E34 518i Rear Interior Lights and Boot lights not working.

[richardmlees]

I have a 1996 E34 518i. As some background, I had problems with water getting into the vehicle which only really became apparent when electrical problems started. The issue was that the water had spread all the way down the passenger side of the vehicle and the case containing the the General Module and the Relay Module was sitting in a puddle of water. Since then, I have managed to stop water getting in, and pretty much dried everything out. All the electrical problems seem to have gone away too.

However, despite everything else now working fine again, I seem to have lost power to the lights above the rear passenger's heads, and the interior boot lights. Could this still be related to water having got in previously? i.e. perhaps one of the standard relays in the case holding the GM and RM might have 'stuck' due to having previously got wet?

Thanks.

[shogun]

interior light is controlled by the GM via the RM under rear seat.
Wiring diagrams are here for the E34
E34 (1988 to 1995 5 Series) Wiring Diagrams (http://shark.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e34/)

[richardmlees]

Thanks Shogun, great resource.

I don't think it's either the GM or the RM as everything else seems to work fine, but there are other relays in the area so it could be one of those (assumung one of those controls the interior and boot lights), otherwise it's got to be wiring. Hopefully, the diagram wil help me ascertain which wires as any break in a wire is more likely to be under the back seat as the box containing the GM and RM has been moved and pulled about to dry out underneath it several times over the last year or so while I was trying to resolve the problem of water getting in, and the boot doesn't get used that often. Don't particularly want to have to try and trace that blind as there seems to be about a million wires in the vacinity!