How to fix your BMW E30

E36 Coupe electrical windows common issues.

2014-02-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hi there! What a beautiful night - breezy and chilly.

I want to introduce you now the most common issues with the power windows of a BMW E36 Coupe.
Since the Coupes have the auto up-down windows when opening or closing the door, there are several issues with the power windows of the Coupes.

1) Window do not go up or down when opening or closing the door.

As you know, your window should roll down when opening the door. Also it should roll back up when the door is closed. This function is operated by a little button inside the door lock-to-chassis mecanism.
In other words... this:
[img]http://www.unofficialbmw.com/images/jambswitch-1.jpg[/img]

The little switch is plastic and it's worn off by the years of service. The best solution is to buy a replacement part and replace it. If you do not want to spend a fortune for a little part like this there are several cheaper solutions.
- You can apply glue on top of the switch, for example Poxipol or other plastic-type glues. The purpose of this is to thicken the switch so it would start to make good contact with the door again.
- You can put electrical tape over it, so you thicken it again. (read up)

Once you've done one of the 2 methods - voila, your window is rolling up/down again when you open or close the door!

2) Other common issue is that your window is tilted to the side, make strange clicking noises when you try to move it up or down, or simpli going up to some level then automatically goes down.

This is due to 2 plastic clips which are some kind of drivers for the window when the window goes up or down.
Let me show you:
[img]http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/792/699/496/496699792_077.jpg[/img]

There are 2 of those. The years of service damage them and they brake at some point. The replacement is inavoidable, but they are cheap - around 5 bucks each. The replacement is pretty much easy for a person who do not ask how to change a lightbulb or how to remove the doorcard of an E36 Coupe.

3) Other issues.

Mosly all of the issues are those 2 examples. However, if your window is not responding at all, there are two possibilities:
- Your window switch
- Window motor

To see if it is the switch, try pressing the switch (key position 1 or 2). If you hear a clicking sound behind the glovebox (window relay), then your switch is fine and the problem is the motor.
You can't repair a window motor, so you have to buy a replacement part. The replacing is pretty much straight forward too - the motor has 4 torx screws to unscrew then screw the new motor back again and so on....

A list of goodies for E30 and E36 to come ! (DIY list)

2013-06-11T08:27:00.001-07:00

This is a little list of the things i am going to write about in DIY style. If you find your problem amongst them, please check the blog periodically.

E30:
- Hydraulic pump replacement & problems with the power steering
- Radiator mount/dismount, air bleeding of the cooling system; Possible coolant leak spots.
- Spring replacement, Rubber bushes replacement, Shocks replacement (with OEM or Aftermarket parts)
- Installing and removing the entire dashboard + other parts.
- Solving the Touring problem with the clicking noise from the back
- Installing aftermarket audio in E30 Touring.

E36:
- Electric windows problems
- Cleaning of MAF, TTB, Intake etc.
- Coolant leaks; Air bleeding, Interesting info about the coolant level in the 6 cyl. engines.
- Replacement of the Head cover gasquet, spark plugs and ignition coils.
- Installation of the M-tech, package, including steering wheel, bumpers, shift knob, Recaro seats etc.

E36 Coupe electric window problems.

2013-06-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

The next article is going to be on common problems for the electric windows of BMW E36 Coupe. If you own a E36 Coupe, i suppose you are familiar with the nastry problems like the window stopped working, the window is not going down/up if opened/closed the door etc.
I am going to explain you all this, how it works, why it don't works and how to fix your problem.

Comming soon!

More goodies to come!

2013-06-10T12:39:00.003-07:00

Hi folks!

I didn't had much time to update the DIY articles lately, but i promise you i will post soon more DIY's for BMW E30 and from now on for E36 too, because i have to bring you the sad news - i sold my E30 and bought an E36 M-technik coupe.
See ya soon, folks!

Do you like to clean your car? I do - here is how i do it.

