E30 Zone

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!!

help me out here folks i'm at my wits end.

the problem is my electric windows have nearly packed up.

symptoms as follows.

windows will wind down with door open, ign on & door shut ign on.

won't wind back up wether door is open or not.

checked both fuse 28 & 17 both good but both replaced with brand new parts just incase (hard to tell if a relay has gone as you can't see inside it).

put 12v from the battery to the motor/mech & thats good (was bought from magpie on here so a known good one) & the window goes up & down.

here's a bit i can't get my head round.

used a 12v bulb & wire to test for power at the switch, press the down switch, bulb lights up, press the up switch, nothing, so i know that the down switch is getting power but none to the up switch, did the same on both drivers side & passenger side, both the same.

checked the circuit breaker/resettable fuse in front of the drivers side window switch & thats all good/getting power.

so, does anybody have any ideas??

this is literally the only thing stopping me from getting the car back on the road.

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!

Is power getting to the upswitch? If so clean the switches.

Ben

Thats the thing, no power to the up switch,

Any idea on how to clean the contacts/switch??

There is only one power feed into the switch. Green grey wire.

If the power gets TO the down switch it must be getting TO the up switch. So the problem is in the switch contacts.

The switches can be pried apart with a thin screwdriver. Watch out for the pingfuckits!

Ben

BenHar wrote:There is only one power feed into the switch. Green grey wire.

If the power gets TO the down switch it must be getting TO the up switch. So the problem is in the switch contacts.

The switches can be pried apart with a thin screwdriver. Watch out for the pingfuckits!

Ben

cheers ben i'll give that a go when i've calmed down & stopped thinking of setting fire to it

just prized open the sunroof switch (that dont work either ) to have a look & they don't look to clever.

any idea how to clean them up???

forgot to add allthree switches light up with the ign on/off with the door open.

Give them a good spray with electrical contact cleaner.

Ben

BenHar wrote:Give them a good spray with electrical contact cleaner.

Ben

will do when i get some later,

just split all three switches open & they're all the same inside, filthy, full of dust with a nice build up of carbon/oxidisation on all the contacts,

better raid out lasses make up box for an emery board to try & clean them up,

fingers crossed this works.

When I looked in to my electric window problem I found one of the contacts in the window switch plug had pushed back away from the switch, the back of the plug comes off so you can check they are all connected correctly.
It sounds like the problem is at the switch / plug area.

KW355 wrote:When I looked in to my electric window problem I found one of the contacts in the window switch plug had pushed back away from the switch, the back of the plug comes off so you can check they are all connected correctly.
It sounds like the problem is at the switch / plug area.

thats what i was starting to think,

checked the wiring on the underside of the switch plug & thats where i found that the down button was getting power but not the up button.

have got the plugs stripped down so going to clean the contacts tonight & refit tomorrow.

fingers crossed it works or mr moooooooore see's this post.

anyone?????

Quote;

used a 12v bulb & wire to test for power at the switch, press the down switch, bulb lights up, press the up switch, nothing, so i know that the down switch is getting power but none to the up switch, did the same on both drivers side & passenger side, both the same.

Had a quick look at my m3 wiring diagram, I presume it is the same as yours.
There are only two wires that connect the switch to the window motor. the motor winds up and down by the switch reversing the polarity to the motor, if your bulb lights up in one direction but not the other when connected to plug wires 1 and 8 ( to the motor ) then the switch must be defective as the bulb is not polarity sensitive and should light up when the switch is pressed either up or down.

switch pinouts;

3 live green/grey ( +12v)
4 earth brown ( -12v)
5 earth brown ( -12v)
1 and 8 to window motor

+1 for cleaning contacts, i had a similar problem and my contacts were dirty, but worked fine afterwards.

Thanks guys, will b giving the contacts in the switches a good clean (& the one's in the circuit breaker) & popping them back in & fingers crossed, i'll report back when i've tried it.

Wish me luck.