Hi! Bit of a mystery- had my 1986 325i convertible auto about a month. Runs fine. Had it in garage this evening, started her up. All good. So put the headlights on, but when I pressed right hand fog switch it killed the engine. Lights went, power went, gone. Nothing. Tried the ignition and nothing, just a click. Waited about 5 mins. It started up again. Phew, I thought. How strange, thought it was just some weird shit. So for a second time, I pressed the headlight out, pressed the fog light in. Bam. Dead again. Everything off, lights, ignition, the lot. Nothing at all working. It's as if someone just pulled the plug. Not even the interior light comes on when I switch it. Radio dead. Nothing from the car still.
What on earth is this? Why is my fog switch doing this?Some kind of immobiliser? I have no knowledge of anything like this being fitted. There's no other key, just this one. I'm no mechanic certainly and can't do anything on the car myself, but I'm baffled.
pressed fog light switch and it killed the car.
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Spc1953
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Last edited by Spc1953 on Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:19 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Brianmoooore
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Check your battery connections, including the wires attached to the + terminal.
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BenHar
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Maybe someone has wired the switch as a cut out?
Ben
Ben
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Spc1953
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Hi- battery seems fine. Just an update, left it last night as it was dark. Went in the garage this morning- starts first time. Lights on, radio on, wipers on. Runs fine. Ran it for ten mins in neutral. Switched main lights on, fine. Switched back fogs on, fine. Main beam fine. Turned my front fogs on- they didn't work but when I switched, car whirring, spluttering, thought it was gonna go again, managed to just perk itself up before I unswitched the fogs. Anyone got any ideas?
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Spc1953
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Well that's exactly how it looks, Ben. That why it suddenly re-started overnight?BenHar wrote:Maybe someone has wired the switch as a cut out?
Ben
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Brianmoooore
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There's no reason why someone shouldn't have wired the foglight switch as part of an immobiliser - it's close to what I advocate on here re. shorting the fuel pump supply, but it would be unusual, unnecessary, and technically more difficult and expensive to immobilise things like the radio and lights as well as the important bits.
Pull out the foglight switch and tell us if the wiring to it seems to have been 'got at'.
Pull out the foglight switch and tell us if the wiring to it seems to have been 'got at'.