E39 Problems part 2

"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
12/08/2015 at 15:56 • Filed to: Cheap E39, e39 problems

So a few weeks ago I found out what it feels like when your !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , well last morning I went out to my car in the morning after a particularly rainy few days (that part becomes important later), got in turned the key, and all the accessories powered on as they normally would. I tried to start the car and, nothing. I hear a series of clicks and then all the lights came back on really dim. My first assumption was dead battery, I’d just bought a BT OBDII reader and left it in overnight so I figured it had stayed on and drained the system. To avoid a wall of text I’ll summarize what I tried in list form.

Jump start, no start/no crank

Charging Battery, no start/no crank

Battery connections, all good

Fuses, none blown

Key immobilizer issue, tried two keys

Replacement battery (free under battery warranty), no start/no crank

My breakthrough came when I was drying up some mysterious condensation that had formed around my battery box in the trunk. I was reaching around the bottom of the tray with a towel when my hand fell upon some deep standing water. I took out my trunk mat and found about 4-5” of water in the spare tire well. It was high enough to fully submerge these two boxes (you can see where the water line was)

I later found out that these are voltage regulators for a Hella Celis taillight retrofit (which I wasn’t aware I had :P ). I drained the water, disconnected the voltage regulators and the car started right up, albeit without tail lights. Tried to air dry overnight but ended up with the same no start issue in the morning after reconnecting everything. Next, figuring they were probably dead anyway, I put the regulators in the oven for a few hours (low heat!) just to make sure any remaining water was removed. Hooked them back up and now everything appears to be working normally again. Today I got some more major rain and I was able to determine that the water is getting in through the passenger side taillight gasket. I’ll be sure to throw some gasket maker on that over the weekend which should put the issue to bed. I’m actually staggered that these regulators were able to dissipate that kind of power without popping a fuse or causing a fire.

Also, looks at all these connections that were probably getting splashed every single time I made a hard left turn...

DISCUSSION (35)

MonkeePuzzle > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:04

who the heck designed this!?

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:05

Sounds like my S4, although mine is in the passenger compartment. So now the interior has to be stripped.

Decay buys too many beaters > MonkeePuzzle
12/08/2015 at 16:08

Ze Germans

Decay buys too many beaters > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
12/08/2015 at 16:12

Wait, your battery is in the passenger compartment?!?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:13

brake booster... full of water

Kinja'd!!!

Voltage regulators in the spare tire well, underwater.

Kinja'd!!!

Was the E39, perchance, designed for operation on Negative World, where magically sparkling dry rain falls upward?

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:14

No, but I have a leak from the bottom seal of the windshield on the drivers side, and water leaked in, and now I have no gauges, and 4 inches of water in the rear footwell.

So it wasn’t a battery compartment issue, but it did cause some interesting side effects with the carpet and other electrics. So I’m stripping the interior because racecar.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:18

This happened on a friends 09 1 series. Leaky taillight on a fairly new car. Ruined all the wiring and connectors for the lights.

HammerheadFistpunch > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:19

But...German engineering?

Decay buys too many beaters > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/08/2015 at 16:20

Basically that was my thought as well, I honestly have no idea why they made some of their design decisions.

Want a fun time do a google search for “water in brake booster” pretty much every single result is a BMW forum.

Decay buys too many beaters > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/08/2015 at 16:23

Thankfully I caught it before it ruined anything... yet

Decay buys too many beaters > HammerheadFistpunch
12/08/2015 at 16:26

German enginering

Kinja'd!!!

German electrical engineering

Kinja'd!!!

phenotyp > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:26

Very similar to the issues I had with my E60. Spare wheel well and battery well filled up (sunroof drain issue). BMW put the TPMS and sat radio modules in the wheel well— dead dead dead. Battery was up to its neck in water, which I didn’t discover until I was almost home from work (though the momentary instrument freakout on the way in should have warned me that something was seriously not right), and the car just dies in the middle of an intersection.

SO GERMAN

HammerheadFistpunch > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:31

I want to live in a world where a car exists that:

The suspension, transmission and steering was done by the Germans

The exterior was done by the Italians

The engine was done by the US

and the Electronics and assembly was done in Japan.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 16:36

I think it’s axiomatic that if your business practice is to put a lot of thought into the design of things, anything crazy or blind-spot-ish that has crept into your thinking will have greatly magnified results. In other words, it’s possible to over-engineer crazy into something, at a much greater crazy volume than could have occurred naturally.

