The comfort access system puts an end to searching for car keys in your handbag or pockets. Simply approach your BMW, open the door and press the Start button. Your unique key is recognised remotely by the comfort access sensors.As soon as you come within 1.5 metres of your BMW, the comfort access system remotely senses your BMW key, wherever you happen to be carrying it – in your jacket pocket, handbag or briefcase. Simply touch the door handle and the door unlocks. The system also senses when you've entered the cabin and enables the Start/Stop button, so all you need to do is press it and drive off.And when you reach your destination, your BMW locks all doors automatically simply with a press on the exterior door handle. Your vehicle key also functions as a remote control for opening and closing the tailgate. If you wish, you can store your individual driver settings by using the key's memory function. Up to eleven individual preferences for seat adjustments, exterior mirrors, steering wheel position, BMW Head-Up Display and the audio system can, depending on the model of your BMW, be saved on the key and activated each time you enter your vehicle.

Contactless opening of the tailgate is another innovative technology from BMW ConnectedDrive. A sensor detects a brief movement of your foot below the rear bumper and sends a signal to the on-board computer, which unlocks the tailgate. The tailgate then springs open on its own or is opened by the optional tailgate lift. Contactless opening of the tailgate requires the vehicle system to recognise your car key and unlock the vehicle. BMW ConnectedDrive provides other useful services that complement comfort access: if you're not sure whether you've locked your car, you can use the special equipment Remote Services feature to check on your vehicle from wherever you are. Call the BMW Call Centre to check the status of your vehicle – and have it locked or unlocked, as needed.An even more practical idea: the iPhone™ app My BMW Remote. Depending on the vehicle model and equipment, this app allows you to use various Remote Services and call up helpful vehicle information. For example, if you can't find your BMW in a car park, simply make the lights flash or sound the horn with the iPhone.

You'll locate your vehicle and can unlock it immediately with your iPhone. Some BMW models also offer Remote Climate Control, so you can start your journey at an optimum temperature. The prerequisite for Remote Services is the special equipment ConnectedDrive Services. Just give the word: the BMW voice control system lets you control features such as the telephone, climate control, navigation and sound systems with spoken commands. Your hands stay on the wheel, and you are not distracted from the pleasure of driving.The voice control system is activated by pressing a key on the multifunction steering wheel, and provides a safer, more convenient way of controlling your BMW’s cabin features. The system recognises preset terms with commands for nearly all functions. The system is also able to recognise alternative wordings, e.g. ‘Home’ instead of ‘Drive home’. The simple verbal commands are picked up by a special hands-free microphone that filters out background noise. The voice dialogue system functions independent of a particular speaker and always follows a predefined dialogue structure.

Each time you give a command, the system emits a tone to indicate it has been understood.The so-called ‘one shot’ complete entry is extremely handy: instead of entering the destination in single steps as town, street and number, the whole address can be said in one sentence, e.g ‘Munich Riesenfeldstrasse 7’. yanmar gas powered air conditioning unitsThe system has several helpful functions. hisense ac unitFor instance, you can select a contact from your telephone directory by saying their name. ac unit defrost timerOr dial a telephone number by just saying the number. The text-to-speech function can read aloud emails or SMS messages. This is not only more comfortable, but also safe: your hands remain on the steering wheel at all time, and you are not distracted from the surrounding traffic.

You can also operate the active audio device, e.g. the CD drive with the command ‘Track 3’. To listen to a particular radio station, just say ‘Station’ and then the name of the station, e.g. ‘Station Bayern 3’. This also works even when the display isn’t showing the list of stations.Not only is it easy to operate individual functions via voice control, but you can also ‘navigate’ through the menus on the central display. Say the name of the menu to go there, e.g. ‘Main menu’ or ‘Radio’. The command ‘Map’ automatically opens up a map in the Control Display. Most menu options in a displayed table can also be called up by voice control. For example, you can change the map’s orientation with a spoken command. You can read about these and many more important spoken commands in the user’s manual. You’ll find information there about possible spoken commands for the various tables that appear when you say ‘Spoken commands’. Or say ‘Help’ and the system will explain itself to you.

The range of spoken commands depends on the model and equipment. The entry options depend on the navigation data, country and language settings.This article is one in a series that have been released in conjunction with Wayne's new book, 101 Performance Projects for Your BMW 3 Series. The book contains 272 pages of full color projects detailing everything from performance mods to timing the camshafts. With more than 650+ full-color glossy photos accompanying extensive step-by-step procedures, this book is required reading in any 3 Series owner's collection. The book was released in August 2006, and is available for ordering now. See The Official Book Website for more details. One of the most annoying problems with older cars can be an intermittent electrical problem. Example: A dashboard light goes on when you hit the brake, but only when the rear defogger is on; or the radio only works when you are in reverse. As bizarre as it sounds, electrical problems like these have become more and more common as cars have become increasingly complex.

