ABS light... Overload protection relay weirdness.

[wookie325]

Hey been lingering for a while, but this is my first post.


I had some work done one the car a while ago, and just got it back, kinda a long story so if u dont care skip this. The guy mechanic came and quoted me for some fender bender repair work. I told him that I'd call him if he came in as the best quote. I never called him, and he came and got the car with his flatbed during the day when no one was home. I called him and told him not to do work on it until I could afford it. He went ahead and did all the work and then calls up and tells me I owe him 1200 more than what he quoted, did a bunch of other work I never told him to do, ontop of everthing else. I tell him I would pay him what he verbally quoted me at, and thatd be the end of it. He declined, so I with the help of the family did some court work. That never really developed. So 4 years after the guy has basically stolen my beloved car, I get a call from my mom while I'm at school saying she got a call from the an attorney and the state, saying they were investigating him. A month later I get an email from my mom saying the car had been located, and we were free to get it!!! . So now I have it and I'm doing some work, getting it ready for its first inspection in 5 years. I've just replaced the headgasket, plugs, timing belt, water pump, and some other crap.


I've got a few questions:

My ABS light is on...
I checked the relay, I took it apart looks ok inside.
The light is one as soon as the car is started without rolling, to me it means sensors are good. I measured each sensor's resistance, and each come in at like 1050ohm or so.

I have a pic but need someone to post it for me because im new.


The wiring for the socket of the overload protection relay doesnt look right to me.
heres a crappy pic, the yellow wire is a dead end, as is the brown, the brown is split and neither end has any connection. I've been searching for 2 days while waiting for parts and I cant make sense of it.

The SRS light is on in the overhead panel. I've read that anything can set it off, and you need to go to the stealership to get it reset/diagnosed. Any info on how to reset it?

The passenger side door is locked and wont unlock, I think I need to play with it, but I cant even unlock it with the key, but the car's battery is basically completely dead.

TIA,
Tyler

Mods, I posted in E36, meant to be in E30, sorry I got excited.

[RomeoMike]

Lordofthewaters seems pretty familiar with ABS relay issues, search on his posts.

Unless you have access to a tool that can reset the SRS light, a trip to the dealer or suitably equipped independent garage is an all too familiar option. You can pull the overheard active check panel, remove the twist-on lamp and figure out a way to disable the back-up lamp they soldered on the circuit board. A third way is to find an active check panel without the SRS light and install that.

I wouldn't write off the passenger side door lock until you have a new battery in there. I can't lock the driver side in my 91 318i, but worked around that by installing an Omega 43-T keyless remote system.

Congrats on getting your car back and welcome aboard.

[wookie325]

Thanks,

For the overhead check panel srs light, I think Im going to cut the wires that go to the light and solder some jumpers form a different light so the two lights are in parallel. That way when the inspection guy presses the check button all the lights come on, and they all go off.

Make sense?

I'll try that and report back, maybe with a writen up procedure.

[Ranger1]

The ABS light going on before the car moves is a classic symptom of blown fusible link in the relay. Pull the cover off of the relay and check the little fusible link (it looks like a 1cm long thin wire) with a multimeter.

You pic didn't make it so we can't see what the relay's wiring looked like.

[wookie325]

I got it taken care of. The wiring of the relay is VERY strange to me, but I popped in a different computer and the light is off.

Now this pesky SRS light...

Can someone tell me if the SRS lights up when the check button is pressed on a normal car? also, does the SRS light come on before start up.


TIA,
Tyler

[RomeoMike]

I wrote this on July 10, 2009:

Visit the dealer or properly equipped BMW repair facility and pay to have it done
Find or buy a tool that has been confirmed to reset SRS lights on E30s
Pull apart the existing check panel and remove the twist-on lamp and break the second one they soldered on the circuit board
Remove the twist-on lamp and keep driving it until the second lamp burns out
Find a non-SRS check unit and swap that in.

[wookie325]

sounds like a plan,

Thanks a bunch, I'll do that now.


Any tips for central locking troubles.

today I pulled the central locking crap from the DS panel, did the check in the ETM, seemed to be the central locking unit at fault.

I pulled it and took it apart. There was some jumper that was soldered to a resistor. That the solder broke, so i repaired it to no avail.

The units internal relays were quite warm and the relay besides the unit was also warm. What does this inidicate?

Thanks