2012-11-04T02:42:00.000-08:00

Good day everybody.
I guess that's not only me who like to clean his car by himself. The reasons are basically not many and not frustrating but i don't like that:
- in autowash they don't wash properly my wheels.
- they don't clean the interior like i want.
- they take a LOT of money.

This are the reasons because of i like to wash my car.

Here is how i do it and how can you do it too if you don't have experience in this kind of work.

First of all, if you prefer to wash in in your yard, buy a bucket, car shampoo, a sponge and a microfiber towel to dry the car after.
This is how i do it:
1: Make the car wet , very wet until the water don't dissapear on spots in 1 minute. Pay attention to the rims and under the fenders too.
2: Dissolve some of the car shampoo in the bucket and clean the car with the sponge. Do it fast if you can, you don't want to see your car dry in the process. Pay attention to spots like around the wipers, under the hood in the windshield area etc.
3: Wash the car completely. I assume that you have missed a spot or two with the sponge, so wash away the car.
4: Clean the car with the sponge another time, but this time faster! Just rub without paying much attention.
5: Now wash the car very good with water. There are some gadgets that imitate a wiper blade, but much softer to primary take the water from the car. If you don't have any, use the towel and dry the car completely. Don't wait to get dry by herself. Make sure you wash the towel with clean water on every new detail as it gets dirty in the drying process.
Open the doors, the trunk, the hood and dry all the wet spots on the skirts etc.

To be continued for the interior.

DIY Simple keyless entry installation for E30

2012-10-22T08:38:00.001-07:00

Hi guys, today i'm going to explain to you how can you install keyless entry system to your E30 by yourself!

You will need:

- Keyless entry system
- Wire cutters
- Electrical tape
- Knife
- Solder and soldering iron.

How it's done:

Basically, all that stuff on the image is the little f-ker called keyless entry system. It's a bunch of wires, a module and two remote controllers.
I found the easiest place to install this on my touring in the trunk.
Anyways, the wires are the same for coupes/sedans/tourings/verts, except the power source (you can use your trunk dome light for touring, the power antenna for the rest of the models).

I suppose that you can dissasemble the trim in your trunk to work all the way down to the wires for the central locking actuator and i'm not going to explain how do you do this.

After doing it, loose the screws for the central locking actuator (CLA) and twist it a bit to set it free from the lock shaft. You will end up with the CLA in the hand. There are 5 wires:
Black - ground
Blue - don't know
White - don't know
Green/Black - lock signal
Green/Violet - unlock signal.

The E30 central locking system uses ground as trigger for the central locking. It means that it uses ground to lock the car and not power (12V).

The keyless entry system must have an instruction where the colors of the wires are described (12V source, ground, lock and unlock signal.
There are for example black and blown cable. Brown is ground and Black is 12V for positive trigger / Ground for negative trigger. In our case we use it for negative trigger to ground.
If there are 2 wires for lock and 2 wires for unlock signal, only 1 of them is working so you must figure out which one.
Splice a bit all the 5 wires and put the Black/Brown cable of the keyless entry system together on the brown cable for CLA. Extend the red one to 12V source. Now grab the remote, and use each wire for lock/unlock by making it touch the lock/unlock wire of the actuator. Press the remote lock/unlock button and see which wire it is. Cut and insulate the 2 extra wires, you don't have any work with them anymore.
After sorting out the signals and soldering everything up, you must have and extra wires with 2 diodes - this is the wire for the side markers/turn signals for blinking when you lock/unlock. I found it easier to cut the one wire before it splices into 2 and extend a single piece of wire from the trunk to the front of the car and not 2 wires.
The wires for the turn signals are Blue/Black and Blue/Violet as i remember. Solder 1-to-1 wires for each side and reassemble your car.
If you worked correctly, you must have keyless entry system with blinking turn signals for lock/unlock.

No go home, lock and unlock all night the car to see you signals blinking and on the next day find out that your battery is dead!

Cheers!

DIY: Illuminated heated seats switches

2012-10-21T13:20:00.001-07:00

Hi folks!

