Subject: Gremlins? Any chance they're related . . ? Author: gdoan : member since September, 2007 : 13 posts Posted on: 2008-11-04 10:04:04

Hi all. Appreciate any help in advance (and, yes, I have done thread searching and read the FAQs.) Lot's of good stuff in there, but I suddenly had a number of things, all seemingly unrelated, happen and I'm wondering if any could be related or if others have experienced something similar.

My car: 1998 740iL w/~53K miles. I've owned it for about a year now. All of these have happened within about a month. Many are "known issues" with this fine car...

1) Driver's window started working intermittently. It would stop working (always all the way up, luckily) and then start again a day or week later. About a month ago now, it stopped working and hasn't worked since. No clunking or other sounds when it worked. When it doesn't work, it doesn't work using the remote or key in door, either, so I suspect it's not the switch. I know the regulator issues are well documented. I guess I just expected it to sound broken or work erratically with such a failure.

2) Next, after using, for quite some time, a TomTom and a radar detector plugged into a split adapter connected to the flashlight receptacle in the glove box, the radar detector would periodically give me a low power warning and shut down when starting the car and the devices powering up. They worked fine, powering up and down with the car, for months. Eventually, the power level or stability started affecting the TomTom, too. Alternator, fuse? I haven't checked, yet. I plugged the flashlight back in and it doesn't seem to charge, but it could be bad after all this time...

3) Next, very recently, I set the cruise heading down the highway one day. About 30 seconds later it disengaged for no apparent reason and the CC indicator went out. It would not turn back on and I noticed the airbag warning light on. The next time I started and drove the car, the CC worked and the airbag light was off. A couple of days later, I pressed the CC button and went to set the speed, but it would set at all and I noticed the airbag light on again. In the days (5-7?) since then, CC won't work at all and the airbag light has stayed on any time the car is on.

I did charge the battery with a BMW trickle charger (said it was fully charged after a couple of hours which was a little surprising to see it say that so quickly...).

The car has worked very well since I got it, but I've encountered a few of the normal, known issues. Had to fix (clean and seal) some leaking tail lights assemblies to address an periodic check brake light issue. Had to replace the radiator about a month in when it failed.

I moved the first of October and haven't had a lot of time to really look at everything, as I'm still fighting the battle of the boxes . . . Any help or insight would be most appreciated!

Greg

Greg

1998 740iL Arctic Silver/Black ('new' daily driver)
2003 Nissan Pathfinder LE Gold-I think/Tan (daily hauler)
2003 ///M5 Jet Black/Black (fair weather mauler)
2002 330Ci Jet Black/Tan (RIP)
1995 318is (Boston Green/Tan) (sold)

• Gremlins? Any chance they're related . . ? - gdoan 2008-11-04 10:04:04 (109 views)
  • Just did this last week. $67 bucks from the dealer, 45 min DIY job. - 740ilDuke 2008-11-04 18:16:28 (32 views)
  • +1. Our ignition switches have become a recurrent them of late.... - RobinK 2008-11-04 13:14:58 (35 views)
    • (That's a '+1' on Brians suggestions below) (nt) - RobinK 2008-11-04 13:16:00 (24 views)
      • There you go freaking myself out with that RHD. ;-) (nt) - 740ilDuke 2008-11-04 21:19:01 (9 views)
      • I'm planning to replace my ign switch soon, just because (nt) - Brian 2008-11-04 16:50:18 (21 views)
  • My hunches are either 1) Ignition switch, or 2) old, failing battery (nt) - Brian 2008-11-04 11:47:37 (24 views)
    • Re: My hunches are either 1) Ignition switch, or 2) old, failing battery - gdoan 2008-11-04 16:35:10 (37 views)
      • Ignition switch almost 100% sure! (nt) - Edwin™ 2008-11-04 16:37:43 (25 views)
        • Re: Ignition switch almost 100% sure! - gdoan 2008-11-04 16:48:31 (29 views)
          • Gremlins can be strange, replace that and then see what changes (nt) - Edwin™ 2008-11-04 17:24:01 (23 views)
            • As usual! - gdoan 2008-11-08 23:42:27 (19 views)