Electrical Issues in a 1998 740iL. Please Help!

I just found this site and have limited experience with cars and was wondering if anyone could help. We recently purchased a 1998 BMW 740il and have had weird electrical issues from the beginning. About 50% of the time the radio won't work. And if the radio does not work, the horn is out. Recently when the radio would not turn on, the steering wheel would go up and down. Sometimes when my wife pulls down the visor vanity mirror (driver's side) the radio will turn on and everything will be okay. To hard to explain and to weird. You almost have to see it. When we took it to a repair shop, they were baffled? Any ideas or suggestions? Something is going on that controls the radio, horn, steering wheel adjustment, light to the vanity mirrors on driver and passenger. If the radio comes on everything is fine. If it does not, the # of things that don't work vary. They will always include the horn and vanity lights on the visor. Sometimes the electrical problems extend to the ABS light staying on and the steering wheel going up and down. Don't even know where to start or if I took it again to a repair shop, where I would tell them to start looking. Does anyone know of a great BMW auto shop around Hartford, CT (we live 18 miles west of Hartford).Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Tony

sorry to take soo long, but here we go. a couple of questions though your symptom list looks quite complete.
1] do you know if it's been in a crash ?
2] has the battery gone dead since ownership ?
3] have you been to a dealer or MoDiC/GT-1 equipped independant shop yet ?
4] have you tried 'fairy dust', oh, sorry, not yet...jb.

the next time it does this wiggle the ignition switch to see if the problem goes away.

sorry to take soo long, but here we go. a couple of questions though your symptom list looks quite complete.
1] do you know if it's been in a crash ?
2] has the battery gone dead since ownership ?
3] have you been to a dealer or MoDiC/GT-1 equipped independant shop yet ?
4] have you tried 'fairy dust', oh, sorry, not yet...jb.

Thanks for the reply. The car has not been in an accident and I don't know about the battery. It has not gone dead since we have owned the car. We are the 3rd owner and the guy before us treated it with kid gloves. We had the 60,000 mile service recently done at a shop that specializes in foreign cars. Have not been to a dealer yet, but might be the next step if we cannot figure this out. We live in the boone docks and the closest dealership is pretty far. Last night I took off the cover to the fuses and the main area where the wire harnesses meet up. I tried to see if anything was obvious and pulled on the wires and tried to move them around with little success (actually none). The strangest stuff going on. If the radio does not come on at ignition, then the horn is also out. SOmetimes when we open the vanity mirror on the drivers side, the radio will come on and the horn and everything will be perfect. Like I said in the post, when the radio does not come on at iginition, the horn, vanity lights on the driver and passenger side will not engage and it seems that we also don't have the power steering. SOmeone else replied about the ignition switch and wiggle that. Do you know where that is? It seems that something just is not clicking when we start the ignition. Sometimes after we drive a bit the radio and all other problems start working. Sometimes they don't. Thanks and if you have pixey dust, please let me know. THis is driving my wife nuts, but it would also bother me. It happens to often. Other than that the car is amazing. Thanks, TOny.

the next time it does this wiggle the ignition switch to see if the problem goes away.


Thanks for the advice Crash. I don't want to seem like a complete idiot, but do you mean to just wiggle the keys after ignition or are you talking about something else? When the problems occur (about 60% of the time or more) it is always at ignition. When the radio does not work it will always not work at ignition. It sometimes eventually comes on, but it has never started (radio) and then went out. Like I said in the post, the radio is always one of the items. The horn is always an item and the lights on the vanity mirrors. Sometimes is appears to include the power steering, the ABS light on the dash and the light with the triangle (traction? light). Thanks for your help.
Tony

wouldn't life be nice if our major problems were lack of a vanity light, music and a loud warning device.....I DO understand your and your wifes anoyance though and love these types of problems
at work.
Problem #1 is as of '98, BMW doesn't publish much in the way of schematics anymore, they're stored in the prepiatory diagnostic computers [ MoDiC IV & the newer GT-1 ]...i have a MoDiC @ work. I haven't run across your symtoms yet and can't wait to either figure it out [from 2,000 miles] OR hear what the answer was.
I'm taking your info in mon. and will look for the common circuit. these cars have gotten so complex my memory is no longer sufficient and they differ greatly model to model.
There's a good deal of info. in what you and your wife have been able to note, HOPE I CAN find you something of value tomorrow
I Shall Return.................................jb.

ps...'crash' was speaking of the key switch, try anything once or twice.....................jb.

TONY, i did a litle research today, no S.I.B's BMW has published address your problem except one that may apply. IF your 'forgeign car specialist' has access to the factory bulletins have them look at S.I.B. # 61 14 00, dated nov. 2000. this deals with a possible harness damage issue inside of the right front wheel housing. After reviewing available schematics, i discovered a few commonalities in the circuits your having prblems with starting with the simplest [vanity mirror lamps] since this one only involves B+, a switch, the lamp & B-[ground]. these lamps, horn, radio, adj. steering colunm module, General Module, Cluster, Trans. rRange Lamp and some others that might include the ServoTronic [steering boost] all feed though fuses F41 to F47. AND ALL THOUGH CONNECTOR X10017 at the fuse box. interesting, no?........while your problem might be this connector being loose, it's also quite possible there's an intermittant open in the power feed from the ignition switch to or at this grouping of fuses. it should be fairly easy to isolate the failing part of the circuit with the symptoms present and the E-box cover already off for testing. if your local guys aren't comfortable with this, your only recourse will be the Dealer and hopefully a tech with training, knowledge and experience [i seen ALL kinds @ dealerships]

I wish iI could be more help than this but some problems are also 50% hands-on stuff which is hard to do from the NW. post or mail me if i can be of any more help OR when you've fixxed it............jb.

TONY, i did a litle research today, no S.I.B's BMW has published address your problem except one that may apply. IF your 'forgeign car specialist' has access to the factory bulletins have them look at S.I.B. # 61 14 00, dated nov. 2000. this deals with a possible harness damage issue inside of the right front wheel housing. After reviewing available schematics, i discovered a few commonalities in the circuits your having prblems with starting with the simplest [vanity mirror lamps] since this one only involves B+, a switch, the lamp & B-[ground]. these lamps, horn, radio, adj. steering colunm module, General Module, Cluster, Trans. rRange Lamp and some others that might include the ServoTronic [steering boost] all feed though fuses F41 to F47. AND ALL THOUGH CONNECTOR X10017 at the fuse box. interesting, no?........while your problem might be this connector being loose, it's also quite possible there's an intermittant open in the power feed from the ignition switch to or at this grouping of fuses. it should be fairly easy to isolate the failing part of the circuit with the symptoms present and the E-box cover already off for testing. if your local guys aren't comfortable with this, your only recourse will be the Dealer and hopefully a tech with training, knowledge and experience [i seen ALL kinds @ dealerships]

I wish iI could be more help than this but some problems are also 50% hands-on stuff which is hard to do from the NW. post or mail me if i can be of any more help OR when you've fixxed it............jb.

WOW!. That was a great reply!!! Thanks so much or looking into this. One question. Is it obvious which connector is X10017? Is this just a harness connection at the fuse box? If it is obvious (numbered or some identifier) than I would look to see if it was loose. One other question, if there was an intermittent open in the power feed from the ignition switch to the group of fuses, would it be possible that this switch could open and close and open while the car was on? Once the radio comes on, the radio will stay on. If that happens, can it be an intermittent open? Another way to ask...Once the open is closed, will it stay closed or could it open again? Thanks again for your research. Wish you lived in CT. TOny