E30 Zone

My near side rear electric window isn't working. All the others work perfectly. The problem appears to be no power. I've checked the 2 pin plug in the door and cleaned it up but it seems to be dead ( no power from either pin when tested with a meter) I've also swapped round all the lift switches and checked every earth I can find. Mr Bentley and Mr Haynes aren't very helpful, both manuals just say "check wiring" aaaargh!! Has anyone come up against this before? Any help would be appreciated. (The car is a 325i touring if it makes any difference)

Alex

One or other of the switches would be the normal culprit. Disconnect the motor plug in the door and connect a 12V 21W lamp in its place.
Don't use a meter for this kind of testing. It can give very misleading results.

ok thanks, I'll give that a try. The car's been standing for three years and had various electrical problems, mostly dirty or loose connections. This is the last fault before I get the car back on the road and it's driving me mad!

No it's definitely dead, like the parrot this is an ex electric window. Neither switch will operate the window but they do work when swapped around with the other doors. Their seems to be a power failure somewhere before the motor.

Maybe the wire in the door hinge has worn out, if you pull the trim off the B pillar you should find another connector that you can check.

that's a possibility, I'll give it a try, thanks.

Thanks to Martin, problem solved. I found the extra plug hidden behind the B pillar and traced the fault to a broken wire. Cheers.

Broken wire in the loom to a rear door?
This car an ex taxi?

I know, crazy isn't it. There was one broken wire right in the middle of the rubber bellows thingy. The other wires were a bit creased but ok. The piece of loom going into the door was badly twisted so maybe someone's fiddled with it before.