BMW: electric fault, circut breaker, knee panel

Question
HI. I have a 1993 BMW 316i that has an electrical problem. The fuse which belongs to the central locking sytem blows straight away! Also i have lost electric windows, side front lights (bulbs are damaged) and a i can not start the engine. What can this be, and how much will it cost to repair? Thanks. Tomas

Answer
Thomas,
Was 316i  tyop for 318i, there was no 316i in US. It sounds like you may have numerous seperate problems. The central locking fuse blowing is possibly due to a faulty door lock actuator. But most likely it is because the wiring harness that runs along the passenger side trunk lid hinge is very borken. Cut back the sheathing and you will probably find about 3 or 4 broken wires and another 5 or 6 that are about to break. Cut the broken wires out and splice in about 4 inch repair wires using weather tight heat shrink. The windows are either the circut breaker in the right side of the driver side knee panel or the comfort relay. Press the circut breaker in and the windows may work again. If not the comfort relay is deep inside the dash behind the instrument cluster. As for the engine not starting it is possible this is being caused by the trunk wiring harness but not very likely. Unfortunately you didn't give me any information as to the battery condition, what kind of transmission, does it crank at all? I can't really tell you what that problem is without any specific info. I also can't guess on a cost to repair since I don't know 100% for sure what is wrong and I don't have all the info. Check those couple of things for yourself so you can at least have some info to give to whoever does fix it and you might save on some diagnosis labor hours. Good luck.