I've read these posts for a few years now and some people here are very smart about BMW's. I'm hoping you can help me.
As I understand it, BMW's are known for electronic troubles. I have a 1988
735i with about 145k on it. It's had good maintenance since the first owner, my brother in law, had it. He owns a foreign car repair shop on the Jersey Shore. I got the car from him in 2001. I don't know what new batteries it had before then, but I finally had to put a new one in about 6 months ago. My father is good at electronics and he determined what was needed.I used it every few days (we have 3 cars extra) and it ran fine. about two weeks ago, I noticed that all of the dome, door, etc. courtesy lights were on even if the car was shut tight. I've had many troubles with this car in the electrical system. I had to put in a new box that feeds current to the headlights because one kept going on and off sporadically. (maybe that's the trouble now. LOL)
Anyway, we trickle charged the battery but even the dashboard radio lights were still dead. The charger can't keep up with the lights draining it. I then attempted to start it but when I got the key to the ignition position (one step before where you'd be cranking) and a loud buzz came from under the left back seat (all the relays I think, since the battery's on the right side). It sounded like it would do damage if I left it on, so I turned the key back to the off position. When I did that, all the lights went off like they should have since I had shut the door tightly when I got in to try to start it. But even in the off position, the terrible buzz continued.
I took the key out of the ignition and got out and shut the door, but the buzz continued. I then pulled the plug on the trickle charger unit and the buzz finally stopped.
My father wants to try to charge it again, but I can't believe that the buzz is not harming the car if it's left on for hours. I think he believes that the buzz will stop if the battery gets charged enough but that didn't happen the first time.
Has anyone had this problem? I plan to have AAA tow it to a local shop near Cape Canaveral since the mechanics there are honest and good. The nearest dealer is in Melbourne, about an hour south and they charge much more.
Nothing else is wrong with the car that I can see. The dashboard display often stops and all the needles go down to zero and at night, the lights would go off as well. They want $1,000 to replace that. I said NO and all I do is smack the right top/side and it fires up each time.
I hope someone can give me an idea about this. I trust the dealer, he's had many chances to do work that was not needed and he's never done so. His reputation here is good.
BTW: If anyone here is looking for a good foreign car mechanic ( I don't know all the models he fixes), he's on Tropical Trail on Merritt Island, FLA.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.