New guy here...couple of Q's

A

AWD_Guy

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Just bought a 1988 BMW 325ix. Car is in beautiful conidition with lots of new parts but I do have a couple of questions..

I bought it as is, as his safety price was kind of ridiculous. The hand brake cable has to be replaced, I dont think I'll have any issues with that, but the thing is, the rear window switches on the front console.....

The ones that control the back will make the windows go down without any problems, but they wont bring them back up. You physically have to use the rear door buttons if you want to bring them back up....

Anybody have any idea as to what could cause this? I pick up the car Thursday, will be working on it this week-end.

I really like the format of this board, looks really good!
 
echothreezero

echothreezero

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Those damn switches always fail. First you should swap the front switches for the rear ones to make sure the fault is with the switch, not a faulty connector the switch plugs into.

If the switches are faulty - almost guaranteed, then you have three options:

1. The Scottish Solution - pull apart the switches (easy enough to do with a tiny bit of patience) and clean the contacts. This is a temporary solution. May be good for a few years or a few days.

2. The Easy Solution - buy two secondhand switches and pray they don't fail next week.

2a. Buy two new switches for 2 arms and half a leg from the dealer.

3. The best solution - get 4 e36 window switches. Make sure you get the backlight ones with the flat-mount surround (some are made for mounting on a curved surface). Then search the web for the how-to (there are a couple) to work out the few (minor) changes you must make to the wiring where the switches plug in to the console. make minor modifications to the size of the hole in the centre console to fit the ever so slightly larger e36 switch.

Done! good switches that are easier to press and look better too.

I'd do 3, but it'll take you the longest and involves thinking. if you don't like thinking or minor modifications then try 1, 2 or 2a.

P.S. Welcome to the forums! [welcome]
 
A

AWD_Guy

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Thanks, I'll go with option 3, owning a Ford made me a hobbist mechanic. lol

.....well I'll swap them out for the front switches 1st to see if thats the problem.
 
A

AWD_Guy

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No, not afraid of thinking at all, plus the wife likes it when we dont pay $1000 for some mechanic to work on the car!!

Another quick q, where do you guys go for performance stuff?
 
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