tail lamp wiring faults: was there ever a recall for this?

[aurelius]

I've had a relative's E46 in my care for the past 10 days or so and while driving it one day, I was reminded of an intermittent problem this car has regarding tail lamp wiring. It's an '02 325i but the issue also affects the ZHP. Description from B-Fest's E46 wiki:

"Tail lamp wiring faults. The updated E46 sedan (from 9/01 to 3/05 production) wiring harness has a design defect with grounding wires for the rear lighting that are too small and are made of poor quality materials, thus leading to wiring harness failure due to overheating. As stated in BMW's TSB, "Customers may complain that one of the rear lights is inoperative. CAUSE: Minor corrosion at the 8-pin rear lamp connector creates high resistance causing damage to the connector housing. CORRECTION: Repair the damaged wire(s) and replace damaged connector housing. Install additional ground wires to both left and right rear lamps." This can be easily confirmed by careful examination of the rear lamp wiring connectors which are usually melted. Symptoms include a "burned out bulb" warning in the instrument panel and (intermittently) completely inoperative rear lamp cluster(s). While BMW has a TSB for this problem, many have occurred out of warranty leading to arguments with the dealer (automotive lighting standards are Federally legislated, yet BMW refuses to repair this design defect once the cars are out of warranty). BMW dealers expect $350-$400, or more, PER SIDE to make the tail lamps work. As a result, check for a NHTSA recall (or a class-action lawsuit against BMW) before you pay for repairs. There are many threads on this problem; see the BMW TIS (search for SIB 63 03 06 if the attached link is inop)here. This problem was not limited to US market as you can read here. Cheaper DIY repairs can also be found on a variety of web forums, although your results may vary; here is one: here."

My ZHP experienced this problem and the repair was done under warranty.

On this 325 I've been babysitting, there is an intermittent tail lamp warning light on the dash, even tho the lamp is working fine. I pulled the bulb and it was HOT AS HELL (this was during the day and I did not have the lights on). The other bulbs in the socket assembly were at ambient temperature. So, I'm assuming it is experiencing the dreaded tail lamp wiring issue described above.

Before I set about planning for yet another DIY, I thought I might inquire as to whether a fix for this was ever covered by a recall and/or extended warranty on the parts in question.

Anyone know?

[kayger12]

No recall, unfortunately.

Good DIY here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1076114

I used it with success on my 325.

[danewilson77]

NathanCarter wrote up a great diy.

Yup....that's it.

Droid + Tapatalk = FTW!

[kayger12]

Where is Nathan Carter? Why no love for the Mafia?

[danewilson77]

Where is Nathan Carter? Why no love for the Mafia?

Yeah....idk. He's pretty loyal to his following.

Droid + Tapatalk = FTW!

[kayger12]

I can respect that. We'll be patient. Eventually he'll come.

[danewilson77]

All is well.

Droid + Tapatalk = FTW!

[az3579]

Found out my left side taillight connector has a nice big hole around where the ground wire goes into the plug connector. Needless to say, that ground wire was completely loose in the housing and can be easily taken out of it...

Good thing the PO installed the additional grounds for both taillights for me the day I drove off with it.
I definitely plan on performing the TSB fix in addition to the "fix" I have.

[midlandtech]

this was the first thing I was told to do to the car by a friend guess they saw/see this fault all the time at the dealership

[aurelius]

Anyone know the BMW part number for the tail lamp wiring repair kit?

[danewilson77]

Everything you need to know.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1076114&highlight=taillight

[Cadeez]

Looks like a nice simple DIY. This happened to me at the track this past weekend, the freakin dash indicator went on and for whatever reason the picture didn't make sense to me. After I hit the blinker it did though, as it was blinking at 10x the speed! So I put 2 & 2 together and realized I was an idiot. I toyed with it for a while, under the watchful eye of an old, (nearly) deaf BMW CCA know-it-all jack-off. I ended up getting it to work by mashing up the connector so it would make contact with the ground wire, works for now! But I should do this workaround, cause it won't work forever.

[Whitexi]

I just removed the ground wires from both plugs and transferred them to the ground tab on the bulb holder. Been fine for a few months now.

