540 starter immobilization relay

[yaofeng]

Anyone know where the starter immobilization relay is located? The wiring diagram says it is inside the front power distribution box. I am looking for one with black/yellow, brown/yellow wires on the power side and brown/black, brown wire on the trigger side. There is no such relay in there. What's wrong?

[pingu]

By starter immobilisation relay, do you mean the one that (hopefully) prevents thieves from starting the car? I think this relay is behind the left hand kick panel (i.e. passenger side for UK, driver side for US and Europe). This relay is only fitted to later model cars (I think sometime after September 1993).

My car is too early to have the anti-theft, but it does have the starter inhibit relay (to prevent starting unless the auto geabox is in Park or Neutral) in the front power distribution box. Let me know if you want more details on this relay and I'll count it's position (or might be able to take a photo).

[pingu]

P.S. Non-auto gearbox cars have an electrical jumper (instead of the starter inhibit relay) in the front power distribution box, as they don't need the starter inhibit relay. Maybe this is why there is no relay?

[gale]

The starter relay is in the fuse box. For later models it is the orange relay toward the upper left. It is labeled in this picture but a bit blurry to make out:



Remove the relay and make a jumper wire with spade lugs on the ends and plug them into the connectors for terminal #30 and #87. The bottom of the relay will have the labels to identify which ones are which.

[yaofeng]

Thanks. But the 540 is different. The starter relay is not in the fuse box. I took the picture in darkness so the focus was less than perfect.

[yaofeng]

P.S. Non-auto gearbox cars have an electrical jumper (instead of the starter inhibit relay) in the front power distribution box, as they don't need the starter inhibit relay. Maybe this is why there is no relay?

I don't know if there is a starter immobilization relay or not. Wait. There has to be because my 540 was an auto. I am trying to diagnose a screw-up I did last weekend finalizing the 6 speed conversion.

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/276021

[gale]

The starter relay gets moved around from one year to the next. Have you checked Bentley's for the location?

[Steven G]

Hi,
A couple months ago I was chasing a problem with EWS II system on my '95 525iA. I found 3 or 4 relays together and one of them was the starter relay located on the driver side kick panel right behind the speaker. The way the relays are located you can't see them even when you pull away the sound insulation from behind the speaker. But you can see a couple of screws which you can remove and then all the relays can be pulled out through the speaker hole in the chassis. I hope that will help you, but keep in mind that mine is a 525, your 540 might be different (but they are same production year).
Steven G.