Somewhat urgent window question

[skandalous]

To get right to the point, all of my windows are down and the sunroof is open, but they won't go up or close.

I went and filled up my car tonight and got one of those car washes at the fill station to get some tree sap off it. I rode around for a few minutes afterwards to dry it off and then decided to open the windows and sunroof because it was a nice night. I get to where I'm going and the windows won't go up and the sunroof won't close. I open up the fuse box and try and see if it might be that, however, the fuse box said there was only a fuse for the sunroof and not for the windows (but there is aparently a fuse for the coupe version of my car). I replaced the sunroof fuse and nothing happened, so I kind of got the idea that it might not be a fuse problem. Now I'm kind of wondering if some water got in to my electronics and shorted them out or something. The good news is that it's not supposed to rain for a few days and I have a bike I can use to get around town with.

Do yall have any suggestions as to what I can check or what might be wrong? Maybe I'm just retarded. Who knows. Anyways, thanks in advance.

-Austin

 

[Kirby]

I looked at my Bentley manual for ya!

The sunroof and 4 windows are fed via the same basic power feed. You are correct, there is a fuse for the sunroof but no fuse for the windows. There is a "AUTOMATIC CUT-OUT" in the feed to the windows, I think this is probably an automatic resetting circuit breaker.

Since you have power to neither the doors or sunroof, this actually helps in troubleshooting. It has to be a common component to both. There is a "COMFORT RELAY" that controls power to the sunroof and doors via a true relay contact, and also powers the door locks directly without a relay contact.

Do the door locks work? If so, it has to be the Comfort Relay, and they are known to fail.

If you have no door locks, then it is a pure wiring issue before the relay, because the relay is fed directly from the battery via a power distribution block.

This relay is located next to the steering column under the dash. You have to remove the panels to get to it. It is Relay #1, on the left.

From what you described, this is the biggest suspect.

 

[skandalous]

Well, the locks have been touch and go for about a year now. It's been no biggie since I don't keep anything valuable in my car to begin with. They did mess up once last night, however. I went out and checked just a few minutes ago and they are working normally (or atleast what I consider normal for my car. It has several quirks to it).

It just frustrates me how my car never messes up mechanicaly, but rather some stupid thing like this.

I had checked the circuit breaker next to my ignition and it hadn't been popped out, but just to double check I hit it out and then pressed it back in.

I guess I'm just going to order that comfort relay and see if it does anything. It's only $15 online.

Thanks, Kirby. Big Help.

 

[Big Daddy]

Sometimes relays malfunction when they get warm or even hot. My father had a 69 Ford pickup that on occassion at night on a longer than usual drive the headlights would go off, bad idea at night! However if you kept the left side floor vent open (the old pull/slide type) the cool air would keep the relay cool and the headlights would stay on! Good luck with your situation!

 

[skandalous]

The comfort relay came in yesterday and I switched it out with the old and nothing happened. I ended up taking it down the street to some mechanic who does bmw/merc work. He's got it right now and says it's some wiring issue somewhere under the dash that caused it.

 

[Kirby]

Well crap, I thought that might be the problem. Let us know what you find...