Electrical Question? arrgh.

[JonathanCyr]

Here's the deal:

1998 323ic, auto. A few months ago I noticed that every once in a while while driving the radio or cd would go dead momentarily and the dash lights would go off, only to come back on later and I'd have to reset the radio presets. No biggie, but annoying. Then last week, I came to a stop and when I pressed on the gas, little power like it was in fourth gear. Another thing I noticed was that the transmission light, ABS, and ASC came one. When I restarted the car things were fine.

I took the car in to BMWOFNASHVILLE, and the service manager said maybe it was an alternator problem and that the transmission defaults to a high gear for safety, which makes sense. (Go BMW!) Anyhow, they did about $500 or so on the car (sorry can't find the invoice to tell you what precisely) and I thought everything was gravy. Until tonight. I was entering the expressway, top down, and decided to roll the windows up for comfort. I pressed the "all window express-up button", and the cd played stopped for a moment, the odometer went out, and the ASC/ABS lights illuminated. The CD quickly resumed, but the odometer and warning lights stayed off/on respectively. I shifted to N and restarted the vehicle, everything was normal. Imagine my disappointment, for I thought this was behind me.

What is the problem? I'll take it back to BMW, but don't know what to tell the guy, and don't really want to pay for the same problem twice.

Also, the driver's window won't express-up all the way. Hasn't for a few months. It goes about 1/3 of the way then down an inch, then I have to press and hold for it to go completely up. Weird!

[BMWTECH]

Allright jon, lets see if I can help...Your problem is a VERY wierd one. I think it has to do with a wiring problem, either shorting out or maybe a loose ground or something to that nature. It is hard to fix not looking at the car and I don't want to tell you to go waste alot of money at the dealer. Too bad your car isn't under warranty or a CPO warranty. I am gathering that it is a convertible so it might be possible that you have water somewhere or some corroded connectors to either the general module or something like that. The other problem you described with the window is because it sees an overamperage situation and thinks that something is trapped, therefore stopping the one touch close and opening it I believe 10-15mm. It could be related to everything going on with the car or it could be a isolated event. It is possible that it is the regulator or the slides that the windo rubs against. The rubber could be dry and causing a bad restriction, therefore increasing the amperage output requirement of the motor, setting in antitrap. I would try lubing the window guides, the rubber channels in the door, just spay lube down in there at the ends of the window and along the whole top of the door with the window down. If it still doesn't fix it, then either something is wrong with the motor or the sliders that the regulator meets up with the window itself. Hope this helps.

[JonathanCyr]

Had the car checked out yesterday. The ground wire wasn't properly connected to the new alternator. Thanks man, you're a champ. And so is Jeph over at BMWOFNASH., for not charging me.