Today i'm going to show you how to make constant illuminated heated seats switches.

What you need:

- A pair of matching wire shoes (as the rest of the shoes of the switch, shown below)

- Clippers

- Extra wire (about 1 meter)

- Power source (rear ashtray)

- A couple of resistors (i used 4 on each wire to dim the light, you might need only 1 or 2 or more, depending on the Ohms)

How it's done:

Cut the wire in half ( 50 cm. for each switch)

On the one end of the wire put the cable shoe. Do the same for the both wires. Now you must have 2 wires with wire shoes.

Open the connectors for the switches and put the wire shoe in place (notice in the photo where are the wire shoes with different color, the ones i added)

Close the connectors and move to the next step.

Cut each wire in half again and add the resistors by soldering. Add as many as you need to get the light looks good for you.

Now hook up the wires to the 12V wire for the bulb in the rear ashtray (if you don't have multimeter, hook up one of the switches, get the lights on as the switch will only work with them on and fing out which wire is for the power simply by touching the wires together). After sorting out the power source hook everything you nice and tight and enjoy you illuminated switches!

Don't forget to mock your friends about theirs non-illuminated switches!

Installing rear headrests in your E30

2012-10-08T12:20:00.001-07:00

This is not very common, but very nice and almost easy procedure.
The rear headrests give you car a classy limo look, and it feels much comfortable when you are inside. And it is much for your passengers riding on the back seat to lay their heads down.

For the owners of E30 Touring, this mod is pretty much Plug&Play as the tourings come with OEM metal brackets that hold the headrest.
For the sedans/coupes you must get the brackets and install them in place.
OK, here is the DIY.

1. Materials
- Exacto knife
- 2 color matching rear headrests
- 4 plastic covers with their clips to hold them in place
- 4 plastic things that go inside the brackets and adjust the headrest height
- Flat screwdriver

2. Installation

I mentioned the touring has the metal brackets. If you already welded them to your sedan/coupe, you are ready to go too.
Here is a picture of the metal brackets:

All the parts needed:

First you need to remove the rear seat back sections. They are held in place with a pop-up button looking towards the center of the car (left for the right seat and right for the left seat)
Push the pop-up button inside with the flat screwdriver and putt out the seat. It should come out easely.

Now you must have two separated parts of the back seat.
To undo the soft part from the metal plate in the back you should:
Slide the back cover of the seat down, it should come out easy. Once you remove it you should see the metal plate.
The soft part is held to the plate by 6 clips - 4 at each side and 2 at the bottom of the seat, like this:

-------------
O---------O
-------------
O---------O
---O---O---

I found it easier to push one of the lower clips with the screwdriver. With room to reach in and grab the soft part you should unclip the rest of it easier. The rest of the job is to pull UP the seat cover.
You will end up like this:

You can see the position of the clips (the white things inside the metal plate.

Now locate the 2 holes in the foam on the back of the seat. This is where the headrest goes in.
Use some long object to push in the center and mark it on the outside of the seat.
Once done, use the exacto knife to cut an X in the seat, to make a hole.
Use the plastic covers now, put them in place and then put on the inside the plastic white clips(stoppers) to hold them in place. This is a little tricky to put the white plastic ring with so little place for hands, but use imagination.
Finished product:

Now put the other plastic things inside the metal brackets on the plate. They have 2 "pins" that allow only one possible way to put them in. Push all the way down until they clip themselves.

Assembly the seat in the reverse order and if you've done all correctly, you should be able to put the headrest in place, nice and tight.

Do the same with the other seat.
And Voila! You have rearheadrests! Mock your friends about how shitty look their cars with an "empty" back seat!

Sorry for the bad explanation for the "plastic things", english is not my native language! Hope you can understand the whole thing with the help of the images!

DIY: Smoked HELLA/Bosch euro elipsoids.

2012-10-08T06:25:00.002-07:00

We all know this sweet mod making home made smoked headlights.

