Attention: ALL E36 owners beware - WIRING PROBLEM

[G. P. Burdell]

Did you replace any fuses that might have blown?

[UR2SLOW]

Would you believe that I didn't have any blown

[E36_Savage]

Originally posted by Kryptide
yes i just got some oem clears....the euro look, i started having probs like this when i put them in. oh well. i just wanna make sure its nothing serious.

My friend has the oem clears and his tail light sign comes up sometimes too...

[BiMmEr JoN]

my door locks started acting up again. i fixed it when i wrapped the wires in electrical tape. something must be touching back there again. this can't be good.

[BiMmEr JoN]

my door locks started acting up again. i fixed it when i wrapped the wires in electrical tape. something must be touching back there again. this can't be good.

[BiMmEr JoN]

my door locks started acting up again. i fixed it when i wrapped the wires in electrical tape. something must be touching back there again. this can't be good.

[BRUNO]

I know the answer to the doors acting up. If you have this problem thats because when you push the pin down and it pops back up. It's because when you close the door there is a small pin that goes into the rocker panel. That gets worn out and what you have to do is change it. It's like 30mins to a hour job. Check it out. It's like a stick type that you have to push it in like your frig that makes the lights go out. Hope this helps

[Boomer]

hmmm.. i have the door lock problem.
i have the stock bmw alarm system on my 93 325is.
when i unlock the doors they(including trunk) lock again after 2 seconds. my passenger door doesnt react at all to the unlocking neither from the drivers side not the trunk.
when i unlock the car from the pasenger side then everything works then locks again after 2 seconds.

NYPLAYA, would you mind explaining me about the door lock problem? thanks.

[buckrdoe]

Does this also apply to a 1993 318i ? I'm new so LOL

[BRUNO]

Ok the door issue. I think the name of the part it's called door striker. here is an Example, When you close your frig. The door hits a clip that goes in to turn off the light in the frig right. The same issue it's for the car. This part breaks after time. If you close all door but 1 clip is broken the pins pop back up.

[Turkish]

THE WiRES ARE KNOW TO CRACK, BMW have a replacement loom as and when you need it, a cheak everynow and then would not do any of you any harm!:

[p3rsian]

ok i figured out where the trunk wires are.. (the pics posted)
do u guys have any pics of the 2nd set of wires? i cant seem to find them

[M42 Technik]

Wow, I was just about to post this problem and I thought I was the only one. Whenever I open my trunk while the car is on my entire right side parking lights and rear brake lights turn off. The interior tach and speedo lights go off as well as the window switch lights. One 10amp fuse is blown, I forget which one. When my car is off I can open the trunk and no fuses are blown. This happens every time I open the trunk while the car is on. I think it's safe to say there is a short somewhere where the wires run through the trunk.

Thanks for the thread, and I hope I can find the wires that are shorting out.

Bryan

[UR2SLOW]

Originally posted by M42 Technik
Thanks for the thread, and I hope I can find the wires that are shorting out.

Bryan

There are pictures that should assist in the location of the bad wires on pages 3 & 4 of this thread.

[M42 Technik]

Hey guys,

I just popped the wires out today and look what I found! Looks like I found the problem to why my fuse kept blowing. The funny this is I opened it up about a month ago and didn't see the damaged wires. I guess I didn't look carefully enough or I missed them by a few inches. Anyways, thanks for your help. It looks almost identical to the picture posted earlier in this thread. One of the wires actually broke off completely (the red/green one), and two were hanging by a thread! The others were simply exposed but only 2 wires were still intact.

Anyone have any idea what the red/green wire does? After I reconnected it I didn't notice anything. All my lights were already working. But now I can finally open my trunk when the car is on without blowing a fuse. I've spent enough money on those stupid 10amp fuses.

[G. P. Burdell]

The red/green wire in my car's harness (see pictures I posted on previous pages of this thread) is one of five wires that go to the trunk lock actuator. It leads to the smaller of the two plugs that go into the actuator. Check your Bentley manual's electrical diagrams for your particular car.

In my replacement harness there is another red/green wire that goes to an unused plug, but I have no idea what it would power. Perhaps it's for the third brake light on a rear spoiler.

[M42 Technik]

Originally posted by G. P. Burdell
The red/green wire in my car's harness (see pictures I posted on previous pages of this thread) is one of five wires that go to the trunk lock actuator. It leads to the smaller of the two plugs that go into the actuator. Check your Bentley manual's electrical diagrams for your particular car.

In my replacement harness there is another red/green wire that goes to an unused plug, but I have no idea what it would power. Perhaps it's for the third brake light on a rear spoiler.

I just tested it out. You were correct, it's for the truck lock actuator. I just hope my quick dix solution lasts.

Bry

[Jx2]

Thanks for the head up Jon, I'll be sure to check this out. :

[mrhyde]

Thank god for this post, I have an electrical mystery, I hope this is the answer, haven't physicaly checked it yet, but I'm sure this is it( strange plastic burning smell the other day).

[Don Nguyen]

anyone know if any of those wires may correlate to the cd changer not playing or ejecting the cd magazine, possibly from the loss of power from the wires on the trunk lid? thjanks

[G. P. Burdell]

Originally posted by AirborneDEN
anyone know if any of those wires may correlate to the cd changer not playing or ejecting the cd magazine, possibly from the loss of power from the wires on the trunk lid? thjanks

The trunk lid wiring harness doesn't contain any wires for the CD changer.

[Hellrot 325IC]

1c

[poynter]

Just wanna say thanks for this thread.
I was replacing my taillights with clears and thought I might as well check it out and sure enough half the wires were bare were they were kinked so i wrapped em all up in electrical tape and it felt pretty good finding it before something went wrong.

It wasnt too bad so maybe previous owners didnt use the trunk much...

[atlantisvip]

One of my license plate lights is always failing, thanks Bimmerjon.
But like Dan said, It sucks that it gets dark so early.
92 325i

[raymondrza]

Solid thread. I now have another thing to worry about, but this is good info...

Peace
Mark