Dead Battery!

Bat Drain

The new regulator will take care of the main drain.

Unfortunately, E9s charging system is a crossover. That means the diodes are inside the end of the Alternator if original type. Check yours and see. One of the many diodes ( excitor) is causing the red light to stay on. You can have it repaired ( New diodes are still available from BMW) or a rebuilt from Autozone shows up as about $45. Napa was higher.
 
Thanks for the info. Will the alternator still charge if the diode is bad? I can live w/ the light for now. I just don't want to have to get a jump every time I go out w/ the car.

Just my opinion - I don't buy anything from Autozone - typically cheap parts and inexperienced personnel. Everyone in my NAPA store has worked in the business for 10+ years and are true professionals in addition to the fact that they can get a decent amount of the basic OE parts for my cars. I would pay a lot more just for the experienced personnel and I really don't mind paying a little more for a premium part.

Sorry for the rant...
 
bat/gen

Check your voltage again running. Anything over 13v means good things.

The light is a minimum draw-.5watt or less. If you wanted to use the car until you got the alternator fixed, I don't see why not. The caveat is if the car's sitting for long- pull the black plug to stop the slow drain. PIA, but heh, i understand you want to have fun with the new toy/car.

Good luck.
 
Alternator is pumping 13.7 with plug in and running - whoohoo!

So, if I've read everything correctly - I either need to get this diode fixed in the alt or buy a new alt and I will lose the red "L" light - correct?
 
Charging Red Light

Charging! That's a beautiful thing.

Yes. Fix or replace the alternator to make the red light disappear.95% or greater.

On a chance, check/ clean the black plug connections and wires to make sure everything there is making proper contact. 5% or less.

I assume it's a bright glow and not very faint... faint means resistance somewhere in the circuit whereby you can measure the drop in voltage somewhere along the circuit. Cleaning up/ partial connections/ etc.
 
Hi Guys,
As pretty often, many years have past since these past conversations. But they are still extremely helpful. I do have a bat drain problem too. I don't have the L light which remains on, though. So don't think my alt is the problem. When unplugging the bat -, and slightly touching again the bat, I do have sparks. So something is draining pretty much. And I can clearly hear some "clicking" under the dashboard when doing that on/off connecting of the bat-. As if some relay was closing as soon as it gets power.
I checked all the relays. all OK
I checked all the fuses, all OK.
And the "clicking" still appears even with all relays removed...
So I was thinking, must come from a non-fused circuit.
I you have any suggestions or experience, I would appreciate.
Regards.
 
I would look for parasitic draw by disconnecting the negative terminal and using a multi-meter to complete the circuit. If you have a parasitic draw, you will see it displayed (amp setting), then start disconnecting fuses to determine which circuit has the greatest draw. That will allow you to narrow down to devices on that circuit.

Once resolved on one circuit, check the remainder to see if you have more than one problem.

It is a fairly simple test to find the circuit with the issue and you should be able to find some YouTube videos on how this is done.
 
A common issue with later coupes where opening the door energizes the window motors is that the plastic plug on your door is missing leaving the contact open. Pushing the contact you can hear the latching relay under the dash click.
 
boonies said:
I would look for parasitic draw by disconnecting the negative terminal and using a multi-meter to complete the circuit. If you have a parasitic draw, you will see it displayed (amp setting), then start disconnecting fuses to determine which circuit has the greatest draw. That will allow you to narrow down to devices on that circuit.

Once resolved on one circuit, check the remainder to see if you have more than one problem.

It is a fairly simple test to find the circuit with the issue and you should be able to find some YouTube videos on how this is done.
Click to expand...
I successfully identified the faulty circuit using the light method. The light would shine full power. It comes from fuse #5 (lighter, power antenna). I however noticed that the light is still a little bit on when removing the fuse. So there must be something else draining, but just à little.
I disconnected the lighter, and just to make sure, the rear window defrost. But I still have the same problem... Whatta PITA. I'll keep searching... Last summer I did a lot of restauration, like repairing some electric wires, and so on. So I have to double check.
Thanks anyway.
 

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HB Chris said:
A common issue with later coupes where opening the door energizes the window motors is that the plastic plug on your door is missing leaving the contact open. Pushing the contact you can hear the latching relay under the dash click.
Click to expand...
I will check that out, although I think I don't have that feature. As far as I remember, I can only move all four electric windows with the ignition contact on. If off position, my windows are no more operative.
 
To those who may be interested, I finally located where the draining battery comes from: the culprit is the low beam relay. So I followed @boonies advice, using the light method on the battery. Now my problem is that I cannot get to find that Wehrle 13563963 relay on the Internet. No nothing at all. No info about it, no equivalent...
- I am 100% sure this relay is faulty because I took one identical from the engine bay, and all got back to normal
- Since I couldn't find what kind of relay it is, because no diagram on it, I bought a standard 4 pin relay, and tried it, and it was unsuccessful (batt was still draining)
- I bought a 5 pin, just to give it a try: unsuccessful
- I bought a 3 pin (blinker type): unsuccessful
So I need to search info about this relay.
Can anyone help me?
 

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This looks like a standard relay, but you say that a regular 4-pin Hella or generic relay doesn’t work? Can you take a photo of the connections on the underside so we can see the configuration?
 
e9Leveque said:
This looks like a standard relay, but you say that a regular 4-pin Hella or generic relay doesn’t work? Can you take a photo of the connections on the underside so we can see the configuration?
Click to expand...
Here is the standard 4 pins relay that I tried out, and didn't work.
Or, partially. Let me be more precise :
- When I plug it in, with no ignition on, I can clearly hear the solenoid energized and a small click, which makes me believe that the contact closed.
- With the OAM Wehrle, no noise
- And when testing with the lamp, it slightly shines, so some current is running. Which does not happen with the OEM Wehrle...
For these reasons, I have come to believe that the OEM has a different wiring. I even thought It was wired as a 3 pin relay...?
 

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So leave the relay in that works that you took from the engine bay and buy a new engine bay relay?

Alvaro sells new engine bay relays.

Just to make sure you aren’t leaving the door open when you hear that relay click?
 
What’s odd is that the relay picture you’ve shown has the standard wiring - 85/86/87/30 in the usual configuration. But Don is right, maybe just replace the engine bay one. From where did you pull this one?
Ah, is this picture the replacement? Yes, show us pics of the one that works along with any labeling. There may not be a label on the side like the Hella but sometimes there is a small raised number next to each pin so make sure to capture that if it’s there
 
sfdon said:
So leave the relay in that works that you took from the engine bay and buy a new engine bay relay?

Alvaro sells new engine bay relays.

Just to make sure you aren’t leaving the door open when you hear that relay click?
Click to expand...
Leaving in the relay from the engine bay would be a solution, but then the related function (horn?) won't be working until I get this solved. Both are important, but I guess I'll go that way: low beams are more important than the horn, right?

May I ask who Alvaro is? how to reach him?

I did leave the door open so that I could hear well all noises. But I ain't no schmuck and cut the cabin light before doing so.. :-)
 
sfdon said:
You aren’t showing the bottom of the relay to display where the pins are located
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the OAM Wehrle ?
Pins are displayed just as on the new Hella. But unfortunately, there is no diagram on the OEM one. That would have been soooo helpful..
 

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