electrical and ignition Turn Signal Connections On Switch

[BKNorCal_71E10]

New to the 2002 community and first of all would like to extend my appreciation to the host and contributors of this site.  Information here is invaluable to novice's like me ;-)

 

My recently acquired 1971 E10 was completely re-wired and there are 3 wires running to the back of the turn signal switch.  I accidently pulled the wires off an having a heck of a time trying to figure out which pins they came from.  Touching them together I can find the common wire and left and right signal.  I just can't seem to figure out which pins to re-connect them to. I'd also like to know what the other pins control, assuming washer controls?

 

thanks in advance

 

 

 

Brian

[esty]

i have a link to a wiring diagram and legend in this thread; 

 

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/156787-wiper-motor-will-not-park/

 

it will tell you which wires goes to which terminal

[Mike Self]

Brian

What year is your car?  I'm suspecting it's a pre-1972, as the later cars have a multiprong plug that attaches the wiring harness to the turn signal lever.  Earlier cars have individual wires.  

 

Post the year (or even better, the VIN) of your car and if you can't find the info I'll look up the correct diagram in my shop manual for you.  There are over a dozen different wiring diagrams in the manual, and there are differences between the US and Euro cars...

 

cheers, and welcome to the fraternity/sorority.

 

mike

[BKNorCal_71E10]

Thanks for the feedback, and my apologies for not being a little clearer on the question.  This is a 1971 (VIN 1679644) and ALL of the original wiring was removed from the car and an upgraded fuse panel was installed and ALL new wiring was run throughout the car.  The previous owner did not have any documentation or schematic included with the sale and not certain if original colors were used.  I'm guessing there was an original plug that went to the back of the switch but not now there are 3 wires with blade connectors.  I can't seem to find the correct neutral pin and R and L positions on the switch.  Car does not have a washer tank or washer pump and does not appear to have been wired for one.    

 

Ideally, I'd like to have the pins identified from picture of the back of the switch in the first post.  Or you can fill in the blanks from the text symbols representing the 7 pins below? 

 

|   \    /

 

      |  |

 

      /  \

 

thanks in advance!

Brian

1971 2002

[jgerock]

69 2002 from below

Ignition switch wiring

 

[jgerock]

Mine from the back of the switch  - I only have four wires:

Blue/red to L  _            I PL (empty)

 

Green/Yellow to P I      I (empty)

 

Blue/black to R  _      \ (empty)    I Brown/black

[esty]

if your wiring isn't original and/or not the same color the diagram or pictures of original configurations won't be much help...you can use a continuity tester to find out what 2 wires carry the signals then it's just figuring out right and left which would be easy to do...just hook them up and turn on the blinkers to see if right is turning on right side blinkers

[Mike Self]

Brian

Your car has the early style turn signal switch that incorporates the wash/wipe function, but not the wiper on/off switch, and never had a plug in the wiring harness, only individual wires.  The re-wiring with no known color codes on the wires is gonna make it sporty to figure out which wire is which, but it can be done.  The fact that the re-wire job didn't include the wash/wipe feature will make it a little easier... Hopefully you have a multimeter...

 

First, determine which wire(s) is/are hot.  Turn the ignition on, and then touch the positive lead from your multimeter (set to DC volts) to each wire in turn (negative lead should be grounded to a reliable ground).  When you get +12 volts, that's your hot lead.  Then turn the ign off; the power on that wire should also go off.  

 

Now that you've determined which wire is the hot lead, carefully touch that lead to one of the other wires--see if the turn signals on one side or the other now blink.  If so, label the wire as "left" or "right".  Repeat with the remaining wire.  

 

Now where to plug 'em in on the switch.  According to my wiring diagram, terminal #54 on the switch (there are little numbers by each terminal) goes to terminal 49a on the turn signal relay (think this is the hot lead); terminal R goes to terminal 4 on the 4 way flasher switch, and terminal L goes to terminal L on the 4 way flasher switch.  You can check each wire's continuity (with ign off) by connecting one terminal of your multimeter set to ohms to the wire at the lever end, and the other at the appropriate terminal.  Or if they're different colors, check the wire color at the other end.   Once you've determined which wire is which, plug 'em in and see what happens.  Terminal H goes to the wash/wipe relay if you ever want to reinstall that equipment.  BTW, there are several terminals on the back side of the turn signal switch that aren't used on US spec cars, so don't worry about 'em. 

 

If the above didn't work, I have one more question.  When the PO rewired the car, did he retain the original turn signal flasher unit (black box up under the dash, just above the hood release handle--says "Nicht Werfen" on it) or did he incorporate a US style turn signal flasher (a round plastic or aluminum can with either two or three terminals)?  Please advise and we can try a different procedure.

 

cheers, and happy troubleshooting

 

mike

[BKNorCal_71E10]

Thank you everyone for the information and suggestions, got the signals back in working order.  Given this car was completely re-wired I have my work ahead of me to identify where each of these circuits are running.  Lucky for me, 1971 didn't have a tremendous amount of technology going on :-)

 

 

 

[jgerock]

Somebody did a whole bunch of wiring work to your car!

[BKNorCal_71E10]

Yes for sure!  The PO said it was prepped for a late model motor swap which never happened.  He bought the car as pile of parts and put it back together to the current state.  I have no documentation on the car whatsoever so it will be exciting to troubleshoot any electrical issues going forward ;-)  Good news is that they did a really clean job, all upgraded fuses, wires, battery re-located to trunk, etc.  So hopefully, wiring will be the least of my worries going forward.