BMW Electrical problems

[bradbmw]

We have a 1992 BMW 530tds with some very confusing electrical issues. The car is located in eastern Europe and we have difficulty communicating with our mechanic in English, so need some help to point him in the right direction.

The initial problem was that the battery would go dead if the car was not driven for 2 days. The mechanic said the door locks were causing this to happen and #changed something# to disable the door locks. The battery no longer discharges, which we are happy about. But the power door locks no longer work, along with a few other things...

After the "fix", door locks, windshield wipers, dome light, power windows no longer work. Now here's the really odd part. They no longer work EXCEPT if the driver and passenger side door locks are "unlocked" -- then everything works the way it was intended (just don't lock the doors in a rain storm...).

The only clue we have as to what was done or not done is that we found a fuse on the seat after the mechanic worked on the car and (through a translator) it was said that a very expensive part was needed to really fix the car. We are guessing this expensive part is the computer, but don't know and can't really comunicate to find out.

Any ideas as to what to do or specifically what's wrong? Thanks for your help!

[Susan Muzik]

Hello - I am experiencing a similar problem. After 2 days my 2000 BMW 528i will not start. The battery continues to die. I just replaced the battery on Nov 22, 2004. A week after, my car would not start. I had it jumped and it was good for another week. I brought it to a BMW dealer located in northern California. They put in a new battery. They also put the car into a hybernating state and monitored the electronics. They could not determine any abnormal electrical draws on the battery. I brought my car home. Two days later it would not start. I brought it back to BMW. Again they monitored it and found nothing. They installed a "final phase" part yesterday and my car started this morning. The true test will be tomorrow. I asked them to check out the locking/alarm systems to see if these could be the source of the problem. They indicated no. It's been extremely frustrating. I'm still inclined to think it has something to do with the locks/alarm. Time will tell.