interior light no delay

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interior lights work as they should but the diming function does not work.the relay clicks when the drivers door pin switch is pressed is this correct?

[Brianmoooore]

No E30 interior light was ever fitted with a dimming function by BMW. The option was a delay unit that keeps the light on for around 11 seconds (IIRC) when you enter the car, and then switch it off suddenly.
There is a relay under the LH side of the dash that clicks when a front door pin switch is pushed, but this is nothing to do with the interior lights.
Don't know what it is with interior light delays this week, but after no mention of them for months, this is the third time this week. The problem is probably due to corrosion of the pin in the A pillar plug and socket to the door that carries the signal from a switch fitted to the exterior door handle. This can be repaired, or eliminated by performing the small mod. I've already posted in the other threads.

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Yes sorry delay function

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Pins are all very clean at both sides.

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Do the door handle bridge switchs cause problems?

[Brianmoooore]

Not that I've heard of, but the number of E30s fitted with this option is too small to draw statistical conclusions. It's just a 'one bit of metal touching another bit of metal' switch, so it could be corroded.
Where is the click you here coming from?

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I have looked at the small bridge switch on the lever on a spare door i have to see how it works,the relay which clicks the one at the side of the central locking moduel and the one in the glove box area ,this function did work on this car before otherwise i would not bother with it.

But surely the relay should have a delayed click brian instead of clicking straight off?

[Brianmoooore]

With the delay module installed as BMW intended, the delay was only when you entered the car. When you left the car, the light shut off instantly, so the switch on the exterior door handle switches the light on, and the delayed off starts when the pin switch in the A pillar opens. The pin switch will also turn the light on when it closes (door opens), but when the pin switch opens again (door closes), there will be no delayed off, because the delay hasn't been 'primed' by the ext. handle switch.
Most people prefer the delayed off to work from the passenger side as well, and for that to happen, the passenger pin switch has to be wired to the driver's side one, and, since the ext. door handle is on the other side of the car, the mod. to connect the handle switch wire to the pin switch has to be done. Link the two pins together temporarily on the delay unit's base, and see if that makes it work.

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I have only noticed it works when i have left the car , what setting do the interior light rock switch's need to be in for this same as normal on as in when door opens?

[Brianmoooore]

In the other two switch positions each light should either be permanently on or permanently off.

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Strange one this..could that cap in the relay be damaged the relay just works without the delay?

[Brianmoooore]

In true BMW fashion, the unit doesn't use a simple circuit where a complicated one will do!
There are two versions of the module I've come across - identical outside, but completely different inside. One version uses four transistors and three diodes, plus a few resistors, capacitors and a relay, and the timing component in this version is C2, a 100uF electrolytic.
The other version is based around a LM2904 dual op. amp, with a relay, a transistor, six diodes, a few resistors and capacitors, plus a nine pin resistor array making up the rest of the component count. The basic timing capacitor in this version is a 22 uF electrolytic.
The timing cap. could have failed, but I'd still expect a short delay.
There are plenty of other things that could have gone wrong, including being flood damaged for the same reasons as affects the locking ECU.

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I will check the door handle bridge switch next,nothing out of the ordinary inside the relay .

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Removed the door card today and found this looks to be the switch but its broken?

Whilst i unbolted this and hung it out to photograph i had the delay working 3 / 4 times by pressing the a pillar switch.. then i could not get it to do it again,







Is this ment to be number 3 in this link?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=61&fg=25

[BenHar]

It doesn't look broken to me.

They are crude. A tab on the handle pushes into the bit that looks like a chair in your bottom picture and connects the brass springy bit to the back of the chair.

It could do with a clean.

Ben

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The chair looking section is all plastic with no metal for the sprung section to bridge too.

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Is there any way of bridging this? either of the wires are live.

[Brianmoooore]

As I've already said, if you link it out at the module socket, and the delay then works, you know that either the switch or the wire to it is faulty.
You've already broken one of the most important rules of fault finding by disturbing and dismantling a part without having proved that it's faulty.

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I had to remove this from its mounting place to check the switch is one of these wires ment to be live?

[Brianmoooore]

Depends what you mean by 'live'. The brown/green will have a voltage on it, if measured with a meter, but this is from a high resistance source.
The three pin socket that the switch plugs into has a full on 12 volt live in it, but this isn't connected to the switch wire.

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Linked this at the relay plug today and it works,it now works from the a pillar switch but not from entering the car (lifting the handle)so i will look into the door loom,bridged the 2 wires at the round plug in the door and still no joy...thanks for the info brian.

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Are both wires to the switch earths and rely on the handle to make the circuit?

[Brianmoooore]

One wire is plain brown, so it's an earth. The other wire is brown/green (the wire that goes to the module via three plugs and sockets).