PROJEKT36 · WIRING

Interior lights

The front interior lamp with either body module (ZKE or ZVM), the rear and footwell lamps, the small lamps around the cabin and the licence plate lights. Hover or tap a row to see where the wire goes.

Standard petrol E36 sedan and coupé from the 1998 BMW wiring manual. Touring and convertible versions left out. On a phone, scroll the diagram sideways.

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SW blackRT redGN greenBL blueGE yellowBR brownWS white GN/SW = green with black stripe supply / ground of a part shown elsewhere

Front interior lamp, with ZKE

0.5 VI/WS fuse F43 5A fuse F33 10A 0.75 RT/SW ZKE X13252 pin 4 0.75 BR ground X495 1 BR/RT rear lights E39 / E40, pin 4 X336 Interior / reading lamp front lamp E34, with ZKE 1 Reading lights (R) 2 Lamp supply (30) 3 Interior light control 4 Ground 5 Rear lights switched

How it works

With ZKE the body module drives the interior lights: it switches pin 3 when a door opens and dims the lamps out afterwards. The lamp switch chooses off, automatic (door contacts) or on.

The rear lamps take their interior-light circuit from front lamp pin 5 and their reading-light feed from F43 (violet/white). Their ground is on pins 2 and 3, to X13006 (four-door rear right: X13004).

Redrawn from BMW ETM 6330.3 (05/99), standard petrol E36 (316i–328i); diesel and M3 parts are left out.

Front interior lamp, with ZVM

fuse F43 5A 0.75 RT/WS fuse F33 10A ground X495 0.75 RT/SW ZVM X13014 pin 1 1 BR/RT splice X13002 X336 Interior / reading lamp front lamp E34, with ZVM 1 Reading lights (R) 4 Lamp supply (30) 2 Ground 3 Door contact / timer 5 Rear lights switched

How it works

With the simpler ZVM, the lamps are fed from F33 all the time and the ZVM switches their ground through pin 3. The front lamp passes that ground on to the rear lamps on pin 5.

Redrawn from BMW ETM 6330.3 (05/99), standard petrol E36 (316i–328i); diesel and M3 parts are left out.

Footwell lights

0.5 RT/SW ZKE X13252 pin 4 0.5 RT/SW ZKE X13252 pin 4 0.5 BR ground X495 0.5 BR ground X495 E61/E62 Footwell lights footwell lights E61·3 Left footwell supply E62·3 Right footwell supply E61·1 Ground E62·1 Ground

How it works

The footwell lights run with the interior lights. With ZKE they share its pin 4 feed; with ZVM (four-door) they are fed red/white from F33 and switched on brown/red like the rear lamps.

Redrawn from BMW ETM 6330.3 (05/99), standard petrol E36 (316i–328i); diesel and M3 parts are left out.

Glovebox, mirrors, luggage and ashtray lights

0.5 VI/SW fuse F44 20A fuse F33 10A 0.5 VI/WS fuse F43 5A 0.5 VI/WS fuse F43 5A fuse F33 10A 0.75 BR/WS rear lid switch S61 X711 0.5 GR/SW light switch X503 pin 1 0.75 GR/SW light switch X503 pin 1 0.5 GR/RT ashtray and lighter lights Interior Interior small lamps and socket E42y·1 Glovebox light X542·1 Charge socket E35·3 Driver make-up mirror E36·1 Passenger make-up mirror E32·1 Luggage compartment light E32·2 Luggage light switch E45y·2 Cassette box light N3·3 Dimmer input N3·2 Dimmed lighting (58g)

How it works

The small lamps each have their own feed: the make-up mirrors and glovebox on terminal R, the luggage light and charge socket on terminal 30, and the ashtray and lighter lamps on the dimmed instrument lighting.

Redrawn from BMW ETM 6330.3 and 6332.0 (05/99), standard petrol E36 (316i–328i); diesel and M3 parts are left out.

Licence plate lights

fuse F37 10A 0.75 GR/SW splice X196 0.75 GR/SW splice X461 0.75 GR/SW splice X461 0.75 BR ground X13006 0.5 GR/SW ZVM X13014 pin 4 E43/E44 Licence plate lights licence plate lights S8·11 Light switch feed S8·1 Parking lights on E43·2 Left licence plate light E44·2 Right licence plate light E43/44·1 Ground ZVM·4 Lights-on to ZVM

How it works

The licence plate lights come on with the parking lights, from light switch pin 1. Cars with check control route them through the module so a failed bulb is reported.

Redrawn from BMW ETM 6320.0 (05/99), standard petrol E36 (316i–328i); diesel and M3 parts are left out.

Reading the wire codes

BMW labels every wire with its size and colour, for example 2.5 SW/GE: 2.5 mm², black (schwarz) with a yellow (gelb) stripe. Connectors are numbered X…, followed by the pin. The wires in these diagrams are drawn at relative thickness, so the 25 mm² battery cable stands out from a 0.35 mm² signal wire.

Codes used here: SW = black, RT = red, GN = green, BL = blue, GE = yellow, BR = brown, WS = white.