Avoiding fires after acquiring a used e53 ?
 

As an E36 owner, I'm a little familiar with the topic of electrical fires happening spontaneously in older BMWs. Thankfully not yet totally familiar. I did have to fix the trunk wiring harness the first couple days I had the car.

This is an important topic, as there may be some newer owners, myself included, that don't really know about this, and what issues the e53 might have. This hasn't been discussed in quite a few years as far as I can find.

Yesterday there was a video in my suggestions with someone breaking down the E46 electrical fire issue with the light switch component. The circuitry in there can get corroded, possibly from clogged sunroof drains, and since it's constantly powered, it will heat up and burn the car down.

I don't know if the light switch issue is relevant to e53, but very possible, I'm going to go pull that thing out and have a look at it.

I did some reading here last night and found a small number of posts of people that have suffered spontaneous fire. There seems to be something that happens in the glove box area. One person said it's probably from the FSR module, but I don't know what that is?

I have had a bunch of water through the glovebox from the sunroof drains, and I have gotten a burning smell over there a couple times briefly while driving.

This car has an aftermarket radio, I have to assume installed incorrectly by someone not qualified. As soon as I get out of work I'm going to check every single fuse and make sure they're the correct amperage. I should have did this the first night I had the car in the garage, over a year ago.

So does anybody know what issues the e53 has, regarding fires and what else we can go check, regularly, to avoid the unthinkable. It sucks to talk about this but it is important. Thanks

Water ingress can do anything so cleaning all the drains would be the first port of call (also kinked drain hoses on the A pillars if the vehicle has sunroof). Blower final stage resistor and it's wiring is probably the only thing I would do something preventative regarding electrics. The pins on the FSR connector can get loose over time. You can remove the connector and use some contact cleaner and contact paste on the pins.

Checking fuses is smart, and any wiring that has been modified, but the fuses are designed to specifically prevent any electrical short that could cause a fire, including if there was water ingress. Any water that shorted out a wire would blow the fuse and it would protect itself -- that's the whole idea.


It's not a bad idea to be aware, but I don't think you need to be paranoid about it happening. I used to carry a small fire extinguisher in my old 1985 MR2 after I swapped a supercharged engine into it and had had to splice the entire wiring harness together. They make small ones to keep in your car and you could do the same thing if you were worried. I've never worried about vehicle fires in any car other than my old Death Rocket as I used to call it.

better safe than sorry
 

I guess I'm a bit more paranoid about vehicle fires than most; I've carried an extinguisher in all my vehicles since '86, in my '86 S10 pickup, and one in every vehicle I've owned ever since...sometimes two. I had two in

• 1) my '66 Chevelle drag car, one in the trunk, where the batteries and fuel cells coexisted, fearing a spark from the nearby Anderson quick-connect when charging between rounds, and one beside my shifter, and
• 2) my 4'x8' home-built camping trailer (squareback/Teardrop), with one in the cabin, and a second in the galley/storage area where the onboard generator was (with an external 4 gallon gravity-feed fuel tank).

I haven't used any in my vehicles, yet, but once used one to help control a fire in another campsite. I didn't like all the powder left on everything, but that's the type I am forced to use, as Halon fire extinguishers (I had two in my Chevelle, once) are now banned, and alternatives too expensive for my use (I'd need seven), though.

Thanks guys. I checked the fuses and didn't find any wrong numbers or any out of place. Really glad I did that. It should have happened shortly after purchase last year.

I'm just paranoid because I park it in the attached garage, and the E36 I bought had wires arcing. And the same day I am learning about this someone posts their e36 went up inside the garage.

I do have an extinguisher in the left side cargo compartment. Along with a gallon of 50/50 coolant. Never go anywhere without that for sure.

I am going to pull that light switch out and have a look. I wish I had the time this week get under the passenger dash and replace the blower resistor. Maybe next month.