E38 Gone Mad!

Big Nasty

Hey all,

I've got what I think are electrical problems with my E38 - ok no surprise there but the chain of events are quite strange. Sitting in a queue for a carwash Sunday and was amusing myself by admiring my handsomeness in the sun visor mirror when all of a sudden the radio went dead, the vanity mirror light went dead and the car pinged 'Trans Failsafe Prog'. Car was running at the time but in park. Turned off the car, let it sit for 30 sec and started and all was good: radio back on and no error messages. Thought nothing off it as these cars do have their quirky moments and the gearbox felt fine.

Monday, the OH is driving the car and she said the radio 'got all screechy' while she was driving it but after a few minutes it cleared.

Tuesday day, I hear the screching on the radio, try changing channels - makes no odds. I remember the visor issue Sunday so flick down the visor and flick it back up, radio clears, no error messages, all good.

Tuesday evening driving home from work, pick up OH and she is nattering away. Pulls down visor (passenger side) to inspect herself in the vanity mirror, radio goes dead, vanity mirror light goes off, internal light comes on and 'Trans Failsafe Prog' error appears again. Close visor and carry on as in traffic, car not in limp mode or anything but radio dead. Get home, turn off engine, sit for 30 secs, turn back on, error msg clear but radio still wont work.

Wednesday morning, get in to car, starts fine, radio on, no pings or error messages, drive on - all good! After 5 mins radio starts screeching and skwaking like mad, neither myself or the OH has touched the visor or vanity mirror, radio goes dead and aftermarket hands free (has been in the car since I got it) goes dead too! No pings though!

Battery in the car seems fine and I have had no problems starting it at any time to date (touch wood). Trans feels perfect too!

Ideas!?!

biko

It sounds like a grounding problem. I recently had a similar problem on my e38. The airbag light was on and flickering, and when you opened the visor mirror, instead of the light above it coming on, the radio would turn off and the steering wheel would go up. Closing the mirror would make the wheel go back down, but the radio would stay off for a couple of days. It turned out that there was a bad ground in the ignition switch. Once replaced, everything worked fine.
Trans Failsafe Prog is the EGS computer trying to save itself from harm. This can be caused by a bad ground among other things.

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/68789

Big Nasty

Cheers biko - sounds almost identical to my problem!

Voodoomelon

Only saw this now, hope you got it solved. I was about two sentances in and thought "ignition switch, ignition switch, ignition switch".

If you are having any kind of electrical problem, first disconnect the battery for a few minutes and reconnect, if that doesn't work disconnect both cables from the battery and touch them together to do a hard reset. If that doesn't work its usually the ignition switch.

Big Nasty

Right - this problem was intermittent and was on my list of 'things I must do tomorrow' that never get done. Anyhow since yesterday it's now worse:

No radio
No horn
Brake lights on full time
Traction light on full time
Brake warning light on full time

Obviously this needs rapid attention - anyone recommend a good auto electrician in south Dub? What sort of dollars am I looking at?

Thanks!

El Guapo!

IMO the best auto-elec around is a place called Hamilton electrical. They're just off Camden street in a little lane called Grantham place. I use them all the time and they are top notch. The main guy is called Alan and the number is 01-4755157

Voodoomelon

Did you replace the ignition switch?

Big Nasty

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Did you replace the ignition switch?

Not yet - had left it on the long finger as problem wasn't that bad. Found one in a breakers today for €40 - have to go collect it tomorrow, weather permitting!

Voodoomelon

Easy job if you're any way handy:

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/244045