Decay buys too many beaters > HammerheadFistpunch
12/08/2015 at 16:40

I’d buy it!

Decay buys too many beaters > phenotyp
12/08/2015 at 16:47

You know, one of my coworkers had the exact same thing happen to him on his E60. Whats is with BMW and water drainage issues?

I didn’t find out about my flooded brake booster until it started pulling water into the vacuum lines and causing a bad misfire.

also soo German.

Decay buys too many beaters > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/08/2015 at 16:51

I may need to use that in my next engineering design review :)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch
12/08/2015 at 16:55

I.e. “keep the Germans away from vacuum systems and electrics”, “keep the Mericans away from the dash/materials choice and trans”, “keep the (modern) Japanese away from the exterior and engine sizing”, and “keep the Italians away from QC”. It’s every bit as much a prohibitive list as it is a selective one, and I’m fine with that.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/08/2015 at 16:58

Basically, yeah. I didn’t think about who does the interior so we’ll say...the Swedes?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch
12/08/2015 at 16:59

Or possibly the Brits, as long as somebody else is doing the wiring.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/08/2015 at 17:01

oh, yes. The Brits would do nicely.

phenotyp > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/08/2015 at 17:17

I can attest that the same rules of water behavior governed the design of the E60.

Must be a persistent problem, localized to Bavaria.

jmedarts > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 17:22

My 2000 540i did the same thing after I was rear-ended, but on the other corner. The body shop failed to seal up the tail light properly and I went through 3 amplifiers before I just happened to notice the 2 inches of standing water around my spare.

For all those criticizing the presence of the electronics under the spare, i think he did say it was a tail-light retrofit, so blame the retrofitter not ze germans.

Decay buys too many beaters > jmedarts
12/08/2015 at 17:25

two things...

The retrofit was made by Hella (also a german company)

These trunk leaks are fairly common, if the taillight regulators hadn’t warned me of it, I would have ended up with a submerged battery eventually.

jmedarts > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 17:27

If Hella said to put them there, have at ‘em.

Good luck with the car. I’d love to tell you your stories are out of the ordinary, but based on mine....be glad you have wrenching skills.

Decay buys too many beaters > jmedarts
12/08/2015 at 17:40

Gawd, all I wanted was a fun reliable daily driver, I should have just bought that Prius C ;)

I have a few spare forms of transportation, so it’s overall reliability is more of in inconvenience than a deal killer. I’m still in love with the platform, and for what I paid (I’ve seen them listed for more “for parts”) I’m actually pretty surprised by it’s reliability.

jmedarts > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 17:50

I regret selling my 540, loved that car. Sounds like you have the perfect attitude, good skills, and the brains to have started with a much cheaper car than I did.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 18:16

Funny, mine has a Celis retrofit too and there’s no voltage regulators under the spare tire.

Also there’s no leak.

Decay buys too many beaters > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
12/08/2015 at 18:44

Let me guess 2001+

*edit NVM looks like you have an 00 as well, where are your regulators? The Hella retrofit kit is designed (or so I understand) to mount the regs there in the trunk, it even comes with a metal bracket and everything.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 18:53

Mine’s a 2000. First year for the CELIS tails was 2001.

And the car came with the original tails in the trunk.

Decay buys too many beaters > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
12/08/2015 at 18:56

Yeah I realized that after typing :p

So where are your voltage regulators located? The hella kit makes it pretty obvious that it’s supposed to go in the spare tire well. They come with an elevated bracket and everything

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 19:00

I dunno, and I’m not near the car now so I can’t check. Where would they be on the stock Celis cars?

Decay buys too many beaters > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
12/08/2015 at 19:17

On the stock celis cars there is no regulator the LCM takes care of it, in fact it is possible to reprogram the 99-01 LCM to handle the Celis tails, is that what you did?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Decay buys too many beaters
12/08/2015 at 19:21

Car came with them.

Decay buys too many beaters > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
12/08/2015 at 19:50

Lol, as did mine. I didn’t even know they were after market until there was a problem.