e38 7 Series E38 - Power to drivers door

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Sun 23 Jan 2011 13:37
e38 7 Series E38 - Power to drivers door - petronus

I have an 728 BMW e38 on a 'R' reg.

When I try to unlock on the key fob all of the doors open except the drivers door, it can't be unlocked on the centre console button either. I can unlock it with the key but only before unlocking the other doors on the fob.

The electric windows do not work from the drivers door, neither do the mirrors or the memory seats. The rear windows can be opened from the buttons on their own doors although the passenger window does not work from it's switch. The rear windows and passenger windows all work from the key fob.

When I open the drivers door the courtesy lights on it do not work, but when I open the passenger door the drivers door courtesy lights then come on.

I have taken the door card off and there is a 12v supply to the main switch, I have checked this through the door shut as well. All relevant fuses are OK.

Every thing was fine until Wednesday evening when this first occurred, an hour later it was fine again but since Thursday it the problem has remained constant.

I'm running out of ideas, can anyone help?

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Sun 23 Jan 2011 18:06
e38 7 Series E38 - Power to drivers door - elekie&a/c doctor

This model has a control module in each door.This actuates all the relevant functions of the door.Could be a fault in this or the wiring to it.If I recall ,it sits in door panel behind the plastic splash cover.hth

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Sun 23 Jan 2011 18:25
e38 7 Series E38 - Power to drivers door - Steven Quas

I would open the door and remove the rubber protector where the wires enter the door and see if a wire has been damaged. It is quite common on older cars for a wire to become brittle and snap or fray where it has been repeatedly stressed.

Steven Quas , Hamburg

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Sun 23 Jan 2011 22:53
e38 7 Series E38 - Power to drivers door - petronus

Thanks

I've checked the wires in the door shut as best as is possible and they seem ok. I didn't look behind the black panel on the door when I removed the door card so I wasn't aware of the control module. I'll have another look and check the wiring to this. I've noticed that a second hand replacement is only around £15 on ebay so hopefully it will be a cheap fix.

Many Thanks

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Wed 26 Jan 2011 10:27
e38 7 Series E38 - Power to drivers door - petronus

Thanks for your help.

I managed to trace it to the main window / mirror switch on the door handle in the end.

I had 12v going in but nothing working beyond that. Even the memory seats take their feed from this switch. So I bought a second hand replacement on eBay and it all works perfectly now.

Thanks again for your posts

Petronus

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