Fault found

After a good nights sleep I was able to tackle the electrical problem with a clear mind but did it help - no!


I removed the scuttle again and took the opportunity to clean up all the wiring, it was just like spaghetti in there. After hours of searching I sent a quick mail to Peter asking whether it  could be relays. After a chat on the phone to him it ended up that it was indeed a relay problem as the fuel pump was on even when  the ignition was off! There are four BMW relays, all with the same part number as I far as I can see for various things but one is for the fuel pump.

All I did was swap it with another and then back again and it fired up no problems. I'll nip in to BMW tomorrow and buy some replacements. While clearing up the wiring I also fixed the background lights for the dash switches as a couple weren't working.

It's quite tight with wiring, switches, heater hoses, instrument cluster and wipers but now it's a little neater.

Another relay I'll need to change is the flasher relay. I changed to LED indicators and they were flashing twice as fast as usual. Peter told me it was the change in current drain to the lamps and that the easiest thing to do when changing from normal 12v bulbs to LED was change the relay. Ended the evening with a quick lap around the block, I had almost forgotten how great she sounds with the small backfire when de-accelerating. The neighbours are going to love me!