Hello all I need some help. My battery keeps dying it is a brand new one also. I have a 1997 M3 coupe I have installed a Panasonic CQ-C7413U cd player. 6.5in memphis's up front and Kicker 6X9's in the back, 2 audiobahn aluminum 12's in the trunk. I have one amp for highs and one for the 12's. Now I am wondering if I have my wiring wrong in the back of the headunit by any chance. These pictures show how I have it wired please let me know if I am wrong. Thank for your help it is greatly appreciated.


Should my remote be connected to a different wire? BTW the lights on the amps do shut off when I turn the car off.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb104/carphotos_photos/P1010221.jpg


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb104/carphotos_photos/P1010220.jpg

Your wiring looks fine. I'm not sure what's the other solid blue wire? If the blue and white wire is for antenna then your fine for using it to turn your amp's on. Do you have any other electronics connected to your car? Check altenator and battery liquid cells.

Thank you.
Anyone else?

either one of those blue is fine. one is for power antenna, one if for amps. (if you have your amp hooked to the power antenna one, you won't get sound from your amps if you're listening to a cd due to the fact that that wire doesn't output any power then :))

did the dieing start when you installed all this? like, are you sure it's your audio equipment causing the problems?

it started once i put the system in. my ipod is connected to my radio. if it stays onwhile car is off can it kill the battery?

I doubt your iPod will kill your battery, even if it stays on.

Ok so I unplugged EVERYthing pertaining to my stereo. After market wiring harness, radio, amps and everything where unplugged last night and sitting in my house. I woke up and my car had basically no power, I would try to start it and it would try but it wouldn't work. It didn't make the clicking sound. It would try to turn but it couldn't. I am stumped!
I have a new 1000 cranking watt amp in there with a relatively new alternator. I have a memphis 1000d and a 4 channel pioneer amp in there with no cap. But I don't think those come into play knowing the car still died with everything unplugged.

Any insight from anyone would be great. Thank you

A typical problem on E36s is the wiring loom going into the trunk lid. After years of flexing the wires fray and get shorted causing the trunk light to stay on when the trunk is closed. Check to make sure the light is going out when trunk is closed. If it stays on you can just remove the bulb. There's a repair loom available from the dealer if you want to fix it.

Also, even a new battery can be ruined by being fully discharged. And, you cannot properly re-charge it by running the car. The alternator isn't designed to re-charge a fully discharged battery.

As far as your wiring harness, the blue/white wire is the REM wire. It's the correct wire to use as your amp turn-on. The sloid blue wire should be the antenna wire and may only be hot when the radio is selected.

Jay

A typical problem on E36s is the wiring loom going into the trunk lid. After years of flexing the wires fray and get shorted causing the trunk light to stay on when the trunk is closed. Check to make sure the light is going out when trunk is closed. If it stays on you can just remove the bulb. There's a repair loom available from the dealer if you want to fix it.

Also, even a new battery can be ruined by being fully discharged. And, you cannot properly re-charge it by running the car. The alternator isn't designed to re-charge a fully discharged battery.

As far as your wiring harness, the blue/white wire is the REM wire. It's the correct wire to use as your amp turn-on. The sloid blue wire should be the antenna wire and may only be hot when the radio is selected.

Jay

Hi Jay I appreciate your input and I will take a look at this asap. But I am almost positive the light is off in my trunk, do to that fact I have one of my seats down most of the time.
The interesting thing is when I put my entire system in I never had this issue, then after about a couple of weeks of the system being in then I started getting this problem.

I don't think it has to do with my wiring for my system now. When I turn on my headlights the OBC puts fault codes on something about brake light circut and license plate bulb failure. Can those do anything ( I am out of ideas).

TIA :help

Hi Jay I appreciate your input and I will take a look at this asap. But I am almost positive the light is off in my trunk, do to that fact I have one of my seats down most of the time.
The interesting thing is when I put my entire system in I never had this issue, then after about a couple of weeks of the system being in then I started getting this problem.

I don't think it has to do with my wiring for my system now. When I turn on my headlights the OBC puts fault codes on something about brake light circut and license plate bulb failure. Can those do anything ( I am out of ideas).

TIA :help

I believe the license plate light is wired thru the same loom I was speaking of. Pinched/shorted wires could be putting a drain on the batt. Have the car tested for a current draw. Many auto parts stores will do this free.

Jay

I had the battery and alternator tested and it was fine. When I get back home I will check that loom, and most likely get out the voltometer and start pulling fuses. I appreciate your help!

I believe the license plate light is wired thru the same loom I was speaking of. Pinched/shorted wires could be putting a drain on the batt. Have the car tested for a current draw. Many auto parts stores will do this free.

Jay

Ok so I pulled apart the wiring loom and I found one wire kind of cut. So i repaired that and couldn't find any more cuts. Weird that it was only one. This one was from the trunk lid about 2 inches down.

Now heres the kicker. I take the negative terminal off of my battery and put it in series with my multimeter set to DC 200v I think, it is this one for reference

radioshack dot com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103174&cp=&sr=1&origkw=multimeter&kw=multimeter&parentPage=search


When I checked it I was getting a 11.89v draw. Now mind you I have no radio in the car or anyting I took everything out basically. I pulled every fuse in the engine bay with no change. My trunk light is not stuck on, I pulled the light to check this also and it didn't phase anything.

My battery has over 12v when it is running. battery and alternator check out fine.

What the hell else can I look for!! I am lost right now. AND YES I HAVE SEARCHED NUMEROUS THREAD. What is drawing almost 12v from my car when it's off????

Please help me out thank you.

Use a test light to find a current draw. use one of those incandescent bulbs wired in series with your negative lead of your battery.

Once you have your probe wired up, it should light up indicating there is a current draw. Pull every fuse out, one at time, and replacing them back into the fuse box if the light does not go out. If the light goes out, you have found the current draw circuit.

Note: if the light dims a certain amount, you might have more than one current draw.

JayHudsen mentioned e36's having the trunk wiring loom problem but this problem really relates to many BMW's I have seen this problem in both 5 series and 3 series BMW's of many generations. I would not doubt to see this problem in other BMW's too.

Yup tomorrow I am going to try this all over again. Also The wire loom had one cut wires so I fixed that. Also to add I have unplugged all wires going to the amp in the back left of the trunk just to see if maybe those wires where shorting it out. We will see tomorrow when I get back to the car.

We will see what happens tomorrow. Thanks for your help.