E30 Zone

Just bought a delay dimmer relay for the interior lights in my 87 tech1. Following the instructions, I dug down to the left front speaker mount. There was supposed to be two screws just below the speaker opening that held a stock relay in place. But there were none, and no sign of a relay down in the bottom of the speaker cavity.

Been search the web for two days now trying to find where this might be, or if I need to splice it in somewhere, but not luck.

Anone who has this know where I need to look, or where to splice this in?

Behind the speaker you will find a central locking module(if fitted with CL).

It is not likeyl that you have a rely fitted.

On the instructions is gives fitting instructions for cars with no rely, follow those like I did, you'll be fine.

i had this dilema but eventually realised there is another plastic trim below the speaker hole pull that out and i found the relay

Unless you have a LH drive car, you're digging the wrong side! Who told you LH side?

Re-reading your thread it should be RH speaker.

Too fit the light dimmer you'll need to plug the 3 wires to the connector where the light rely would have been, then the other 2 wires need to go though to the door switch.

i didnt see the lh side bit i just thought he couldnt find it

Sanchez wrote:Too fit the light dimmer you'll need to plug the 3 wires to the connector where the light rely would have been, then the other 2 wires need to go though to the door switch.

Unless you're fitting the door handle switch as well, the input on the relay for this switch needs to be linked to the input from the door pin switch.

Brianmoooore wrote:Unless you have a LH drive car, you're digging the wrong side! Who told you LH side?

Instructions were from US, and said drivers side (LH) and to take the two bolts out that hold the hood release handle (also LH) so I assumed being in UK that it meant passenger side, not drivers side speaker well. Will go tear apart the REAL (UK) drivers side......

Be very wary of US sourced tech. advice! I watch, but rarely post, on the Yahoo forum, and some of the advice on there is horrific!

Yeah, I am getting a list of UK contacts to stay in touch with and/or source parts from, since I will be moving to, and bringing my tech1 with me, to the US in a little over a year.

Figured it out, however. The main point that led me to believe it was the passenger side (Left side) was that the instructions said to remove the steering column underpanel (left side in US spec) and the hood release handle mounting screws (left side of UK spec) so I assumed that the relay was in the left speaker well, regardless of UK or US spec. In the end, it was the RH speaker well it was in. Very simple once I knew where to look. There was a relay already in place (non dimming). Unplugged it, and plugged the wires in where shown, and just had to tidy up all the extra wires in there to fit the larger relay behind the speaker. Tested, all works good, and looks great.

The complete locking loom is reversible - it can be fitted either way around, depending on where you want the steering wheel.

E30_Crazy, was the Relay plugged into a Black plastic casing
Is so , i have found the correct one, however i am either being a complete tart
and not using enough force, or near 25 years of it being there is making it hard to unplug.
In my defence , i was working with a Torch at night.

The black casting should be the relay itself. Let me try and draw a picture, from memory.



IIRC it was the smaller of the two units attached to the bracket. One was an odd shape, represented here by the triangle. Obviously, I have the relay pointed out. It has a little bracket on it that is clipped into the mounted bracket. You have to get some muscle behind it, and slide it up, and it will release. The little black unit below with the wires coming from it is what the delay relay plugs into. You can use the instructions given to plug in the wire here. Then when putting it all back together, I let the delay unit hang out of the speaker hole until I got the mount bracket screwed back in place, and then found a place for it to sit in the hole, since the new unit does not fit into the small bracket the stock relay used to clip to the mount bracket.


I had a torch at night alo...

Right, have managed to seperate the casing.
However the relay connections are nothing like the ones shown in the Fitting Instructions

Mine.

Insructions,

Sorry if i seem a bit obtuse here, but do i now have to
physically cut the Blue,Red, Black wires from the existing relay,
then join to the corresponding wires of the new relay?
Also the Green wire to the Door pin switch and the Yellow wire
to the existing wire that is removed from the door pin switch ?
Thanks btw Crazy, and TIA to all others.

^That's not the correct socket. Follow the wire off the door pin switch should take you to it.

Thanks for the very rapid response.
Will check it first thing in AM.

Have now found the correct socket.
Unfortunately it has succumbed to nearly 25 years of British weather, a certain **** of a
"Paint/bodywork shop" did,nt help much either,and is completly unuseable.






Have got a Wanted post up, in the meantime could i connect the relevant wires
using a Nylon block connector and a copious amount of insulating tape

I would use matching connectors to George's relay,and crimp them on.

Other alternate is to chop off the relay connectors and solder/heatshrink the joins.

Got a connector sorted, so i.ll leave it
and solder/heatshrink it. Thanks anyway.

Mark down the color of the wires. You must have had flooding in the past. That's not normal.

That is a distinct possibilty George.
When i first got the car, nearly 6 years ago, i had to ditch the seats and carpet
as the whole lot stank. The new connector is coming with the wiring cut back
6 inches from it, so should be able to reconnect to my existing wires fairly easily.

gooner1 wrote:Have now found the correct socket.
Unfortunately it has succumbed to nearly 25 years of British weather, a certain **** of a
"Paint/bodywork shop" did,nt help much either,and is completly unuseable.






Have got a Wanted post up, in the meantime could i connect the relevant wires
using a Nylon block connector and a copious amount of insulating tape

Mine was looking similar but still had good contact when tested with a meter.

No good Pete, when i connected the new relay one of the metal connectors, inside the block.
completly disintergrated.

You got it working now?

Waiting on replacement connector.

Don't miss out on the sale. Unless you want to pay more later.

Be worth it in the final,Rob,my light delay units are both now in their second homes and still working well.

Can some wiring mods be done to allow the unit to work when other door switches are activate other than the drivers door?

Yes, see the for sale thread.

Just noticed it, cheers Geogre

Mine work on both front doors,but not on the rears in the touring.

If i remember correctly, you can cut the brown/purple wire and brown/yellow wire and join them together, this way your lights will turn off as soon as you shut your door, by-passing the relay.

M42 wrote:If i remember correctly, you can cut the brown/purple wire and brown/yellow wire and join them together, this way your lights will turn off as soon as you shut your door, by-passing the relay.

But the point is to use the relay thats why I bought one.