A few annoying problems

[Interceptor-525i]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and have a few questions:

1. When crossing over a bump my inner cabin lights go on! What to check? Contact problems? Where?

2. The wheel-switch for controlling the height of the front light beams is not functioning. What to check? Are they controlled by an electric motor?

3. When I cold-start a car in the morning it says "Coolant level" on the check panel, but I checked it, and it's almost full! Does the sensor have bad contact?

4. There is no water coming out of the wiper sprays - I checked the relay, and it seems to function, but I can't hear the water pump. How much the water pump for the wiper fluid costs?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. My car is 10/91 E34 525i M50 with manual transmission for european market.

[black_bird_blue]

Inner cabin lights sound like maybe the door switch is making contact - that area of the body shakes a surprising amount over bumps.

Headlight aim adjust motors give a surprising amount of trouble on these cars; first check they are plugged in (immediately behind the lights) and be prepared to unplug them if you receive a deluge of messages about bulbs blowing! There is one motor for each dip beam light and the contact is situated behind and between the two lens assemblies.

No idea about the coolant level but it could well be a blown switch.

On my car there are no less than four identical washer pumps. One washes the headlights, one does the normal screenwash, one does the intensive screenwash and one does the tailgate (mine is a Touring). It's unlikely all of your motors have gone so I suggest experimenting with the controls to make the intensive wash work and starting from there. I needed to replace the normal screenwash pump (unsurprising since it works the most) and it cost me about £40 as I recall. Worth reading the manual to understand how it works, especially the normal/intensive stuff and the programmable intermittent wipe...

Hope that helps...

Damian

[Interceptor-525i]

First of all, thank you for your comprehensive and quick answer :)


Inner cabin lights sound like maybe the door switch is making contact - that area of the body shakes a surprising amount over bumps.

That was suspicious to me too, but I don't have this car very long and I don't know where the door switch is located :)


Headlight aim adjust motors give a surprising amount of trouble on these cars; first check they are plugged in (immediately behind the lights) and be prepared to unplug them if you receive a deluge of messages about bulbs blowing! There is one motor for each dip beam light and the contact is situated behind and between the two lens assemblies.

Roger that! Sounds logical and most probable.


No idea about the coolant level but it could well be a blown switch.

A blown switch would constantly report coolant level errors, I suppose, but I only get them sometimes - usually when the car is undriven for a couple of hours.


On my car there are no less than four identical washer pumps. One washes the headlights, one does the normal screenwash, one does the intensive screenwash and one does the tailgate (mine is a Touring). It's unlikely all of your motors have gone so I suggest experimenting with the controls to make the intensive wash work and starting from there. I needed to replace the normal screenwash pump (unsurprising since it works the most) and it cost me about £40 as I recall. Worth reading the manual to understand how it works, especially the normal/intensive stuff and the programmable intermittent wipe...

I can only suspect the screenwash pump, since mine is a limousine and it doesn't have the headlight wipers. I will try changing the relay before buying a washer pump :)

Thanks again!