Attention: ALL E36 owners beware - WIRING PROBLEM

**BiMmEr JoN** · 03-03-2003, 07:40 PM

Hey guys. Just letting you guys know to be carefull because I just caught something really bad in my 325is. I was driving one day and then all of a sudden things started to go really wrong. I lost my headlights, I had no interior lights, no dash lights, and no turn signals. MY OBC was going crazy saying all these electircal failures were going on. It was night and all that worked were my foglights to light up the road. I stopped by the dealership I work at and opened up the fuse box and saw about 10 fuses blown. I replaced them all and then they instantly blew out. Then we noticed something interesting, all my lights didn't work, except my tailights. They were still lit up. The mechanics traced all these problems to the wiring harness that goes from the car to the trunk. If you look on the left side, when your trunk lid is up, you see a thing of wires wrapped up in a black covering. We took off the covering and you won't beleive what we found.

ALL THE WIRES OVER TIME RUBBED AGAINST EACHOTHER AND THE WIRE COATING RUBBED OFF EVENTUALLY AND ALL THE WIRES WERE TOUCHING EACHOTHER. FROM YEARS OF OPENNING AND CLOSING THE TRUNK, THE WIRES GET WEAK AND SO DOES THE WIRE COATING. Mine was really bad, it went all the way into the car, luckily it stopped before it went deep into the car where I would most definetely not be able to reach it.

I RECOMMEND EVERYBODY CHECKING THIS OUT ASAP. SAVE YOURSELF ALOT OF MONEY AND PREPARE AHEAD. I INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED EACH WIRE IN ELECTIRCAL TAPE.

IF THIS HAS HAPPENED TO YOU, POST. I can't be the only one.

UPDATE : YOU HAVE TO TAKE OFF THE BLACK PLASTIC COVERING AND THE RUBBER LIKE TUBE TO EXPOSE ALL THE WIRES BEHIND TO BE SURE IF THE WIRES ARE FRAYING. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO TELL ANYTHING WITHOUT CUTTING THROUGH AND SEEING.

It makes sense that when you open and close your trunk that those wires are going to rub against eachother everytime you open and close.

(i moved this from deep in the thread to up front.) i posted this a few months ago, but i want to stress the importance of checking this)

UPDATE :
MY CAR CAUGHT ON FIRE LAST NITE. BE CAREFUL. I CAUGHT IT BEFORE IT CAUSED ANY REAL DAMAGE BUT THE FRAYING HAS BECOME WORSE AND LIVE WIRES BEGAN TO TOUCH EACHOTHER. CHECK EVERY INCH OF THOSE WIRES. IF I DIDN'T NOTICE A FLICKER IN THE LIGHTS AS I WAS WALKING INSIDE, I FEAR MY WHOLE CAR WOULD HAVE WENT UP ALONG WITH MY HOUSE. I AM WRITING A LETTER THE THE NHTSA TO GET A RECALL ON THIS. THIS IS REALLY BAD. ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS SYMPTOMS OF THIS OR SEES SIGNS OF WIRE FRAYING, POST....IT'LL BE MORE BACKING FOR THEM TO DO SOMETHING

**SR20Fastback** · 03-03-2003, 07:59 PM

Damn that sounds really bad, I'll be sure to check for it when I go look at this 325i for sale that Im set on buying.

**ACS320i** · 03-03-2003, 08:01 PM

unwrapped? or just took off that black circle thingy

**BiMmEr JoN** · 03-03-2003, 08:06 PM

I took of the plastic to get down to the wires. Take off all the coverings until you hit the wires. Once you see the individual wires, thats where you want to be. I RECOMMEND UNPLUGGING YOUR BATTERY SO NOTHING SHORTS. Alot of my wires had no coating and others were bleeding through, like the wires wires were starting to go through the wire coating or stripping or whatever you want to call it.

**ACS320i** · 03-03-2003, 08:10 PM

i dont wanna re wrap everything... it looks so neat

**WJones** · 03-03-2003, 08:11 PM

Funny, my trunk lights went out a few days ago. I found all those wire to be frayed or broken. I haven't fixed it yet though.

**BiMmEr JoN** · 03-03-2003, 08:12 PM

My wires were frayed and broken to, but they were all touching eachother causing them all to short out. be careful, all my lights just shut down in one second when I was on the highway.

