[Redshifted]

For the last several months I get a yellow warning indicator that a headlight is out when I first start the car. 2007 335i. When I turn the right turn signal on it turns off the indicator and the headlight is back on.

Today on the way to work the climate control kept turning right back on when I turned it off. And hot air was coming out. It did it all the way to work, halfway home it finally stayed off. I turned the air conditioner on for a little while and that worked fine. I was able to turn it off when I got home. That has never happened before.

I washed the engine this weekend, I did not soak it but it got wet. Could this have anything to do with the latter issue?

The stealership (LOL) guy told me "You have a short. We can fix that" I was like "no thanks"$$$$ Can I find a short myself? How do you fix a short? I guess I never really knew what a short was exactly, I just know electricity is not flowing properly through the wiring. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you.

Beth

[ajaye]

Originally Posted by Redshifted

For the last several months I get a yellow warning indicator that a headlight is out when I first start the car. 2007 335i. When I turn the right turn signal on it turns off the indicator and the headlight is back on.

Today on the way to work the climate control kept turning right back on when I turned it off. And hot air was coming out. It did it all the way to work, halfway home it finally stayed off. I turned the air conditioner on for a little while and that worked fine. I was able to turn it off when I got home. That has never happened before.

I washed the engine this weekend, I did not soak it but it got wet. Could this have anything to do with the latter issue?

The stealership (LOL) guy told me "You have a short. We can fix that" I was like "no thanks"$$$$ Can I find a short myself? How do you fix a short? I guess I never really knew what a short was exactly, I just know electricity is not flowing properly through the wiring. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you.

Beth

A "short" is shorthand slang for short circuit. Electricity flows in a loop. A short in simplest terms is when the electricity is flowing from one side of the loop to the other prematurely. A bare/broken B+ wire touching the chassis somewhere is the most common cause. Water somewhere it shouldn't be (thus conducting electricity across two conductors) would probably be my guess if it started after you washed/cleaned the engine.

They can be pretty time consuming to track down for experienced people sometimes.

[Redshifted]

That sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack. No shortcuts? Someone has to have a smart idea??? If there are certain parts involved like the turn signal and headlight indicator is there a fuse or wiring you can follow until its found? Is there a device that finds shorts?