It is pretty much easy, but doing it for the first time, please get a spare pair of headlights as you might break the glass of one of the headlights by accident.

What you need:

- 2 pairs of euro ellipsoid headlights (Hella/Bosch, doesn't matter)
- 1 tube of black silicone for glass/plastic
- Exacto knife
- 200 and 400 sandpaper
- 1 can of Black Matte or Black metallic spray.
- Source of really hot air (hot air pistol or something)
- A pair of metal plates to make the "cross" section of the inner headlights.
- A big flat screwdriver.

Doing the good stuff.

OK, let's start. Grab a mate to chit-chat, bring some beers and a pair of chairs.

Release each headlight from the height adjustment screws. It's very easy to do it.
You will want to get out the elipsoid out from the low beams! They are held by 2 screws. Unscrew them&twist the whole thing to unclip it, then pull it back gently.
When you have 2x2 low and high beams, you are ready to go.

Starting with the Low beams:

Apply heat gently to the glass with the hot air source. You don't want to break it! If that happens, you have a spare pair of headlights, but dont rely on that.
Once heated, grab the screwdriver and try gently to pull out the glass. If it don't start to come out, apply some more heat, but be careful!
At some point you should be able to get the glass out and finish like this:

Now grab the sandpaper and begin with 200 to sand down the plastic cover. Proceed with 400 to smooth it perfectly. You will end up like this:

Now spray the cover with 2 or 3 coats of paint and let it dry.

As you can see, the factory glue remains on the glass and on the plastic part of the low beam. With the exacto knife grind down all the glue possible. You want to seal the headlights perfectly, don't you?

This is the exact moment to inspect the lenses and the reflector of the headlight. Clean the lenses but don't touch with fingers the reflector surface as it might fall down! Use a soft cotton to clean the reflector from dust and etc. but don't apply pressure!

Moving to the high beams.

If you don't already have the "cross" plates, here is the template for them: http://www.r3vlimited.com/Hella.pdf

Spray them black with the same technique as the low beams.
One very important thing! If you want to copy the original Smoked Hella look, don't forget to spray the metal cup covering the bulb on the High beams too! If you don't do that, you will end you with shitty high beams!

This is wrong in so many ways!

You have a choice - glue the crosses to the high beam, or make holes for the stock dents as you can see on the picture.

When ready, seal it tightly with the silicone and put some pressure on the glasses, to seal properly (use books or whatever you find to apply pressure) Let it dry for one night and then assembly everything back together.

Now, enjoy your pretty headlights and mock your friends with stock white headlights!

Photos: Google, E30Tech.com

Removal / Assembly of door cards.

2012-10-08T05:44:00.001-07:00

Hi folks.

Today i'm going to explain you how to remove and then assembly your door cards. It's pretty much a beginners DIY. You just have to locate the screws&unscrew them.

This is a typical door card of a BMW E30 coupe, there is no difference between removal of coupe and sedan/touring door cards.

There are 2 screws unted the little armrest on the door handle (as you can see) and 1 up, below the plastic piece that covers the hole for the switch for the electric powered mirrors (there is room in both door handles for that switch, but it depends on the direction of the car on which side the switch is located, the other side has an plastic piece that covers up the hole.
Untighten the door lock stick and pull it out too, remove the plastic cover that surrounds the door unlock lever and you are pretty much ready to go.
Unclip gently the door card from the door (there are several plastic clips on the other side of the door card, be careful not to break them. If any of the clips remain clipped at the door, pull it out gently with a thin but strong knife and put it back on the card).
Then gently slide up the door card (there are few metal brackets that hold the door card, you will see them.
And you are ready to go!

The assembly of the door card is pretty much the reverse order of removal.

E30 central locking issues

2012-10-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Everybody who have a BMW E30 knows that it's a miracle to have a fully working central locking.
But the most of us dont have it fully working, or not working at all.
I will describe the most common issues of the central locking and how to fix them, as i build a fully functional central locking from the ashes.

