Newbie E12question

[Kane530]

E12newbie question: I recently acquired a’76 530i manual, smooth, starts on a dime, runs great. Problem is I can’t get the turn signals to work. When I got the car, I noticed the hazard flasher button had a metal screw screwed into it. So I just assumed the switch was bad and replaced it. When I reconnected the battery, the front and rear directional lights came on steady not flashing and what sounded like a key buzzer came on (keys were not in the ignition at the time).

This being my first BMW (previous experienced with W123 Mercedes 240D and several SAABs) I figured the fuses were suspect so replaced them all, also new bulbs and a new battery. Still no luck.

Could this be a bad relay? Thanks for the help!

Kane530

[uwbuurman]

Sounds like it has been tempered with. There is no factory standard buzzer. Is there an old alarm installation present? My suggestion is go go and look for additional wires, looms or plastic relays or things like that underneath the dash...

[Jeroen]

Sounds to me like a defective indicator relay, assuming the fuse(s) for indicators and hazard lights are ok.

[Kane530]

Thanks for the input on this!

Re: alarm

I do see evidence of an old alarm system ( red led type bulb in the center of the dash) I will dig deeper!

Re: indicator relay

This was my thought - however, I see only the following relays in the schematic:

High beam
Low beam
Fog light
Horn
Relief (?) - would this be the relay to check out?

Thanks again for helping out the new guy!

Bryan

[Jeroen]

I'm pretty sure there is a relay for the indicators and hazards. With E21's these are attached to the steering column, perhaps something similar with E12's? You should be able to find something in the wiring diagram as well of course. I'm no E12 expert but I'd expect something similar to E21.

[Kane530]

Thanks for the input! It would appear that the flasher relay is in the steering column also , based on some research I was able to do. Looks like I will be cracking open the steering column tomorrow am.

I’ll try to keep posting as things progress…

Thank you again for the expertise!

[BertjeConti]

Yep, flasher relay is situated under the dash, easy acces when the big panel under the steering column is removed.
These flasher relays failing are a common known issue.

New relays come not cheap. They have 4 connection, instead of the more common 3 connection flasher relays.
The fourth connection is for the flasher indicator light in the cluster.

It is possible using a standard 3 wire flasher relay with some tweaking. I have the diagrams if you're interested. (Also somewhere here on the forum)