kraustin1

I've searched high and wide across the old posts for symptoms similar to what I am experiencing, so if I missed it, please forgive me.

I've recently looked through all of the fuse boxes on my car in search of one the 12v "CIG" that I should have spotted in the owners manual... in looking for the fuse, I pulled several other fuses looking for any that may have been blown... in hindsight it was a dumb thing to do.

Since then, there have been an increasing amount of problems coming from the car...

• Windows wont work
• Locked key and FOB in car (normally impossible)
• Flashing dash lights
• Flashing dash illumination
• Touchscreen restarts
• Meters reset
• Door lights flicker
• Dead battery (recent replacement July 2012)
• and LOSS OF POWER STEERING

Any thoughts? I've pulled the ECU fuses for 20 minutes without avail, and currently the negative side of the battery is disconnected (i'll test that out soon). All the other fuses I looked at look in order.

Thanks in advance (BTW, love the forum!)
Kevin

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

your windows dont work probably because you pulled the fuse. does it not work from the drivers seat?

kraustin1

Nice catch... you are correct. All of the windows work at their respective doors. I recall there was a relearning period for the driver's side to be able to adjust the other doors.

One down

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

yup, just roll them down and back up from each door then it will work from the drivers switch.

so what is the issue? you pulled fuses and now it doesnt work? why were you pulling fuses? have you tested the battery?

BinaryJay

In my experience this car acts absolutely possessed when the battery is low, charge your battery on a tender for a while - see if the weird stuff goes away. If you drive regularly and it starts up again, you might want to have the charging system checked. Also might as well clean and tighten your battery terminals.

I have personally had the door locking weirdness, and the display "rebooting" weirdness and all was due to battery getting low because I left the ignition on with the radio going while I was fixing my rear windows that both seemingly simultaneously fell of their tracks. I was going nuts thinking that I must have fracked something up when I was unplugging the various door harnesses but after I charged the battery up all was fine again. The screen rebooting thing also happened like days after I first picked up the car because the dealership didn't friggin' charge the battery at all before giving the car to me so after a couple days of very short city trips (live downtown...) it was low on juice.

I never noticed any power steering issue, the car doesn't even really have "power steering" - meaning there is no direct linkage between the steering wheel and the wheels at all, so there is no "assist" that breaks down and leaves you "falling back" to pushing it all yourself. There was an early recall on the steering racks due to bad adhesive holding the magnets that make it all work for this - hard steering - I'd be surprised if the car never had that performed but it is possible that the rack has gone bad anyway.

For future reference you don't need to pull fuses to see if they're bad, a strong flashlight is enough... when it's bad those automotive fuses are pretty clearly bad it will a lot of the times look all melted inside if not for clearly seeing the thick gauge wire broken.

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

^ exactly

that was my question with testing the battery because these cars do act weird when they are about to die

designo

iTrader: (6)

BMW's are similar! Battery causes electronic gremlins!

kraustin1

Confirmed alternator died and replaced.

We are still working out some electrical issues, because there are a few lights on the dash.

The most troubling one is that there are no Service codes to look at when we plug into it.

Any thoughts to this? Thank you for your input so far!