Unfortunately, they can be quite difficult to fix. What typically goes wrong with the wiring on these cars? Several things can happen. First and foremost, every time the car is sold, there is a big chance the new owner will do some modification to the wiring that only he or she will know about. Installing a new stereo, European headlamps, a radar detector, or worst of all, an aftermarket alarm system can seriously mess up your wiring configuration if it's not performed correctly. You are left holding the mess, armed with only a few sporadic clues as to what is causing the problem. Troubleshooting electrical problems is a tough chore and one most automotive repair shops will not perform without telling you they charge an $80-an-hour diagnostic fee. This project will give you some tips for troubleshooting your electrical system, but it's not meant to be a step-by-step guide for fixing all of your problems. That would take almost as many pages as are contained in this book! The first step in troubleshooting is to make sure you are armed with all the latest and greatest information available for your car.

Obviously, the most important item you need is a copy of the electrical diagrams for your model year. At the time of this writing, these diagrams are only available from a few sources. BMW has published books with extensive electrical diagrams in the past, but these can be difficult to find. Bentley Publishers prints manuals for most BMW 3 Series cars with summarized electrical diagrams in the back; They are definitely a good starting point for troubleshooting. One of the most persistent of these nagging problems is a continuous drain on the battery. Say you leave the car sitting for a week or two, and when you come back, you find the battery completely drained. This means that something is on inside the car, bleeding the battery of power. Start your troubleshooting process by disconnecting your battery ground (see Project 84) and connecting an ammeter between the battery negative and the chassis. The ammeter will show the amount of current that your electrical system is draining from the battery.

When you hook the meter up, it will most likely show that there is some small current flowing through the system. Warning: Don't start the car or turn on any electrical accessories, because this might blow up your meter. First, disconnect the trunk (E36) and engine compartment (E30) light before beginning any testing. Now, move to the fuse box in the front engine compartment, and start removing fuses. Carefully watch the ammeter to see if the current drops to zero when a particular fuse is pulled. If it does, you have successfully isolated the problematic electrical circuit. You are more than halfway to solving your problem. Look at the electrical diagrams, and see if you can tell what components are located on that circuit. Try disconnecting each one while watching the ammeter, and you should find the culprit. If pulling fuses doesn't reveal anything, however, try pulling out the various relays. Sometimes a relay will be powered on, but the device it controls will be disconnected.

This may also lead to a gradual battery drain. Another common electrical problem is the device that just won'ÂÂ't work. If you look carefully at the electrical diagrams, you will notice that there are actually six points of failure for most electrical devices. For lack of a better example, we will use a horn to explain and demonstrate the electrical troubleshooting process. Starting from the rear of the electrical chain, the first point to be concerned about is the actual device itself. You can start the troubleshooting process by testing the horn. Unplug it, and apply 12 volts DC to the horn to see if it will make a sound. It if doesn'ÂÂ't, then you have a problem with your horn. While the horn is unplugged, another excellent test to perform is to check the electricity in the wires leading to the horn. If you press the horn button on the steering wheel and there is no power going to the wires that power the horn, then the problem lies somewhere else. The next spot to check would be the relay for the horn.

Consult the electrical diagrams to determine which one is the correct relay. When the horn button is pressed, the relay should make a slight clicking noise, on and off. Swapping out relays with one that is known to work is a good method of checking the proper operation of the relay as well. If the relay checks out, you want to make sure that the fuse is still good. Identify the proper fuse that powers the horn circuit, and make sure it has not blown. Also, keep in mind that the spade-type fuses that BMW uses are sometimes affected by corrosion building up on the terminals. Make sure the fuses are clean and securely seated. If necessary, check the continuity across the two points that hold and mount the fuse. Many electrical components on the car are also switched through the ignition, enabling them to be turned on and off when you start your car. If a device such as a window motor doesn'ÂÂ't work, along with a host of other equipment, you might have a faulty ignition switch.

One clear symptom of this can be seen when the dashboard lights and other equipment turn on and off as you jiggle the key back and forth. Then the switch for the device itself may be faulty. In the case of the horn, the switch is mounted in the center of the steering wheel. Remove the wheel, and check the switch with a continuity tester to make sure it is working properly. Finally, if all the other tests fail to locate the problem, the wiring itself may be at fault. Especially on older cars, the connecting wires tend to become brittle and sometimes break, even if the outer insulation is intact (see Photo 2). Using a continuity tester, check each of the wires in the harness that powers the blower motor to see if any have lost continuity. If none of these steps succeed in helping you pinpoint the problem, then you may have made a mistake somewhere along the line or there might be a short circuit hiding somewhere in the switch or the wiring of the car. In that case, you will need to continue with more painstaking tests using a continuity tester in order to locate the source of the problem once and for all.

If you would like to see more technical articles like this one, please continue to support Pelican Parts with all your parts needs. If you like what you see here, then please visit our online BMW catalog and help support the collection and creating of new and informative technical articles like this one. Your continued support directly affects the expansion and existence of this site and technical articles like this one. As always, if you have any questions or comments about this helpful article, please drop us a line.CLICK HERE FOR REPAIR PARTS:    CLICK HERE FOR BMW E30 PARTS:CLICK HERE FOR BMW E36 PARTS: The fusebox is at the heart of your BMW'ÂÂ's electrical system. Located on the rear, left side of the engine compartment, the relays and fuses inside are sometimes vulnerable to corrosion and failure. Typically, when I encounter an odd electrical problem, I check the fuses and the relays first, since they are the easiest and cheapest solution to annoying electrical gremlins.