I've read these posts for a few years now and some people here are very
smart about BMW's. I'm hoping you can help me.

As I understand it, BMW's are known for electronic troubles. I have a 1988
735i with about 145k on it. It's had good maintenance since the first owner,
my brother in law, had it. He owns a foreign car repair shop on the Jersey
Shore. I got the car from him in 2001. I don't know what new batteries it
had before then, but I finally had to put a new one in about 6 months ago.
My father is good at electronics and he determined what was needed.

I used it every few days (we have 3 cars extra) and it ran fine. about two
weeks ago, I noticed that all of the dome, door, etc. courtesy lights were
on even if the car was shut tight. I've had many troubles with this car in
the electrical system. I had to put in a new box that feeds current to the
headlights because one kept going on and off sporadically. (maybe that's the
trouble now. LOL)

Anyway, we trickle charged the battery but even the dashboard radio lights
were still dead. The charger can't keep up with the lights draining it. I
then attempted to start it but when I got the key to the ignition position
(one step before where you'd be cranking) and a loud buzz came from under
the left back seat (all the relays I think, since the battery's on the right
side). It sounded like it would do damage if I left it on, so I turned the
key back to the off position. When I did that, all the lights went off like
they should have since I had shut the door tightly when I got in to try to
start it. But even in the off position, the terrible buzz continued.

I took the key out of the ignition and got out and shut the door, but the
buzz continued. I then pulled the plug on the trickle charger unit and the
buzz finally stopped.

My father wants to try to charge it again, but I can't believe that the buzz
is not harming the car if it's left on for hours. I think he believes that
the buzz will stop if the battery gets charged enough but that didn't happen
the first time.

Has anyone had this problem? I plan to have AAA tow it to a local shop near
Cape Canaveral since the mechanics there are honest and good. The nearest
dealer is in Melbourne, about an hour south and they charge much more.

Nothing else is wrong with the car that I can see. The dashboard display
often stops and all the needles go down to zero and at night, the lights
would go off as well. They want $1,000 to replace that. I said NO and all I
do is smack the right top/side and it fires up each time.

I hope someone can give me an idea about this. I trust the dealer, he's had
many chances to do work that was not needed and he's never done so. His
reputation here is good.

BTW: If anyone here is looking for a good foreign car mechanic ( I don't
know all the models he fixes), he's on Tropical Trail on Merritt Island,
FLA.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.