Ignition Switch Failed After Only 20k Miles. Other Possible Causes?

[RenaissanceMan]

My original ignition switch failed at 94k miles. I replaced it with a Valeo switch at that time. 20 months and approx 20k miles later, the ignition switch has failed again. This certainly seems premature to me given the age of the switch. Did I ask for trouble by using a Valeo switch instead of a "Genuine BMW" switch, or is it possible something else could be causing this short life span? Are there any other tests I can do? Thanks in advance for any insight.

[Jungerishere]

Valeo is OE ignition switch supplier for BMW.

You can try cleaning the contacts.

BimmerForums.com => Ignition-Switch-Rebuild-DIY

Originally Posted by RenaissanceMan

My original ignition switch failed at 94k miles. I replaced it with a Valeo switch at that time. 20 months and approx 20k miles later, the ignition switch has failed again. This certainly seems premature to me given the age of the switch. Did I ask for trouble by using a Valeo switch instead of a "Genuine BMW" switch, or is it possible something else could be causing this short life span? Are there any other tests I can do? Thanks in advance for any insight.

[RenaissanceMan]

Originally Posted by Jungerishere

Valeo is OE ignition switch supplier for BMW.

You can try cleaning the contacts.

BimmerForums.com => Ignition-Switch-Rebuild-DIY

Thanks for the link. I cleaned the contacts and fixed the switch so I'm up and running again but I'm still wondering why the contacts burned so soon. ? It will be interesting to see how long this switch will last following the cleaning.

[Doru]

From different BMW forums, the "most" ignition switch failures were reported by people who used a heavy chain key attached to the car key (i.e. lots of different other keys & objects). It seems that the weight attached to the car key, will lead to a premature failure of the ignition switch. If you don't use a big, heavy keychain, then there is something else going on.

[RenaissanceMan]

Originally Posted by Doru

From different BMW forums, the "most" ignition switch failures were reported by people who used a heavy chain key attached to the car key (i.e. lots of different other keys & objects). It seems that the weight attached to the car key, will lead to a premature failure of the ignition switch. If you don't use a big, heavy keychain, then there is something else going on.

Really?? That's interesting… Well, I do have a heavier-than-normal keychain due to having to keep a ton of keys on it for work stuff. If that's the case that's an interesting cause. I'm thinking about ordering a spare switch to keep around just in case this one fails again. Thanks for the info-