New BMW owner

Stuff gets old. Connectors corrode and become intermittent. Fuse blocks stop making contact. Switch contacts go bad.

Also, repeated thermal cycling makes solder joints fail, especially if they weren't well-made. And electrolytic capacitors fail, although all things considered, BMW has a lot fewer electrolytic failures than just about anyone else. They seemed to use very reliable caps.

BMW has a tendency to add outrageous amounts of electrical stuff into cars, and consequently they suffer an outrageous amount of electrical failures. The more stuff you have, the more stuff there is to break.

I recommend pre-emptively packing all electrical connectors with dielectric grease, which will prevent a lot of the issues. And when individual modules fail, whether that be the ECU or the turn-signal flasher, first look for cold solder joints before doing anything else.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey
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Happens to any make. Not just BMW.

Indeed - but again common to any comparable make. And plenty are worse - much worse.

Any particular brand you recommend?

Especially if it's lead free solder. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yup. BMW is better than some manufacturers in that regard too, but the thing is even the older BMWs have a hell of a lot of connectors.

I use something that General Electric sells for high voltage switchgear, which I bought from Graybar years and years ago. But I really doubt there is any difference between brands. Whatever your FLAPS sells should be fine. I even know people who have used wheel bearing grease to pack connectors and it's probably better than nothing (unless it has high pressure additives, which don't go well with copper).

I haven't worked on anything new enough to use the lead-free solder. That is going to be a horrible, horrible nightmare in a few years. I predict great RoHS-related disasters.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

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