E39 2002 Indicator comming on Itself

Hi

I have a 2002 525 Petrol E39 with 105K. The Driverside indicator comes on intermittently and stays on for some time. Switching on Passenger side  causes correct indicator to come on but when returened to the Neutral position the Driver side comes on again so it is getting a false  activiation signal. When the Keys are removed the Drivers parking light also stay on.

Then for no apparent reason it goes off all works perfectly  again for a while so not sure where the intermittent fault is.

It has run for a month perfectly and reoccured again yesterday for a few hours but is now working OK again.

I Have Disconnected the Indicator stalk as thought it the most obvious but problem remained with Indicator on while stalk disconnected.

So now possible Wiring or Light Control Module. The LCM is  a Black Unit and all the ones I saw on Ebay are all white, Also I have been told that the Mileage is also stored on the LCM which will cause the tamper dot to register on the Mileometer.

Is it worth trying a replacement LCM from Ebay?

Any ideas to troubleshoot. Have removed Paneling over LCM on Drivers side footwell and cables all appear secure.

 

Regards Nephin

The newer E39s generally had the LCM problem sorted.

Sounds like one of those E39 electrical gremlins that appear, drive you daft for a day then don't come back for ages.

What is the condition of the battery like?  My E39 suffered all sorts of weired and wonderful electrical problems which vanished on replacing the battery.

Andrew

have a clean of the bulb connections. Sidelight / parkers and indicators. could be corroded thus confusing the indicator. As Andrew mentioned - the electrics are a bit sensitive.

Can I just add a whoa there? My 1999 535i saloon auto has exactly the same problem, first garage says "it's your LCM mate, £500 please" it wasn't the LCM as we discovered when they tried to calibrate it, second garage had it for a week, thought they'd solved it only for it to return about 2 hours after I left the premises. These are independent BMW specialists. No fault codes on diagnostics. Third garage had a crack at it but gave up so, now sitting on my drive while I painstakingly trace the wiring loom looking for a bad earth. It's not a fuse or relay, nor is it the stalk or ignition switch - all have been changed, this problem appears elsewhere in various forums but so far no one seems to have found the solution so, I live in hope in the meantime I want to warn anyone who's told it is the LCM to make sure before you get stung, if I solve it I will update here.

Hi

Fair comment as I didn't mention it. The garage(s) say this has been done, literally disconnected everything but to no avail. I have double checked everything and to be honest the wiring loom all looks in tip top condition so it seems unlikely that there's a corroded or worn connection (still checking though). There are a couple of odd things with this car relating to previous owner(s). After market ICE, iPod etc and phone kit (all removed) and one Xenon headlight (original), I'm guessing the last owner didn't want to shell out for a new replacement but, and this has been checked, not the cause of this particular gremlin. I have also had an on-going problem with the car sticking in P and key in ignition but this is all down to a cable from the ignition barrel to gear selector. I have been trying to test all the earth/ground connections and yesterday removed the gear selector surround (electric that indicate which gear you're in etc and all the headlights etc came on but I'm thinking this is not related to the indicator problem. When I initially had the problem a battery disconnect seemed to correct it for a while but, not anymore, ho hum, anyway thanks for the reply, I appreciate any input.

The battery can be fully charged but is it holding its charge? A dodgy battery can still give you 12-13V on test but under load this can tail off and give weird problems.

Just a brief update, I've gone about as far as I can with this now and probably spent at least 200 hours trying to find the fault which apparently isn't there. The car is otherwise in great shape so will shortly be posting on Ebay as breaking for spares to recoup some of my losses, beige leather interior and almost flawless elsewhere, if you're looking for parts eg Xenon headlights, lovely alloys with Pirelli tyres etc PM me, thanks for all who have helped so far.