go black...ZHP knob made most sense.

I'll get around to pulling the console one of these days.

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[ihm96]

Do you have any good wood ones left? I have a weakness for them too, the one in my E34 was too cracked so I bought a black leather alpina one off ebay for the time being and my Z3 one was all worn so I have an e36 M3 wood one but I don't want an M badge lol.

I wonder if you can still purchase them from BMW but im assuming it would be stupid expensive

I hear you. I did a standard ZHP knob in my 2.8 as well. My M gets all the fancy stuff.

I have a weakness for wood shift knobs. I think I have collected 3 or 4 over the last year.

20160910_202631.jpg

I've since decided to ditch all the wood and go black...ZHP knob made most sense.

I'll get around to pulling the console one of these days.

20180504_164433.jpg

[s8ilver]

I've got this one hanging around somewhere...

It's a wood and black leather one with no M badge and a 5 speed pattern.

Let me ponder if I want to part with it. It's in the best condition of the (4) I have with good plastic internals and insert. It actually matches the wood a lot better than the photo would have you believe.

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[Randy Forbes]

The big connector "under the cupholders" was for the analog phone; obsolete for its original intentions, but a useful source for hot, switched hot and ground wires.

[Mr Bingley]

It's hard to imagine someone going to all the effort to remove and replace the center console and leaving all those plugs dangling. I remember when I did that job marking both ends of all the various connectors and wires with corresponding numbers written on masking tape and being very glad I did when it was time to go back. Pics of all the switches and harnesses taken in place before and during disassembly also helped. My memory is that the cigarette lighter light bulb was the hardest one to put back right. I replaced all bulbs while I was in there--it's just too much work to ever do that twice. The HVAC bulbs were ridiculously expensive as I recall--like $20 each. I also took the opportunity to install a USB charge plug into the switch panel, replace the lighted shifter, and the shift surround (replacing the surround is why I took the console out in the first place).

[CoconutPete]

Randy: Thanks for chiming back in. I had a feeling that big plug may have been for the phone. I think I may actually leave the original cigarette lighter wires alone and use a switched wire from the phone. I just like the idea of the USB ports being switched.

The center console makeover ended up being both more time consuming and $ consuming than planned, but when the hell does that not happen on an 18 year old car....

Replaced the wood trim which had a ton of cracks and was letting go of it's backing with a titanium silver set that I stumbled over on eBay.
Replaced broken cigarette lighter with USB ports
Disassembled and cleaned all the switches (window switches were NASTY)
Replaced broken wood parking brake handle w/ e36 leather one
Leather treated the hell out of the shift boot and park brake boot
Replaced broken wooden shift knob w/ ZHP shift knob
Replaced "disco ball" Sony head unit with one of my choosing.
Eliminated a metric ton of freaking wiring! holy crap! I pulled the carpet partially and the drivers seat. I traced and eliminated the cd changer cable, the original sub harness, the obsolete speaker wires etc. There is a big pile of wires on the floor and I'm sure it will grow before music actually plays.

I may try to investigate that last mystery plug. I can't even figure out how the hell it was supposed to be useful with the wire as short as it is. It's a small purple square plug with 4 wires. It's barely poking it's head out right next to the shifter on the right side of the gear shifter. Tugging on it revealed no slack.

[CoconutPete]

Well... this game was so successful, I'd like to add 2 more entries.

#6 is really just more of a verification. I believe at least 1 of these is for the analog phone that was the thing back in the day, I'm just wondering if perhaps both were for the phone? They were taped down really close to one another.

# 7 is on a very short leash. It pops up just to the right of the shifter and it has almost no slack to it so I"m really curious about this one.

[amancuso]

Well... this game was so successful, I'd like to add 2 more entries.

#6 is really just more of a verification. I believe at least 1 of these is for the analog phone that was the thing back in the day, I'm just wondering if perhaps both were for the phone? They were taped down really close to one another.

# 7 is on a very short leash. It pops up just to the right of the shifter and it has almost no slack to it so I"m really curious about this one.

OLD thread, but 6 is probably the phone connector and 7 could be unused heated seat switch buttons if the car is not equipped.