LCM Going South ?

jsoto · #1 01-04-2015, 10:22 AM

Thoughts ?

Just noticed this for the past 3 days.

1st time I noticed it, was when I went to the car, all the interior lights was on. Strange but started paying close attention.

On the last 3-4 times I had the headlights in auto, turned off the car and when I came back to it (headlight switch on auto), upon ignition, it would flash the hazards and turn on the interior lights. I just pressed both buttons to turn them off.

Last night, came back home, made sure I turned off headlights to off position, locked the car and upon immediate locking of the car, the interior lights were on again and stayed on. Unlocked, turned off the interior lights and all is well.

Whaddya guys suspect. Does it know the Polar Vortez is coming or symptom to the like. It's going to be a high of 61F and on Thursday, the low temp is forecasted to be 8F

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Qsilver7 · #2 01-04-2015, 11:48 AM

Test 9 on a cold engine...what is the battery voltage with ignition in position 1? Or if you prefer a multimeter...what is the battery voltage with no surface charge from the engine just running?

jsoto · #3 01-11-2015, 05:10 PM

Voltage in in spec. So it seems to only happen if I leave the headlights in auto. Just noticed it again yesterday. Turn the car on, interior lights come on. Hazards flash. What's weird if that I switch the switch back to normal. Turned off Hazards . Left the car for about 2 minutes while I was loading the trunk.

Got in the car to drive off, turned headlights to Auto *I generally do to turn them on at night* and immediate putting the lights to auto, hazards came on again..

Ricky Bobby · #4 01-12-2015, 11:51 AM

Are you running voltage test 9 while this is all happening? Sounds to me like undervoltage or a voltage drop and could be alternator.

How old is battery?

Doru · #5 01-12-2015, 01:08 PM

I had a similar issue with my e39. With auto lights in the on position, every time the light was triggered, the car would go in the crash recognition state, minus air bag deployed:
hazard lights flashing, doors would unlock, dome light on. GT1 didn't reveal anything.

The culprit was a ballast going South. The ballast was still working, but probably a component inside was going out of spec, and maybe it would trigger a signal to the LCM which in turn would trigger the crash recognition program (my speculation). A new ballast solved this issue for good. It's been 2 years now.

Check this out

jsoto · #6 01-12-2015, 07:48 PM

Interesting read Doru. Too salty for me to be inspired to break it down to put a new ballast in to see if the problem goes away....but thanks for the info !

Doru · #7 01-13-2015, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsoto

Interesting read Doru. Too salty for me to be inspired to break it down to put a new ballast in to see if the problem goes away....but thanks for the info !

You don't need to buy new ballasts. You can test and see if the issue goes away by unplugging the ballasts (no light). If the issue is gone, you know it's one or both of the ballasts. Then plug them in one by one and see which one gives you the trouble (if it's like my issue).

jsoto · #8 01-14-2015, 11:33 AM

Hi Doru -

I happen to have a extra ballast but you are on to something....
This morning, highbeam warning
.
Cluster had check highbeam....I'm running Bi-Xenons
I changed the light switch from off to on *not auto*. Hazards and interior lights came on automatically.
High Bean error went away turning it to off.

jsoto · #9 03-31-2015, 04:30 PM

Finally warmer weather has approached. Too bad I got such a big a#@ spring to do list. Just changed out the hot water tank in the house to a 75 gallon. Ended up spending a bit more time as I redid the mechanicals a bit.

Back on top with the funky ballast. It's gone as far as engaging the trunk actuator to release. Even when it's been released and trunk is unlock, it will continually trigger the trunk release every 8-10 minutes whenever it's in this error state. I know its in a error state - when I try to lock the doors, and the door locks won't respond.

Who ever knew a ballast could cause such a multitude of issues

axgordon · #10 03-31-2015, 09:07 PM

+1 for the faulty ballast! Had exactly same symptoms on my 2003 3.0. I have strong electronics troubleshooting skills, but was unable to pinpoint root cause issue. Noted that issue has started two weeks after retrofiring used OEM HID lights. Since this was the only recent electrical upgrade - I disconnected both Lo beams - Problem resolved! Ended up installing aftermarket ballasts. Works perfectly for close to five years.

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