Wiring Diagrams

[Bhav]

Hey

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for a UK spec 1998 E36 318ti compact? I am after the diagram that gives the information of what wires are what behind the glove box.

I want to connect my angel eyes up to my alarm so they fade on and off with the interior lights when my key is removed from the ignition. I would like to see which would be the best way to connect it up.

Cheers!

[John Firestone]

I have done similar wiring in preparation for adding puddle lights, and unwittingly duplicated the wiring BMW added in later years. Below is a scan of the .5 and .75 mm^2 red/black (RT/SW) wires you want to tie into.

On a LHD car, X13252 is the big black connector at the middle left side of the module rack behind the glovebox. X10269 should be a comb terminal junction in the terminal block hanging off the left side of the same module rack. It has no specific place in the block, just its wire colors to tell you which junction it is.

Comb terminal strips can have 3, 5 or 9 positions. The diagram shows 4 of X10269's are taken which means you may very well only have to add a comb sleeve to the end of your wiring and push it on, and not have to solder to or pierce the car's original wiring.

(I would probably add another strip and daisy chain to it, rather than exhaust the open positions, so I could add more lights some day. That goes beyond what BMW suggests, I suppose, because it costs their dealers a little extra time. I think you will find there is plenty of room in the terminal block for more strips.)

I hope that helps and good luck!

Steven, could you bump the upload image limits a little? My first attempt gave me the following error:

The Dimension limits for this filetype are 500 x 500. We were unable to resize your file so you will need to do so manually and upload it again. Your file is currently 502 x 468.

[John Firestone]

Was my explanation and diagram of any use?

[Dredder]

If you want a bigger image, upload the picture into the gallery then link the picture into the thread.

[John Firestone]

That is a good suggestion but all I wanted was two more pixels along one dimension. Keeping a figure as an attachment gives everyone an automatic preview image with no more work on my part.

Steven wrote me shortly after my first post to say he had increased the allowed attachment image size to 800x600 pixels.

[Bhav]

Hey John. Thanks for your info. I think i understand what you mean. Im jus so busy with my Uni work at the moment ive not had chance to have a look at my cars wiring. I will let you know how I get on when i eventually find a free day to have a go at wiring all this up. Thanks again mate!

[Bhav]

Hey guys i had ago at connecting my angel eyes up to my interior lights today & it has worked. My angel eyes now come on as soon as i deactivate my alarm. When i remove me key from the ignition they automatically come on and when i actibate my alarm my angel eyes fade out.

[John Firestone]

Good job. And for your next mod, you can figure out how to unlock the doors when you remove the key.

Actually, I bet that is feasible on an E36 without a great deal of fuss.

Did you tie in to the red/black wires or somewhere else?

[L84THSKY]

That feature is standard on my upgraded BMWALARM.COM system

Originally Posted by John Firestone

And for your next mod, you can figure out how to unlock the doors when you remove the key.
Actually, I bet that is feasible on an E36 without a great deal of fuss.

[Bhav]

Ye it is the red/black wires that i tied into. cheer mate!

[Bhav]

That seems like a cool alarm system you have there L4THSKY. I have a cobra alarm. It also has most of those features such as auto closure of windows & sunroof, ultra sonic sensors, glass break sensor & tilt motion sensor. It don't think it has the option of unlocking the doors when you remove it from the ignition but my car doesn't lock itself when I’m in the car. The alarm you have is reasonably priced as well.

[John Firestone]

Originally Posted by L84THSKY

That feature is standard on my upgraded BMWALARM.COM system

When you actually pull the key out of the ignition?

[L84THSKY]

The one feature to be careful is the auto lock after 30 seconds.
If I do not lock the car in 30 seconds, it locks and alarms the car automatically. The feature can be dissabled, but is now activated.
I wanted to see just what conditions it auto alarmed. I left the key in the ignition, not turned, but inserted. I shut the doors and watched what happened. The car locked and alarmed. I of course had a spare set of keys, but imagine if I didn't and I shut all my doors. LOCKED OUT!
That means unless the key is turned (preventing it from arming), I assume, and or a door or the hatch is open, you can't get in your car. This feature will probably do more harm than good. I'm gonna dissable it when I find the time.

Originally Posted by Bhav

That seems like a cool alarm system you have there L4THSKY. I have a cobra alarm. It also has most of those features such as auto closure of windows & sunroof, ultra sonic sensors, glass break sensor & tilt motion sensor. It don't think it has the option of unlocking the doors when you remove it from the ignition but my car doesn't lock itself when I’m in the car. The alarm you have is reasonably priced as well.

[L84THSKY]

Actually the doors unlock when the key is turned to the kill position. It is tied to the ignition system. It automatically locks the doors when I turn the key. The one caveat is, the doors only auto lock if they are all closed. So if I open the door, start the car, and the door is still open, it won't lock it.
This is a quote from the website:
Ignition Smart - locks the doors when the ignition is "ON" and unlocks the doors when the ignition is turned "OFF". (Programmable).

Originally Posted by John Firestone

When you actually pull the key out of the ignition?

[John Firestone]

Originally Posted by L84THSKY

Actually the doors unlock when the key is turned to the kill position.

I thought so!

What I think would be the cat's meow would be to have the doors stay locked after you turn off the engine but then unlock as you pull out the key. That motion and response would probably be more immediate and satisfying than pulling the pin out of a grenade -- pulllllCLUNK -- although I have never thrown any grenades.

Sometimes, you may want to kill the engine, sit in the car and keep the doors locked, for example, while waiting for a train in a rough part of town.

If you get into the habit of removing the key to unlock the doors you'll probably take the key with you -- which is also generally a good thing.