3-Series (E36)Chat relating to the BMW 3-Series from 1992-1999. Autodoodad
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As you (may) know, on a convertible E36, when you open the door the window goes down a little and when you close the door, it goes back up. Well, for some reason, my car doesn't realize when the door is open more than half the time, so I have to kinda force the door shut (because the window isn't suposed to be all the way up).
My problem is that the car doesn't realize the door is open, how might I fix this?
There is a window "reset" procedure that moght help (not sure what it is)....do a search on the forum, or buy a Bentley, cuz I know they have it in there....
Originally posted by epheterson@Jan 17 2005, 07:13 PM As you (may) know, on a convertible E36, when you open the door the window goes down a little and when you close the door, it goes back up. Well, for some reason, my car doesn't realize when the door is open more than half the time, so I have to kinda force the door shut (because the window isn't suposed to be all the way up).
My problem is that the car doesn't realize the door is open, how might I fix this?
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There is a little magic swicth on the door lock mechanism that tells the car and the window that is closed, is the swich does not make contact, the door thinks is open and so it will keep the window down as if wehn you open the door it drops the glass a little so it goes up afterwards.
But this failed swicth also brings weird door locking problem, door wont lock, and also interior lights going on..
if its just the window acting up,
then is the sensor inside the window motor that is gone,
this sensor tell the motor where the window is at..
so get a new motor., before doing that..
reset the window
Before you do the procedure, the top must be closed and the key off.
get in the car, lower the window all the way down, (ok turn it on to lower the window, but then turn it off). hit the window swicth next to the ignition, you know the one that cuts out window power.. then go on the engine and take the drivers door window motor fuse out. wait like a minute. then put it back in, close your hood. get into the car, then close the doors and put the key on the on position, do not start engine. hit the window swicth next to teh ignition, wait some ten seconds. then press the window swithc, to lift the window and keep holding the swicth on the up position for like 5 sec after is all the way up. then lower the window all the way down and keep holding for 5 secs.
dont forget the reset works only if the door locking swich is working.
if its not wokring, you will have to remove the whole locking mechanism to change this.. yes it is a pain;...
and as a foo note here, i do not know how are the coupes and convert. but on the sedans, besides from having the swicht on the door lock mechanism the part where the lock locks into, you know the hook that is on the door pillar on the car body, normally is black. ther is also a swicth on that, if you look closely there is a swicht on the center rectangular part of it. this can also fail. And if you plan to replace this switch, use tape or something to mark exaclty where the strikers sits on. because to adjust the position requires a bmw tool.
hope this can help.
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The problem is definately that the car doesn't know when the door is open, so a sensor isn't working correctly. It seems like something may be stuck, because the problem is intermittent, and sometimes just delayed. Where might the sensor be to check/replace?
I found a temp. fix, if I open the door and the car doesn't realize it, I can manually (with my finger) push the lock mechanism all the way in, and pull the handle. When I do that, the car realizes the door is open.
Problem may be that for some reason the lock mechanism isn't getting pushed in all the way.
Originally posted by epheterson@Jan 23 2005, 12:19 AM I found a temp. fix, if I open the door and the car doesn't realize it, I can manually (with my finger) push the lock mechanism all the way in, and pull the handle. When I do that, the car realizes the door is open.
Problem may be that for some reason the lock mechanism isn't getting pushed in all the way.
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the reason why that works is because when the door lock swicth is about to fail, that works.
the way the swicth works is by a plastic arm that presses the wischt once the lock locks. wiht time that plastic arm becomes weak and modifies..
its not the sicht that fail normally, but the arm that activates it.
but whenever you are going to buy the part from bmw, they sell the whole thing, siwcht and astivstion mechanism.
this can work for now, but my advice to you is, to gret the part and change it.. it not a hard job, you need some basic tools and a saturday morning...
good luck.
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I have a similar issue. I have a 93 318is, the window is supposed to do the same thing when you open and close the door. When my window is stuck in the up or completely down position I can hear a clicking noise coming from the door. If anyone could help me out I would really appreciate it, my window is stuck in the down position right now and it is supposed to snow tonight. Thanks in advance.
Originally posted by mack10j@Jan 25 2005, 06:54 PM I have a similar issue. I have a 93 318is, the window is supposed to do the same thing when you open and close the door. When my window is stuck in the up or completely down position I can hear a clicking noise coming from the door. If anyone could help me out I would really appreciate it, my window is stuck in the down position right now and it is supposed to snow tonight. Thanks in advance.
and also the electric motor has a built in sensor to tell the motor what is the current position of the window. if the sensor, wich is magnet, gets out of its place, then the window motor activates, but then is shuts down promply since it thinks that the window is all the way up or down.
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