This has raised more questions than it has answered

"Flyboy is FAA certified insane" (flyboy396)
07/09/2016 at 12:40 • Filed to: Halp

So Oppo , I am diving head first into the electrical issues of my new-to-me 1983 BMW 733i. And I’d like some help if you don’t mind.

745i touring car for your time.

First thing I found interesting and confusing is the lack of labelled switches in the cabin. Which has caused me to accidentally turn on the heated seat in 93°weather.

I’d like to fix the problem of none of the windows moving first.

In this photograph can be seen a switch with no label underneath the dashboard. Now, following the BMW wiring diagram there should be a circuit breaker for the power windows somewhere down in that area. Is this said circuit breaker or do I need to dig further?

Any help appreciated!

DISCUSSION (18)

gmctavish needs more space > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 12:45

This is for an E24 but I imagine they have similar electrical layouts

http://blog.bavauto.com/14484/bmw-powe…

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > gmctavish needs more space
07/09/2016 at 12:56

Interesting. If that is my circuit breaker switch pictured in the post it certainly doesn’t look like that. I’ll try jumping the wires anyway, it couldn’t hurt.

I also have no idea where the power windows relay is located.

gmctavish needs more space > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 13:04

I imagine your circuit breaking switch is different, but the troubleshooting process should be the same. The rely I imagine would be in the fuse and relay box under the hood, but I haven't dug around e23s that much so I'm not sure

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > gmctavish needs more space
07/09/2016 at 13:11

Inside the fuse box there are two relays that are missing. K8 which I know is for the auto box, and k9 which I can’t find much information about.

gmctavish needs more space > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 13:15

I don’t know which K9 would be, but it looks like the power windows are part of fuse 6, which is an 8A. Haven’t found the relay yet

http://circuitswiring.com/1984-bmw-733i-…

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > gmctavish needs more space
07/09/2016 at 13:27

Oh cool that diagram was oddly missing. I should probably just go through and check all of the fuses.

DipodomysDeserti > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 13:34

The window circuit breakers on old BMWs are switches that you flip. That's probably it. I it is flipped open none of the windows will roll down or up. It's like a primitive window lock. The one on my E30 was a push button switch on the center consol.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > DipodomysDeserti
07/09/2016 at 13:44

That makes sense. Flipping it does nothing, so I’ll jump the wires to see if the switch it bad.

gmctavish needs more space > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 13:54

Good luck! I'm excited to see more of this thing

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > gmctavish needs more space
07/09/2016 at 13:59

Thanks!

petebmwm > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 13:59

omg that motherfucker is mint........ start with fuses and relays, replace whats not there so you know what you’re working with...

petebmwm > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 14:00

http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e23/

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > petebmwm
07/09/2016 at 14:37

Hahaha I literally just found these like two minutes before you posted it.

So one of the fuses was blown and replaced, the circuit breaker works, because I got the passenger side rear to go up and down.

What goes bad more frequently on these cars, the motor/regulator or the switches?

petebmwm > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/09/2016 at 16:09

neither, pull them out and clean all the connections, moisture can cause them to become funky over time..dab with dielectric grease and plug back in, i’ve never replaced either in my e30..

petebmwm > petebmwm
07/09/2016 at 16:17

wait, i just remembered, i did replace the passenger side switch once...window didnt come back up, pulled the good witch and plugged it in to put the other window up...

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > petebmwm
07/09/2016 at 16:42

Haha okay. I will clean them all first to see if it’s the switches.

petebmwm > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
07/13/2016 at 20:48

Progress report!

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > petebmwm
07/13/2016 at 22:28

Ah, yes! I forgot. Cleaning all of the switches has made all of the windows functional.

Replacing a single fuse had made the speedometer and the period correct aftermarket Alpine stereo come back to life.

I will be detailing some other stuff in a post tomorrow. But I had the water/fan belt fail on me. So I decided to replace all of them. ended up only putting the fan and power steering back because the A/C isn’t used anyway because it has no charge.

Had the power steering belt fail again after I realized that the P/O had put the A/C and Power steering belts on reversed of each other, causing friction and I just copied the way they were already on the car, incorrectly.

Just waiting for a new belt and the car will be fully roadworthy again. Really drives well. Love it so far.