[rikdee]

Had the same issue with my 2003 325i; the symptom was a rapid blinking turn signal (either side randomly). I did a first class re-grounding on both sides and the rapid blinking has not returned. Yet, from time to time I still get the picto-gram on the dash indicating a bulb out on one side or the other. I then remove the bulb holder, remove and re-install the turn signal bulb, and all is well until it happens again. Seems kind of like "banging on the side of a TV" and it suddenly works.It can be weeks between episodes. All bulbs are good, connections are clean, and all lamp positions work as they should. Any thoughts?

[Len013091]

Try putting a small bit of dielectric grease on the contacts of your bulbs and see if that takes care of the issue. I just did it to mine to fix the same issue (rear turns lost connection when it got cold out).

Tapatalk on my Bold? Yes.

[shadowpuck]

I just removed the ground wires from both plugs and transferred them to the ground tab on the bulb holder. Been fine for a few months now.

did the exact same thing myself; took a few minutes and solved the problem.

[danewilson77]

Bumping for an easy fix in above post. Ryan, Shadowpuck....still working good?

[shadowpuck]

yessir - fix is working great here.....no issues at all. only took a few minutes.....

[danewilson77]

Good man. Do you think you could write up a "Poor mans (i.e. no parts required)" diy on this. Post/find a pic of the wiring in question?

[shadowpuck]

that's a reasonable request....:) let me see what i can do - should have some time friday/saturday to put something together......

[danewilson77]

Thanks SP.

"You complete me"

^For Hornung.

[shadowpuck]

quick, simple fix.

remove the ground connection (the one that has shorted), cut off the BMW connector, strip the insulation from the end of the wire, attach a quick connect, plug into ground location on the tail light. see the pic below.

the wire i am speaking of is the one that is brown, with a yellow quick connect attached.

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/58400-2/IMG_5937.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/58397-2/IMG_5936.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/58391-2/IMG_5934.JPG

i tested to confirm this was a ground connection on the tail light membrane or whatever that thing is called. testing for ground is easy, i put one end of the multimeter in the spot where the ground wire would go, then simply checked for continuity on the metal circuit membrane thingy (technical term).

did this back in june, and have put a bunch of miles on the car since then, no issue whatsoever.

[danewilson77]

So...in a nutshell...you cut their connector off, and put yours on?

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[shadowpuck]

yup, basically recreated the ground circuit.

you could completely reverse this too if you replaced the necessary parts and had the right tools....

[danewilson77]

Thanks. I have these connectors at home. May give it a try tonight.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[shadowpuck]

you can do this in about 2 minutes. getting the wire out of the bmw connector may be a bit of a fight - mine was already so burnt out that it literally fell out of the connector. there's a special tool made to remove the wire from the connector, but you should be able to do it with a needle, toothpick, or small screwdriver.

once the wire is out, though, it's only a few minutes. i can't imagine yours would be any different, but it's probably worth confirming you have ground on that tab before wiring it up.

i've read up on the official bmw fix and looked at the parts at the dealer; unless things have changed, this is the same concept...

[zhpboss]

hey i had the same issue. if you go to www.pelicanparts.com and search e46 tail light ground kit. i got this for my car and its a permanent fix for these grounding issues. hope this helps!

[danewilson77]

hey i had the same issue. if you go to www.pelicanparts.com and search e46 tail light ground kit. i got this for my car and its a permanent fix for these grounding issues. hope this helps!

This is what I did...

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?5400-My-%28Meric-s%29-E46-Tail-Light-Ground-Fix....

[Johnmadd]

My warning light came on, I all of a sudden have a brake light out on both sides, one light is on top of one side and the other side is lower brake light. Haven't investigated yet but does this sound like the recall fault? Anybody have the similar happen?

[M0nk3y]

My warning light came on, I all of a sudden have a brake light out on both sides, one light is on top of one side and the other side is lower brake light. Haven't investigated yet but does this sound like the recall fault? Anybody have the similar happen?

I had both brake-lights out when mine failed.

What actually happened, is that the connectors were arcing, and the melted and fused together (isn't that just great). So BMW replaced it under warranty, well before this recall came out.

[Johnmadd]

I had both brake-lights out when mine failed.

What actually happened, is that the connectors were arcing, and the melted and fused together (isn't that just great). So BMW replaced it under warranty, well before this recall came out.


Thanks kyle. Guess I will try and schedule for the recall fix.