GJN Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 Guys, E46 330i Sport, ‘02. Everything was fine before, but...On a recent long trip, the rear left light warning came on. It went off again randomly. Now the rear right warning is on all the time. I checked all the rear clusters. The reversing lights (boot mounted) don’t work (fuse is ok) and the right fog light (boot mounted) is on dimly when the headlights are on. It gets much brighter when the fog light switch is on. The left fog light light is off all the time. All bulbs are fine. All main (body) cluster lights are all fine. I’ve cleaned all contact points and checked the plugs. The secondary earth wires are in place on the clusters. Any ideas - it’s driving me mad. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 (edited) the left foggy isn’t a fog light at all, no bulb holder. have you checked you have the correct bulbs and that they are correctly installed? not to be patronising, I had a bulb which would work when inspected but as soon as the bulb holder went back in the cluster it would stop working, new bulb fixed the issue. Edited June 9, 2018 by incredirog edited Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted June 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 4 minutes ago, incredirog said: the left foggy isn’t a fog light at all, no bulb holder. have you checked you have the correct bulbs and that they are correctly installed? not to be patronising, I had a bulb which would work when inspected but as soon as the bulb holder went back in the cluster it would stop working, new bulb fixed the issue. Thanks - I’ve not checked the correct bulb spec, but they were working before the warning light came on, and they still all light when substituted. So really nothing’s changed with the bulbs. There is definitely a bulb in the left fog lamp by the way, whether it ever lit I don’t know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 ah ok, that’s either a replacement from a LHD car or it’s been modified, which if it has been modified could be the source of the problem? sorry I can’t be more help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 (edited) If the earth connector is starting to burn out you'll get weird things like this.. Bypass the connector and see if it's still an issue. No harm in doing it as it'll need it at some point anyway.. E46 tail light cluster earth fix.pdf Edited June 9, 2018 by momo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted June 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 1 hour ago, momo said: If the earth connector is starting to burn out you'll get weird things like this.. Bypass the connector and see if it's still an issue. No harm in doing it as it'll need it at some point anyway.. E46 tail light cluster earth fix.pdf Thanks, as I mentioned, the secondary earth wire mod is already in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 'pologies, I read it as though it just looked ok! My next port of call would be to start replacing all the bulbs with new? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted June 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 1 hour ago, momo said: 'pologies, I read it as though it just looked ok! My next port of call would be to start replacing all the bulbs with new? Are you thinking high resistance in old ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 Yep, could be. Happened to me in an old Peugeot once. Admittedly not a BMW but there were no light out errors on the dash but all sorts of weird happenings externally. Replaced them an all was good. Those P21W/Y's aren't expensive so worth a go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted June 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 Took all four light clusters out and bench tested them - they all work fine. Also changed the reversing light fuse as a precaution. Still no reversing lights, fog light on (dim) with tail lights, still got the bulb warning on the dash. Anyone with any other ideas before I take it to the Indy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 LSZ module? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozevans Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 Have you checked the wiring loom between the boot lid & car body? The wires can & do split there.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted June 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 5 hours ago, lozevans said: Have you checked the wiring loom between the boot lid & car body? The wires can & do split there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks. What’s the best way to check it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozevans Posted June 12, 2018 Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 Pull back the rubber sleeving between boot & body. Check for any damaged wiring, repair or replace. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted June 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 22 hours ago, lozevans said: Pull back the rubber sleeving between boot & body. Check for any damaged wiring, repair or replace. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Can’t see anything obviously wrong from the boot end, and the body end is inaccessible because the rubber extends right into the body panel. I guess I could cut it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJN Posted July 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Just to clear this up: It *was* an earth issue after all. It was with the boot mounted lights - There was corrosion around the earth surrounds which I thought Id cleaned off. I tried again and got one side working - still an issue with the other side even when cleaned. I linked the two earth terminals side to side with an additional earth wire and everything works now. BTW there are bulbs in both fog lamp holders, both of which light as tail lights, but the off side one gets much brighter when the fog lamp switch is on. Thanks for all the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...