Need A Little Electric Help Please!

[numberthree_]

Hi, Im in need of electric help!! All of my dash lights went out.. My brights light, the air bag, fog light, and similar lights still work as well as the main info screen and the obc display.. The lights however, on the gauges, temp controls, the obc buttons, dont work.. I just replaced a lot of those bulbs too.. I checked a few of them, and they seem okay..

Could this be a relay?? Is there a relay for this?? I checked the fuses in the little box on the drivers side by the firewall in the engine.. they seem to be ok.. AND YES>> THE DIM SWITCH IS UP ALL THE WAY!!

What could this be??

Also, just today, i installed a keyless entry, and to have the blinker verify option, they said i need a relay.. I dont feel like paying 40 bucks for one though.. Is there any other way to do this?? Would sending a wire to the parking light wiring from the door lock/unlock wires work?? I dont know too much about relays, so this may be a silly question..

Thanks!

[da_bull]

It still sounds to me like a fuse, check both sides of the fuse with a voltmeter to make sure you have voltage coming in and going out. Someone else may be more suited for the dash lights but as far as the relay goes, you shouldnt have to pay 40 for a relay unless that includes installation, then that is about right. If your keyless didnt come with built-in relays yes that is the only way to do it. Even if your lock/unlock was to be used, you'd still have to use a relay.

[bryan1970]

as for the dash lights if you just replaced all the bulbs and no fuses are blown then i'd check connections. maybe when you oput it all back together one of the conectors wasa little loose. aslo another thing to check are ground wires. although with the way bmw incorperates more than just one ground wire ona ground point i would expect more than just the dash lights not to work. but it is worth checking anyway.

and for the relay question. i not sure that your theory would work. while if you did just runa wire from the door locks to the lights it might light them up but it is possible that it would not be enough voltage to propely light them up and it could over load the circut and blow a fuse. and just subsituting a bigger fuse is not a good idea that is how fires can start. what you might be able to do is runa wire from the door loks circut to a relay and then have the relay flash teh lights. bu then your back to your original problem. the basic operation of a relay is that there are atleast 4 terminals on a relay( some ahve more than 4) and two of the terminals operate on a diffrent circut from the other 2. when your control circut. in your case the door locks, is activated current passes througha winding of wire inside the relay. and when that happens it creates a magnet. then on the other 2 terminals of the relay (the lights in your case) there is a piece of metal < switch if you will, that gets pulled towards the magnaet and makes contact with the rest of the circut, thus completeing the circut and making the lights blink. but the only down fall to this is if you locked or unlocked the car from inside using the central locking functions, the lights would still blink there would be now way no only make the lights blink only when the alarm is activated. they would blink anytime the power locks would be activated.

[numberthree_]

so what you are saying is that a fuse could be bad without being able to physically see it?

also.. here's the deal about the relay: http://www.stellaralarms.com/detail_...o?itemid=BMWRA
Do you think i would need to do any wiring?? Or does it just plug in?? They dont really say anything about that..

[numberthree_]

hey thanks for the reply i think i understand the whole relay thing a little more..

[numberthree_]

i figured out the dash light problem.. since i just installed a new stereo as well, there were two older wires rubbing on each other, somehow closing off the current, and not allowing dash lights to work.. simple as that!!