cocoabrova
06-17-2010, 11:53 PM
So alot of you know about the issue E36's have with the DME compartment flooding and in some cases, ultimately causing the death of the DME. Most ppl on the intarweb have posted E36 non-starting issues after going through a carwash, usually through touchless washes and also when there's heavy rain. Mine had the no-start issue after a touchless wash and recently during heavy rain, so I finally decided to fix it once and for all.
Pelican Parts has a pretty good write-up regarding this issue and I thought I'd add some of my own findings to it. The Pelican Parts article/pics can be found **HERE** (http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-DME-Repair/E36-DME-Repair.htm) and I've added my own pics/descriptions.
The first step should be to check to see if the pass. side drain has been installed already as there used to be a BMW TSB on this issue. If there's no drain already then I would follow the Pelican Parts writeup-if a drain has been installed, then I would do what I did.
Mine actually had the TSB done so I couldn't understand why the DME was still getting flooded. Basically after a few yrs the drain had gotten plugged with dirt/dust/rocks/crap and was blocking the water buildup from draining out of the cowl area. Instead of effing around with trying to install a new drain, I decided to just cut the narrow part of the drain hose off so that it'll never get plugged again. See pics below and if anyone needs any help if they're doing this, feel free to PM me........
yellow arrow is where pass side drain should be if already installed, or if you're going to be doing the install (courtesy of Pelican Parts) :
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain1.jpg
pic of part of drain I cut off:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain2.jpg
you can see some of the crap blocking the drain sticking out of the narrowest part:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain3.jpg
view of inside the drain, you can kinda see all the s**t in there that looks like a tiny nest:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain4.jpg
Pelican Parts has a pretty good write-up regarding this issue and I thought I'd add some of my own findings to it. The Pelican Parts article/pics can be found **HERE** (http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-DME-Repair/E36-DME-Repair.htm) and I've added my own pics/descriptions.
The first step should be to check to see if the pass. side drain has been installed already as there used to be a BMW TSB on this issue. If there's no drain already then I would follow the Pelican Parts writeup-if a drain has been installed, then I would do what I did.
Mine actually had the TSB done so I couldn't understand why the DME was still getting flooded. Basically after a few yrs the drain had gotten plugged with dirt/dust/rocks/crap and was blocking the water buildup from draining out of the cowl area. Instead of effing around with trying to install a new drain, I decided to just cut the narrow part of the drain hose off so that it'll never get plugged again. See pics below and if anyone needs any help if they're doing this, feel free to PM me........
yellow arrow is where pass side drain should be if already installed, or if you're going to be doing the install (courtesy of Pelican Parts) :
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain1.jpg
pic of part of drain I cut off:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain2.jpg
you can see some of the crap blocking the drain sticking out of the narrowest part:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain3.jpg
view of inside the drain, you can kinda see all the s**t in there that looks like a tiny nest:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoabrova/drain4.jpg