Originally Posted by Qsilver7

Nope...the ignition switch is on the left side of the steering column and is electronics based. Again, when it does fail (not saying this IS your problem) you usually see odd electrical gremlins which are electronics based. When you do the visor test...it is putting more electrical load into the cars bus system which is receiving data from the ignition switch (terminal) and if the contact points in the switch a faffed...then this is probably what causes the electrical gremlins.



There are old videos on YouTube that shows some of the odd things that occur when you try to get the system to replicate the odd gremlins by opening the passenger sun visor. Just do a search on YouTube for "BMW signs of a failing ignition switch".


Edwin (I believe his YouTube handle is Homerraas - he's Dutch, thus the odd spelling for us Yanks ) has a good video that shows how to access/remove/replace as well as some odd gremlins. He did it on an de38...but the e38/e39/e53 will be 99.9% the same.