Chime/bong gone wild??

[Craig Wright]

Last night as I started the car to return home, I turned on the headlights. A few seconds later they went off, and then came back on. I thought to myself, is this the beginning of some sort of electrical problem? I came home and put the car back in the garage.

This morning while driving, the chime started to ring, just a few dings at first, then random with no order, and no indication of what the problem might be. Shortly thereafter it became a steady continuous ring, with no indication of what the problem could be. I know that its not the clock. When I got back home I shut the car off, but still have the ringing. I disconnect the battery and it stops. When I reconnectet the battery (after 5 minutes and 30 minutes) the ringing is still continuous. This has me completely baffeled, as I don't have any clue as to how to attempt to solve this problem.

Any thoughts before I take it to the indy?

Craig Wright
89 535i 180k miles

[632 Regal]

Run away from the car!!!!

I would say to check the LKM first, it sounds like an intermittant bad connection.

[Craig Wright]

Is there anything special about removing it, and what do I look for once I have it removed. Electronics is not my best talent.

Thanks,
Craig

[zygoteer]

The attached pics show where it is.

The LKM will be very tightly plugged in (large 35 pin connector underneath) ... just pull hard upwards.

Open it up and re-melt all solder joints on the PCB you can find, but be sure to thoroughly clean any flux etc. from the PCB before re-fitting, and don't leave any solder bridges as a result of your work.

The dealer's best talent is not electronics either ... they will just repair by replacement all modules until the problem is fixed (sudden empty feeling in wallet).

So you don't have much to lose by trying this or getting a friend to do it.

[632 Regal]

Brunos site has a decent write up on it but I cant seem to get into the site...might be down temporarily?

[Craig Wright]

Thanks for the assistance. I also noticed that Bruno's site was down today.

Craig

[Craig Wright]

I have the LKM out and will remelt all the solder joints. Do you think this will solve the constant chiming, or just the headlight intermittent failure?

Thanks,
Craig Wright

[zygoteer]

It may well solve your problems, but at the very least it eliminates a known issue with the LKM related to vibration/age


and you won't have lost by doing it

[ukm5]

hang on a minute, hes not saying hes getting any lights on message with these gongs, so why are you telling him to resloder the LKM? i understand he had a lights issue the prev day but the subsequent bongs have nothing to do with lights on or off.

by all means remove the LKM, however the car will run fine without it, you just wont have any lights, so if its removed and the constant rininging stops then you have a basis for resoldering, but as its not your stong point, randomly soldering modules could result in more problems than you have now.

the gong relies on a ground signal to it from various sources, could you have had an after market addition fitted and the wiring got damaged?

[632 Regal]

we shall see...