<E28> Car running w/o key problem solved

["Ron Jordan" <ron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for everyones help, the diagrams e-mailed to me, and all the pointers
as to what it could be.  I just got back in from solving the initial problem
of the car running without the key.

I took the picture that Dave Crawford sent me of the fuse panel indicating
where the main relay was, and compared it to my fuse panel.  I reattached
the battery, I pulled the relay, and then went over to the interior and
turned the key, all power came on when it got to the 3rd position and when I
shut the key off, the power was still there.  I was stumped.  So then I
thought, if I remove the positive battery lead, and then used it to touch
the post and listened to which relays clicked, while the key was turned
forward might lead me to the one that jams.  So first the main clicked, and
that was ruled out, then the next one that clicked was in the fuse panel
itself.  It was marked relief relay (metal cased hella relay 4 prong).  I
pulled that relay and went into the car and put the key back into the off
position, then turned it forward and everything was back to normal.  So I
went back to the fuse panel and found another relay that was the same in
another position that was attached to the cruise control area.  I swapped
the relays and performed the key test and again same problem.  All power in
all positions.  So this ruled out the relay itself.  I then undid the screws
for the fuse panel itself, and opened it up to find a lot of wires.  I then
looked for the wires leading into the relief relay and followed them out to
thier routes.  They all looked fine, and intact.  One of them (thick green
wire with purple stripe)however lead over to a blade post where it seems the
p/o or a mechanic had soldered the wire onto this post where normally it
seems that blade connectors were used.  near the point where it was soldered
I found another wire passing behind it, and there was a discolored spot like
heat damage.  When I tried to move the other wire away, it was stuck.  I
pulled it away, and found that it had lost its plastic casing and shorted
out with a bare spot on the wire coming from the releif relay.  I pulled
away the offending wire, and moved it so it was no longer near the releif
relay wire, and went back into the car, and voila.  all normal.  It seems
that the wire from the releif relay, was touching a postive lead which was
engaging the relay as soon as the key was turned and then a loop happened so
the relay would not disengage.  As soon as the main power was cut, the relay
disengaged till the next time the key was turned.

I routed the wire far away from the releif relay wire, taped up the exposed
area, and then attached a proper blade connector to the releif wire, and
slid it into the blade it was originally soldered onto.  Taped it all up,
tested the ignition switch again, and then closed up the fuse panel.

So.  That problem is solved.  Car power shuts off.  Now for the stalling out
issue that seems to have popped up today.

Cheers
Ron Jordan
85 535i (now shuts off with key)
73 911s 2.7

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