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'92 325ic door locks / BMW light failure panels /Chips

          Howdy folks and a happy new year to all,

          For once all my cars are working more or less just as they
          should be (2002's are supposed to be in boxes in the
          basement, aren't they?!?) and I have a question about my
          father-in-law's car.

          This one can be filed with Don's mysterious disco door
          locks.

          My FIL bought the 'ic in Dec '92.  Since then he's logged
          only 975 miles in 2 years - BTW, I've got 1st dibs.  Because
          it sits parked for long periods of time, my brother-in-law
          (BIL) hooked up a 'battery tender' over Xmas to trickle
          charge the juice cube.  He did this so that when it came
          time to change the oil the car will start to go to the
          dealer (yes, that is about as often as the car is driven).

          Anyway, the first attempt at the connection was backward and
          I believe killed the SI board.  No worries, dealer fixed for
          free, still under warranty.  Now that the connection to the
          tender is correct, another weird thing is happening.  After
          the car is plugged in, the door locks will automatically
          lock 30 secs to 2 minutes after the connection is made.

          My solution was to not leave the keys in the car.  He was
          curious if anyone has had a similiar problem or knows why
          this happens (He's currently not using the trickle charger).

          ************************************************************
          On the thread of the failure warning panel lights indicating
          a problem when there isn't, mine all do that.  My 535 has
          the 'license plate' or 'brake light' failures come on very
          infrequently (been over a year now).  The lights have always
          been fine and the problem didn't come back when the car was
          restarted.   My M3 has the 'brake light' failure come on
          regularly when I use the headlights and the right turn
          signal.  It's come on twice recently upon leaving the
          driveway (could be a loose bulb).

          On both cars I replaced the bulbs with new OEM bulbs, new
          fuses, cleaned all connections, etc. in an attempt to get
          equal impedances.  Still happened.  A friend's M3 did
          similiar things and the dealer replaced the failure
          indicator board above the rear view mirror.  This solved the
          problem for about 3 months but now it does it again.  I
          suspect my turn signal / hi-lo beam stalk switch in the M3.
          Does anybody else have mystery light failures?

          ***********************************************************

          Someone asked if you can tell the difference with an
          aftermarket chip.  I have a Dinan chip in the 535 and for
          grins we moved the whole DME to a friend's car for back to
          back comparisons.  By the seat of the pants it feels faster.
          I thought the same thing when I first installed it in my
          car.  The M3 has a JEC chip and even my wife noticed that
          the car is more user friendly around town, it seems to have
          more grunt at lower RPM's.  The M3 also has a K&N and the
          larger airbox / tuned air horn.  Those changes are only
          noticeable at high rpm's and unless my oil is over 165deg I
          don't drive the car that hard.
          Moral of the story: I can tell the difference with the
          chips, but not the other stuff.

          Of course YMMV.

          matt

          '75   2002 erector set
          '87   535is
          '88   M3