First of all, i want to describe you the parts of the central locking system and what is the purpose of each one of them.

Introduction

1. CLCU (Central locking control unit)

This is the "brain" of the central locking system. It is located behind the kick panel on the drivers side of the car (depends on the country).
It is mounted on a metal plate that holds it still to the chassis as inside the CU there is a system that controls the central locking in case of crash (it automatically unlocks the whole car in case of impact). Thats the reason that the CU must remain tight at its specific place.

2. Central locking actuators

This is the central locking actuator (this makes the door lock/unlock)
As you can see it has 2 colors.
The coupes have 4 actuators (2 at doors, 1 at trunk lock and 1 at gas tank door) and the sedans and tourings have 6 actuators (4 at doors etc.)
The colors of the actuators are the following:
Drivers door - White/Red
Passenger door - Red/Red
Rear doors - Red/White
Trunk and gas tank door - White/Red.

3. Central locking microswitch

This is the so called lock microswich. It's held by a metal bracket in the passenger door near the door lock cylinder. The lock cylinder has an "arm" that in the position of locking pushes the microswich button and tells the CLCU to lock the car. Thats why the CL is sometimes only unlocking the doors via the passengers door but not locking it.

Troubleshooting:

1. The famous "drivers door loop".

These are two Red/Black wires coming from the main harness, going through the pin connector at the drivers side door, making a loop inside the door and getting back in the CLCU.
Tha main known issue with those wires is that they corrode in time inside the door and don't make the proper connection.

This is pretty much the explanation of the process. You must locate the two Red/Black wires in the kick panel area and solder them together to bypass the loop in the door. This is one of the reasons that the central locking isn't working.

2. Pin connectors rust/corrosion.

Another reason of non functional central locking is corrosion on the pins in the doors connectors.

Disassemble the connector, spray with WD-40 any rust or corrosion spotted, check the pins&wires and assemble back together. It's easier first to put the rubber boot on the female connector before connecting it to the male part.

3. Door lock actuators.

This is common issue, leading to non-working CL on specific door. The most common problem is that the selenoid inside the actuator isn't working at all and can't move - can't lock/unlock the door.
Each actuator is located inside the door, held by 2 screws.
Dissasemble the door card (Article: Removal / Assembly of door cards.) and locate the 2 screws holding the actuator in place.
Inspect for wire damage at the connector and make sure they are adjusted properly.
The adjustment is pretty easy: untighten a little bit (move the actuator freely), push the door lock stick inside (locked position) and do the same with the actuator (locked position) then adjust the actuator down as much as there is no free movement of the actuators arm (if you pull out the door lock stick it must immediately pull the actuators arm with no free movement before it pulls the actuators arm out). Then tighten back the screws and you are ready. Inadjusted actuators could be a problem in the central locking system too.

4. The microswitch.

This is very common problem with the passengers door.
The microswitch is held by a metal bracket near to the door lock cylinder. The door lock cylinder has an arm that pushes the microswitch button and sends a lock signal to the CLCU.

The most common issue is that the arm on the cylinder is wore out and can't push properly the microswitch. The best solution is to buy a door lock cylinder rebuild kit (OEM part ~ 50$)
.If you don't want to do it, the other way to fix this is to figure out on your own how to make the wore out arm push the microswitch properly. Feel free to experiment. I did it myself with building a custom metal arm (thats sits on top of the microswitch)

5. CLCU Internal fuse.

The CLCU has internal fuse that desolders itself in case of problem with the CLCU (as if there is a problem the CLCU get hotter) or can just break.
You just need to dissasemble the CLCU , locate the fuse and solder it back together.

This is it pretty much everything folks. A problem with the central locking can be damaged wires etc. but i assume you can figure that out by yourself.
Feel free to ask if you have an issue outside the mentioned in this article.

Best wishes,
Petromir (E30 Touring owner)

Photos: Google, E30Tech.com