E39 weird electrical issues

**e90Erick** · 02-14-2019, 03:30 AM

Hello, I recently purchased a 1998 BMW 523i touring in Germany. This car is overall a great car but I have run into some issues that I just cant figure out the cause and dont want to spend days tearing apart something I dont need to. This car has some weird qwirks with its electrical. The windshield wipers work, sometimes. The main interior lights work but only sometimes as well. I caught it doing locking and unlocking itself and turing the interior lights on and off when i wasnt in the car the other night. The car seems to have a mind of its own. My expertise is not with the E39 or the 5 series (e90 guy) and I am not that well versed on electrical on cars. Let me know what you think.

**geargrinder** · 02-14-2019, 10:03 AM

Two things.

The electrical ignition switch goes bad and shorts in weird ways and causes kookie behaviours. Common. Not at all hard to replace, you remove the cover below the steering column and loosen 2 screws and unplug the wires and then put a new one in.

The worse one is if the car has large and persistent water leaks from the sunroof or doors, then the passenger floor (down below the carpet and a thick insulation pad where you can't tell its there) fills with water. Then a bunch of fuses and wires down there rust into a total mess. The carpet may not feel wet at all, it might just appear to be fine, but is really a disaster swimming pool down there. Then all kind of weird things stop working or short out and do weird stuff. This is a much bigger pain in the arsehole.

There's a whole bunch of threads on it because its so common but here's one with scary pictures. (sorry to scare you but... its a thing you should know about)

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...nder-pass-seat

**JimLev** · 02-14-2019, 10:09 AM

GG beat me to it. I'd check under the carpet first, if that looks clean then the ignition switch.

Welcome to the forum.

**BimmrMeUpSnotty** · 02-14-2019, 12:42 PM

Man, if we could collect a penny for every time this issue pops up, we’d be really rich by now.

**Ed CT** · 02-14-2019, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by BimmrMeUpSnotty

Man, if we could collect a penny for every time this issue pops up, we’d be really rich by now.

Agree. And, from what I hear, the E60 guys would be able to buy us E39 guys out three times over!!

**E3901** · 02-14-2019, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by Ed CT

Agree. And, from what I hear, the E60 guys would be able to buy us E39 guys out three times over!!

I Too have extremely odd electrical issues forgive me for I am new here and was not sure to post this but I was hoping someone could offer useful info. I bought this car about a week ago it is a 2001 525i 5 speed everything works great on the car except in the my fuse box where the glove box when tested with a test light none of my interior accessories work such as the following: No horn no interior light what so ever (including gauge cluster) no trunk release button none of my windows roll down rear doors do not open cigarette lighter does not work windshield whippers do not work essentially everything interior wise including rapid blinking blinkers. If anyone has any ideas on what this issue could be can you please PM me or continue this thread thank you.

**JimLev** · 02-14-2019, 02:38 PM

E3901, you should have started your own post. Never the less welcome to the forum.
Your answer is in post 2&3 above. Start looking under the carpet. Post 2 has a link.

**Ed CT** · 02-14-2019, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by E3901

I Too have extremely odd electrical issues forgive me for I am new here and was not sure to post this but I was hoping someone could offer useful info. I bought this car about a week ago it is a 2001 525i 5 speed everything works great on the car except in the my fuse box where the glove box when tested with a test light none of my interior accessories work such as the following: No horn no interior light what so ever (including gauge cluster) no trunk release button none of my windows roll down rear doors do not open cigarette lighter does not work windshield whippers do not work essentially everything interior wise including rapid blinking blinkers. If anyone has any ideas on what this issue could be can you please PM me or continue this thread thank you.

With all those issues, you'd be better off starting your own thread. But before you do, research on this board - there's lots of posts regarding these things. A recent post had a big mess in the fuse box under the front passenger carpet due to water ingress. Read up and then post some questions on a new thread.

Jim - you beat me to it!

**E3901** · 02-14-2019, 03:25 PM

Thanks for the feed back guys much appreciated funny fact my name is Ed and I’m also from Connecticut maybe we can figure out our junks together 😂 but JimLev is like to say my car has zero signs of any possible water leaks seems tight and moisture free but always worth considering I may go pick up a ignition switch right now and maybe play around a bit

**E3901** · 02-14-2019, 04:07 PM

One more question is there a tell tale sign that the ignition switch is failing such as when I stalled my car once I had to take the key completely out in order to re start it. Is that normal?

**geargrinder** · 02-14-2019, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by E3901

Thanks for the feed back guys much appreciated funny fact my name is Ed and I’m also from Connecticut maybe we can figure out our junks together  but JimLev is like to say my car has zero signs of any possible water leaks seems tight and moisture free but always worth considering I may go pick up a ignition switch right now and maybe play around a bit

3rd time. Start your own thread.

Just because you think your car is dry doesn’t mean there’s not water under there. It’s not water that you notice running all over the seats or anything, it’s secret water that sneaks down the pillars into the floor under the carpet and you don’t even know it’s there.

**BimmrMeUpSnotty** · 02-14-2019, 07:49 PM

ChaChing! Getting richer!

**e90Erick** · 02-15-2019, 02:53 AM

Originally Posted by geargrinder

Two things.

The electrical ignition switch goes bad and shorts in weird ways and causes kookie behaviours. Common. Not at all hard to replace, you remove the cover below the steering column and loosen 2 screws and unplug the wires and then put a new one in.

The worse one is if the car has large and persistent water leaks from the sunroof or doors, then the passenger floor (down below the carpet and a thick insulation pad where you can't tell its there) fills with water. Then a bunch of fuses and wires down there rust into a total mess. The carpet may not feel wet at all, it might just appear to be fine, but is really a disaster swimming pool down there. Then all kind of weird things stop working or short out and do weird stuff. This is a much bigger pain in the arsehole.

There's a whole bunch of threads on it because its so common but here's one with scary pictures. (sorry to scare you but... its a thing you should know about)

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...nder-pass-seat

Thank you for the help, I will be pulling the carpet tonight. Also on a side note I am from Connecticut living in Germany and I have access to every BMW model you could imagine. I have a couple of E34s in a junkyard on base that im looking at aquiring right now. So if anyone is looking to import a car from Germany I can give good insight or if your looking for a car over here I can help you to the best of my knowledge find one. I'll post a new thread about it but thought i'd let yall in on it first.

**geargrinder** · 02-15-2019, 08:14 AM

Sounds cool! I'd love an E34 Touring project. They are extremely rare over here. One was for sale few years back and I passed not realizing how unusual it was... That said, not as good a car as the E39, but, it does have more BMW-classic styling...

Good luck with all projects and post back what you find.