E30 Zone

climbed in behind the glove box to swap out the heater core valve and stumbled upon this business...





fairly new to the E30 so please bare with me...

I am also having issues with the heater fan coming on... it just clicks like a clock every so often and seems to cause a substantial drain on the battery...

Is that some sort of alarm ? you need to trace all the wires, rip it the fook out and re-solder and heat shrink the joints as you go repair the loom.

Alarms are a waste of time and on old cars are more aggro than they're worth - the only thing they are fit for is the bin.

A suitably hidden cut-off switch is a much simpler and better idea

well i don't know at all what it is... i just recently bought the car and was going over everything and prepping it for an MOT, wasn't sure if it was factory or not... as i've said before, i'm fairly new to the E30... if you say it's an alarm of some sort, i don't see a point in it either... will begin rewiring it soon...

Definately looks alarm related - Bin it ! those bullet connectors are definately not factory.

Are there any identifying marks on the box ?

Definitely an alarm module in the second pic., and I think it may be a genuine BMW one, but from a later model, such as the E36 or E34.
The two black screened leads ending in a white plug and a red plug, going into the LH side of the module are going to the ultrasonic interior motion sensors, which typically will be fitted at the top of the A pillar trims.
There does seem to be rather a lot of wiring that shouldn't be there - a bit to much for just the alarm, so go carefully as you remove it.
The group of four bullet connectors, to the right of the first pic. look like the colours of the wires might be those of the radio loom.

so after looking around and following some wires, it does seem to be an alarm, there are wires leading to a BMW horn under the bonnet on the passenger side... i was also noticing a few other "loose" wires... was wondering if anyone could show me a picture of what this is supposed to look like with what wires etc should be coming out of it?

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ory_Socket

PacerPete will be along in a minute to drool over the rust round the bulk head grommet.

Ben

Heater fan: Motor is partly seized, as a result of last having its bearings lubricated over twenty years ago. The click you hear is a self resetting 'fuse' built into the fan speed resistor tripping on and off.
The cure is to remove the motor from the car (simple job from the engine bay) lubricate it properly, spin it up on an external battery until the oil has worked its way completely in to the bearings, then refit it. Leave it too long, and the resistor assembly will be damaged.

What is plugged into the accessories socket depends on what extras your car has!
On UK cars, I'd expect at least V,W,X, Y, Z, D and Q to be in use.
Note that the wiki shows the socket upside down, as it is fitted in LH drive cars.

Are there any schematics for the plug to the left of the accessories plug?

That's the dasboard loom plug. (Two looms serve an E30 dash - one that is part of the main body loom, which sort of runs across the middle, and the one that plugs into the socket in question, which runs across the top of the dash and SHOULD ALWAYS BE REMOVED WITH THE DASH.)
Your alarm should have two connections to this plug, to a blue/red wire and to a blue/black wire. These are the connections that allow the alarm to flash the indicators.
I don't know of any schematic especially for this plug, although the individual pins should be indicated on the relevant sections of the BMW wiring diagrams in the wiki.