**AaronM3** · 03-03-2003, 08:15 PM

Either way this is excellent preventative maintainence. I hope someone can sticky this post because its really good for all us E36 drivers. I just went and checked mine and wrapped 2 wires that looked to be getting pretty worn though. had it not been for this post, i would have not found them. Thanks for the heads up!!!!

**DesmoBob** · 03-03-2003, 09:08 PM

Originally posted by BiMmEr JoN
My wires were frayed and broken to, but they were all touching eachother causing them all to short out. be careful, all my lights just shut down in one second when I was on the highway.

looks like some ducati engineers snuck in the bmw plant during e36 production.

**bmw325iman** · 03-03-2003, 10:40 PM

Damn, I need to check mine out. One of the license plate lights sometimes doesn't light up, but if I open the trunk, then shut it, it comes back on. Sounds fishy.....

**QuestMCoupe** · 03-03-2003, 10:50 PM

Thanks for posting this...this may be causing my sunroof to turn on and off at different times. Can you post a pic of the exact location of where you rewrapped your wires?

**dvx_movies** · 03-03-2003, 11:20 PM

Yeah I think a pic would be nice as Quest330is said, because I am not sure which cover to strip? I inculded a pic with two arrows pointing to two sets of wires, arrow #2 point to the strip underneath the trunk cover, where u see your spare tire.

I hope I was close enough

**BiMmEr JoN** · 03-04-2003, 01:54 AM

You have to strip 1 first. I found that my problem went all the way from 1 all the way to 2. The wires from old age I guess frayed far down into my trunk. Good thing it stopped before it got really deep into the car. Start with 1 and then see how far the fraying goes. The coating on the wires melted together from the heat and when i peeled them apart they frayed more so be careful. Hope this helps.

**m3avrck** · 03-04-2003, 03:17 AM

Wow, thanks for this heads up. Now when you wrapped each wire in electrical tape, where did you start and end?

Obviously where fraying intially started, but what would good measure be? Wrapping entirely from point 1 to point 2? Only at the points?

**joe325i** · 03-04-2003, 06:14 AM

hmm ill have to take a look at this when it warms up...
thanks for the heads up

**dvx_movies** · 03-04-2003, 09:10 AM

Thanks BiMmEr JoN for your feedback!

Now the trunk wire in 1 is they any easy way to uncover the wires? or I would have to cut the rubber cover and totally throw it away?

**JedzE36/5** · 03-04-2003, 09:50 AM

geez thanks for the warning. it would be bad if your fogs went out too! i will do this asap!

**BiMmEr JoN** · 03-04-2003, 05:05 PM

The easiest way is to take off the black plastic piece, then use a razor blade to cut the other black covering. Cut a thin line down it. EVEN IF YOU SEE WIRES, MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE NOT MELTED TOGETHER. SPREAD THEM APART TO MAKE SURE THEIR NOT STICKING TO EACHOTHER. Good luck

**dvx_movies** · 03-04-2003, 07:06 PM

I got the black rubber out, checked the wires for part one seems they r in good condition

if I find something in part 2 I will tell ya guys

**NiTE** · 03-04-2003, 08:54 PM

hmm my trunk light flickers when I open the trunk but stops when the trunk is fully open. I'll have to check that out. Thanks.

**Dan** · 03-04-2003, 10:00 PM

I would do this today if it wasn't for the short day light in the winter. guess i'm gonna have to wait until the weekend... oh wait, it's going to rain. Blah!!

**RacermeX** · 03-05-2003, 02:50 AM

Thanks for the heads-up!
I'll bet most older models may be experiencing the same problem. I'll have to take a peek at my wiring.

**BMWg84** · 03-06-2003, 02:33 AM

WOW! Thanks for the heads up

**Dan** · 03-06-2003, 09:58 AM

Let me get this right, i have to cut open the black rubber cover to get to the wires to check them? So what do i do after i cut it open? duct tape it? Hum.. what about the plastic wire cover things ppl use under the engines? It just dawned on me that maybe it's the tight insulation that makes the wires rub, thus shreading the wire insulation. Maybe if there was more room in there for the wires not to rub.. dunno.. just a thought. But thanks for the heads up and after this nasty storm passes, i'll check it.

**dan3317** · 03-07-2003, 03:16 PM

Also CD changer people check your CD changer Wiring. I have the same kind of problem with behind my CD changer, bare wires were touching and my CD Cahnger wouldn't work below 20 Degrees.
This is on a '97 328IS.

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