RE: bmw-digest V9 #169

[Eddie Ruvinsky <eddie.ruvinsky@xxxxxxx>]

Greg!  What a coincidence!  Did you happen to read my post last week
about a problem *I* had with *my* 92 325I E36 that *also* kept running
when I turned the key to OFF?  Since you're talking about Dinan, I'm
assuming that you are local in the Bay Area Peninsula...  After taking
about 3 hours to trace down the problem, the BMW dealer finally traced
my problem to be a faulty circuit panel on my instrument cluster (must
have gotten a short when/before I turned the key OFF).  It turns out
that I need a new one ($375 bucks for the part).  Not a happy week for
me;  I can't wait to get my car back...

This is nuts!  The service technician said that he has *never* seen a
problem like this, and I have a fairly popular model.  This sounds like
a nasty problem...  A few years ago, I had an ignition coil go out and
it took out my entire computer!  I wouldn't be surprised if you said
that you experienced an ignition coil or two going out on your '92 325i.
BMW N.A. are you out there??

- -E
		-----Original Message-----
		Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 09:15:27 -0700
		From: Greg Steinke <GSTEINKE@domain.elided>
		Subject: 92 325i E36 Keeps running with no key

		Here's a situation which lends credence to the "Digest
Jinx" theory that has
		been commented on.  Two days after reading about someone
who's car kept
		running and locked her in, a similar thing happened to
me (although not as
		bad).  I turned my key to OFF, and the engine kept
running.  When I have the
		key in On, everything is perfect, windows work, locks
work, etc.  But when
		the key is in OFF, the engine keeps running.  

		I poked around a bit with the Haynes manual, and found
that anything
		connected to the green wire on the ignition switch
continues to work with
		the key in OFF.  For instance, the headlights still
work.  Anything
		connected to the violet wire (which also turns on when
the key is ON)
		doesn't work - for instance, power windows.  Sounds like
a short in the
		switch. Well, no such luck - I measured the resistance
across the switch and
		found that it worked as expected - when the key is OFF,
red and green are
		disconnected.  When the key is ON, red and green are
connected.
		Furthermore, with the key in OFF and the engine not
running, the red wire
		shows 12 V.  The green wire shows 11.0 V.  Indicates to
me that somewhere
		else in the system, there is a connection that should
not be.  

		I disconnected the battery in hopes that it was a
software glitch somewhere
		and rebooting would solve it.  No such luck.

		I'm going to take it to Dinan later this week.  But if
you've got any ideas
		to try, I'd give it a shot.

		Thanks
		Greg Steinke
		gregs@domain.elided

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