A multitude of problems

[NawidDaoud]

Hi all,

I've been plagued by a number of issues recently. Just a few of which below I'm trying to get sorted.

1) Battery drain

My battery has started draining and dying overnight. Jump starts/ trickle charges fine. I found the typical issue of a short in the wiring loom going to the boot lid. A video with phone in the boot showed the boot light was not turning off when I shut the boot as it should. I took the bulb out of this light, but the battery drain is still an issue. It still died overnight. Not sure if taking the bulb out should have solved the problem or not?

Anybody know what the wiring harness fix is? Do I need to remove the rubber harness housing and check if any of the insulation to wires is worn away? If so should I just wrap in a bit of rubber tape to re-insulate?

My airbag light is still on from when I did my seat bushes, could this be an issue?

2) White smoke from engine

Another more concerning issue is that I had white smoke pouring from the engine bay (from the driver's side) and through the vents last time I drove it. Smelt a bit like burning clutch, but the smoke was a new development. Has anybody had this before? And know what the problem might be? Stuff I'm reading online is talking about a valve cover gasket leak. Is there a way to diagnose this? I'm afraid to start the engine for fear of causing damage.

 

[jonco]

Item 1.
The boot light bulb will drain your battery.
If removal does not solve problem then I suggest you connect multimeter and systematically work through fuses looking for which circuit is causing drain. There have been previous threads on `how to do this' which I cannot find at the moment, but this may help https://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain.
You can splice new sections into broken loom wiring or resolder broken wires
The airbag light once activated needs resetting with either reset tool or via INPA . If it will not reset then you will need to investigate further.

 

[NawidDaoud]

Perfect, thanks for that. I'll give that a go this afternoon, I suspect there might be more that is draining the battery if the boot bulb is no longer connected.

 

[Woodsta888]

Hi,

The loom from the bootlid into the car is a common point of failure. TAke the rubbers out and check ALL wiring there as more than one often lose their insulation and short, usually at the hole into the body. Re-did all of mine with heatshrink after running new connectors.

Hmm, white smoke - oil leak dripping onto hot exhaust/ manifold?

Nice colour Zed

 

[colb]

Past post on loom of doom here there are others as well https://zroadster.org/threads/loom-of-doom.28320/
Just a matter of releasing the cable run from the side of the boot and cutting back the outer insulation to expose the wires inside, probably find a few broken, cut and resolder each one and insulate, rewrap the loom.
have done a couple of these including my own Z3, I had a couple of broken wires, the other members one I did was a right mess, loads of breaks and a build up of green gunge on the copper wires. Symptom on his was central locking not working, mine was starting to be intermittant with the locking. All fixed when loom repaired.

 

[ktnez99]

I had a draining car battery: neither the loom nor the interior boot light. Turned out to be a new battery was required.

 

[NawidDaoud]

I spent a while trying to fix it myself, cut open the insulation to the loom where it goes from body into boot lid but couldn't find any damage to the insulation on the wires inside annoyingly. And taking the bulb out of the boot lid didn't seem to get rid of the battery drain.

Decided to take it to the local BMW specialist and hopefully will get a fully functioning Z3 back! I had some suspension parts that needed fitting which I got done at the same time, so excited to see how she comes back. They also replaced the valve gasket for me, so fingers crossed I won't have anymore problems for at least a few months!

 

[Nodzed]

I had a draining car battery: neither the loom nor the interior boot light. Turned out to be a new battery was required.

Same here

 

[Nodzed]

I spent a while trying to fix it myself, cut open the insulation to the loom where it goes from body into boot lid but couldn't find any damage to the insulation on the wires inside annoyingly. And taking the bulb out of the boot lid didn't seem to get rid of the battery drain.

Decided to take it to the local BMW specialist and hopefully will get a fully functioning Z3 back! I had some suspension parts that needed fitting which I got done at the same time, so excited to see how she comes back. They also replaced the valve gasket for me, so fingers crossed I won't have anymore problems for at least a few months!

Ohhh don't pay for a garage to put bolt on bits on your Zed, or do services. Pop over to Zedshed Lydney on an arranged Sat morning (once CORVID settles down a bit) and we can do most simple jobs, I have ramps and tools plus if a laptop is needed or a smoke tester I am sure @colb would pop down again with his electronic wizardry stuff. If a hammer or a spanner is required we can usually accommodate.

 

[NawidDaoud]

Hey Nodzed!

Yes I had it in mind to get in touch with you, Dave in South Bristol mentioned you and your Zedshed in Lydney. I'd love to come down and look at a few bits soon! Only trouble on this occasion was I am working evenings and weekends on top of my 9-5 so don't have any spare weekends until November now. And I really wanted the car sorted sooner- there's a certain sadness to a dead zed on the driveway that I couldn't bear to look at any longer!

But will definitely be in touch to arrange something in a few months. From what Dave says, should be a good time! Thanks

 

[colb]

Easy enough to pop the laptop and the smoker in for a Lydney zedshed meet once we get this lockdown out of the way.

 

[Nodzed]

Easy enough to pop the laptop and the smoker in for a Lydney zedshed meet once we get this lockdown out of the way.

Top Man

 

[Nodzed]

Hey Nodzed!

Yes I had it in mind to get in touch with you, Dave in South Bristol mentioned you and your Zedshed in Lydney. I'd love to come down and look at a few bits soon! Only trouble on this occasion was I am working evenings and weekends on top of my 9-5 so don't have any spare weekends until November now. And I really wanted the car sorted sooner- there's a certain sadness to a dead zed on the driveway that I couldn't bear to look at any longer!

But will definitely be in touch to arrange something in a few months. From what Dave says, should be a good time! Thanks

You will be very welcome......as long as you bring biscuits