Fuse 67 and the immobilizer

[jvmitche]

Question. I replaced the center armrest in my 2001 e46 cabrio last week. While I was doing this, the alarm went off. I believe I was touching the e-brake (it's a manual) at the time.

From that point forward, the door chimes whenever the door is open -- with or without the key in the ignition. Also, the key remote does not work. From my eye, it's almost like the car constantly thinks the key is in the ignition. I should also point out there is nothing else wrong with the car, it is completely driveable, power locks work, everything works, I just have to lock the doors with the key in the door.

Well, like a good owner, I decided to check the fuses, and when checking the immobilizer fuses ....guess what? Fuse 67 was toast. Well, I figured I might try the 5 amp spare fuse....spark-ola! It sparked and blew immediately once I ut it in (and no, the key was not in the ignition and car was completely off). So obviously, there's some major short going on here.

My real question is, is there anything in the center console area (and I know there are harnesses in there, I saw them) that I could have touched that would affect the immobilizer fuse circuit? I have to believe it's somehow related. I've spent time looking online, but I can't find the answer on whether the immobilizer circuit routes through the center console/armrest area.

My gut tells me once that fuse doesn't pop, all my problems will be solved...I just have to figure out why it's blowing.

[jvmitche]

Well, problem solved, all for the low low price of $2.79 for the 5 pack of 5-amp fuses. Well, it wasn't QUITE that easy...but no dealer was involved.

For future reference and people searching, the fuse that controls the remote system as well as the ability for the ignition to recognize that the key is in/out of the ignition (and the door chimes) lies on fuse 67. Once I tried to replace the fuse, it popped immediately. So, I took apart the center console again and made sure everything was sitting nice and pretty -- no pinched wires, etc. Once that was complete, I tried putting another fuse in and BINGO, it didn't spark or pop. I was obviously casuing some kinda short in the center armrest. I wish I knew EXACTLY what I did, but it works perfectly now.

So, long story short, something related to fuse 67 does reside in the center console area.

[Jeron]

"Take it apart and put it back together again." It's kinda like rebooting your pc to fix a problem.