Good evening everyone. I am brand new to this site. I just got a killer deal on a 2000 740iL Sport with every opiton available. I love the car. It is amazing to drive and I wish I could sleep in it tonight.

Anyway, I noticed that when the ignition is off and the doors locked using the remote that the a light glows on the gear shifter when the car is in "P" (park). It will not go out and stays on all the time. Does anyone else have this light that keeps glowing all the time. The reason I ask, is becuse when I picked up the car the battery was dead. I was wondering if this should turn off and that it might be draining the battery.

Please let me know if anyone else with a 2000 740 has noticed this before.

Thank you to all who respond.

I just checked mine in my darkened garage by opening the door and not starting the car. The interior lights came on as well as the nav screen and the orange light lit up on the shift console. Shutting the door, the interior lights will fade out followed by the nav screen some 30 - 45 seconds later. The orange P however remains on...at least it has on mine for the last 10 minutes or so.

Someone has said that these cars draw tremendous amounts of amperage even when shut down...so a fully charged battery is always a good idea. I doubt that the little orange P light would drain the battery all by itself, but stranger things have been known to happen.

BTW, I have a '01 740i...and I'm still learning. You've come to the right place if you are looking for congenial people with a wealth of experience. A slightly thick skin helps sometimes as well....

jk

Good evening everyone. I am brand new to this site. I just got a killer deal on a 2000 740iL Sport with every opiton available. I love the car. It is amazing to drive and I wish I could sleep in it tonight.

Anyway, I noticed that when the ignition is off and the doors locked using the remote that the a light glows on the gear shifter when the car is in "P" (park). It will not go out and stays on all the time. Does anyone else have this light that keeps glowing all the time. The reason I ask, is becuse when I picked up the car the battery was dead. I was wondering if this should turn off and that it might be draining the battery.

Please let me know if anyone else with a 2000 740 has noticed this before.

Thank you to all who respond.

There was recently a thread about this. The "P" light goes out in 20 min or so. Check it in the morning and you will see it should be out.

Yep, mine went out, and it's been about twenty or so minutes.

jk

you are right. Thank you for the help. I just checked and it is out.

This mystery isnt resolved. What is its purpose. You will also note a small motorized noise coming from the P area as well if you are in a quiet garage.

bringing up every single thread about the same issue won't get your issue solved any quicker.

The light stays on for 8 minutes after the key is out of the ignition. There is nothing in the shifter to make a motorized noise so if you have that noise it is coming from somewhere else.

On the contrary 04SSHD,
That is exactly what it has done. Thanks to a reader on another thread, the problem was identified. I can't insert a hyperlink to my reply, but will post it here, since tynash and others who started the thread may still be interested that there is an outcome. Here it all is:
==========
That pesky little orange P. Why does anyone care about any detail not "in the book"? It's what brings us here..That said, here is a summary explanation for this whole thing and thanks to another member Luke.. something?, in another thread who found a writeup on this. What caught my attention was the fact that the duration of the light and accompanying noise of a motor wasn't consistent in my 97 740. Stayed on constantly at times. I've also seen previous threads asking about the P and commented on a few. Even got scolded for hearing noises! Since this is an inquisitive bunch - that, BMW (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=742014#) made it that way, isn't good enough for, I will relate my findings. This condition can arise someday in your e38, so filing it in a braincell can't hurt. It ain't in the book, but it is documented at e38.org:
Repairing buzzing noise from HVAC, is a subject topic in e38.org that explains what's going on. ( Search it as such, I can't hyperkink attach just yet). It's a full article with photos and the fix. - In the case of my 740, apparently there was a bad thermistor in the circuit, keeping the HVAC going longer than it should have. In other cars the HVAC motor noise will begin to get noisy when it accumulates dust, or dries out. Cleaned and oiled as shown, it will run silent. The noise it makes "should" coincide with the lit P on the shifter. So, in effect, that little lit P is telling you, your HVAC unit just behind the shift area is spinning a small circuit mounted electric motor. This motor, even though many dont care to know.. is on to help cool hot circuitry, and reduce chances of mildew buildup in the ventilation system at the same time by keeping just enough airflow, and usually mildly warm component airflow, perfect for the task. A multipurpose little gadget, accomplishes 2 things at once, with a nicely lit P.
Thanks to all, especially Luke!
Rick
==Case Solved==

Wow...I can appreciate your enthusiasm for jumping into trying to solve this (which I really don't know what the problem actually is in this case)...but you've run ahead of yourself mixing lots of stuff that correlate with each other but have no cause and affect relationship with each other.

And some of the things you've "concluded" are actually wrong. For instance, the little thingy inside the HVAC unit that makes that annoying sound when it gets filled with dust isn't there to "cool" the circuitry. It is there to pull in air from the cabin across a sensor that tells the AUTO HVAC system what the temperature of the air is in the cabin...that's how the system regulates itself when in AUTO mode.

The illuminated "P" (stays lit for 16 minutes) is not indicating that something is wrong with your HVAC unit...but it is actually an indicator that the car is AWAKE and is connected to the P-Bus which is a simple communication bus for some components in the car that are attached to the GM (general module) that ready some features to prepare themselves. Some of the components on the P-Bus are the door handles (which when lifted will activate the "P" light on the dash) and the little fan in the HVAC unit will begin to spin...drawing in cabin air to determine how/where to set up the HVAC system to prepare the car for a driver.

Again, you have some missing pieces as to what is going on with the car and have made some wrong assumptions. If you get a chance, download some of the Electronic PDF files on e38.org and read up to get some knowledge of how intricate these cars are. There's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes.


You appear to be someone who can really get into the finer details of "how stuff works"...but just make sure you really know how it works without making unsubstatiated assumptions. Always verify the info you post with empircal documentation rather than subjective/untried opinion. If it is opinion or an unsubstatiated premise...make sure that you write it or identify it as so. All of us learn stuff as we go along. Hang in there...and at the rate you're going...you may become a great contributer to these forums...but make sure you truly understand the info you've read and how it integrates with other systems and components. :)

Below is a brief description and diagram of some of the items that communicate on the P-bus:

http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/q/original/Gear%20Select%20Lever%20LED%20Light%20Illuminated. jpg

+1 Very well put Q.:alright

Classic Q - well done.

That's perfect. I thank you for that and appreciate the constructive critique. I see where I went wrong, and built upon some bad premise. I did read about cooling of a circuit, but who knows where. I also saw about 5 or 6 different posts on the forums here all head-scratching as to what this P is all about, but no one responded with an explanation.. Until now. Most just told the poster not to worry about it... I'm very glad to read your explanation, and yes, I love the details, but also, the facts. I should delete my previous post, (wonder if I can do that), and just leave yours up, actually. Thanks again for the correct information.
Rick.

Just picked up my 2008 328iT with auto, and it does this also. Thanks you guys for helping me understand this feature, and for letting me sleep tonight.

BTW, it's a wonderful car! So far even better than my 2001.

Make it a habit to check this forum, especially if you drive a seven, at least once a week, and bookmark the www.e38.org site.

There is a wealth of information here, from the folks who actually drive these machines and who have experience with their little quirks. All we ask in return is: If you had a problem and our advice helped you solve that problem, come back and tell us...

This also helps those who use the forum search feature to decide which threads contain the grain and which contain the chaff.

jake