Locks not working, windows not working + clicking sound

i have a '93 325is. last week, while moving the car, i heard a steady clicking noise for a while, seemed to be in front of me under hood. finally it stopped. after that, no power locks or windows worked for a day or two. then, i had intermittent window operation, and passenger door, trunk, nothing yet driver side. oh, when they work, i get a double click-if i turn to open, they click open, then click shut, and i need to turn it open once more and it stays. same when i close. very puzzling. could it be a bad control module, or one or more of its ic chip freakouts, a bad ground, perhaps an actuator or microswitchalthough, i suspect not likely for more than one to go bad at once, but, who knows? i thought if an electrical or electronic component goes bad, it's kaput, so this is puzzling. is there a fuse that could be in play, or anything around the fuse box, where i thought the noise came from? is there any simple way to test, or should i begin with the most obvious central possibilities and work my way back?

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This post was auto-generated based upon a question asked on our tech article page here: Pelican Technical Article: BMW Door Panels and Lock Troubleshooting

[Wayne 962]

Electrical problems are a bear to try to solve over the Internet. However, the clicking noise you're talking about may be related to a relay failing? Perhaps, but I'm not convinced, as relays are very quiet usually, and don't make loud clacking noises. It could be a control module - I think you need to start tracing back the circuit to see what connects all of these components together, in an attempt to try to find a common fault.

- Wayne

[bostogrun]

I would check the fuse, considering the age of your car, some times the holder or the fuse blades corrode causing the voltage to drop but not blowing the fuse. The fuse is effectivley a resistor. I have a 94, 850 Volvo, the wipers were acting goofy and eventually became inopperative. I looked at the fuse and it was not blown but the aluminum blades were covered with a hazy glaze they were not shiny anymore. All it took was a quick rub on the curbstone to clean off the corrosion and it totally fixed the problem.

If you are the sceintific type you could use your multimeter to measure the voltage on each side of the fuse by grounding to the frame and measuring the voltage on each side. Just a minor drop in voltage can cause havoc with these devices.