Attempting to repair my phantom "blinker out" signal, question...

[telijah]

OK, so us pre-facelift owners are not covered under the recall for the bad grounding on the tail lights. This causes the front indicators to go in and out. Sometimes, I'll start my car and get the indicator on the dash that my front blinker is out. Sometimes, I can simply turn on my parking lights, the indicator goes out, and the blinker works fine. Other times, turning on the parking lights does nothing, and the blinker will truly be out. I can usually go out and whack the blinker a couple of times and it comes back on.

NOW, all that said, my local dealership said that can actually sometimes be caused by using shady non-OEM bulbs. I was told this when my driver side first started doing this. So at that time, I replaced the driver-blinker bulb with an OEM one. However, my rear bulb house had the scorched post and scorched plug. So I went to a scrap yard and just picked up a replacement bulb house for the back, put it on, and have not had a problem on that side since then, and just kept the scorched plug on that tail light.

OK, so for those of you still with me, I am now having the same problem on the passenger side. Driver side is still OK. I know my driver blinker housing is OEM, but the passenger is non-OEM. I am thinking of getting a whole new passenger blinker assembly, and then for now just getting the bulb housing for the rear since I see the same scorching happening. The question I have is this: IF I end up also having to replace the male plug on the rear (part 15 here: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AV53&mospid=47725&btnr=63_0459&hg=63&fg=20), will I have to replace all six of the little wires? Do they get damaged when removing them from the plug? The wires, for what I know, could be perfectly fine, I am just thinking it is the plug itself that was the problem...

Sorry for the detail, but figured it was needed. Thanks!

[Hermes]

sounds like a bad contact between the bulb/socket/wires... try cleaning, adjusting them. I had the same issues with the E21 and eventually got it to work that way

[telijah]

Might take more than that. Here are photos I took when I had the trouble on the driver side. Only replaced the bulb housing, which is the female side of the connector.

http://i.imgur.com/s7q8Ml.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YRI0Wl.jpg

[Hermes]

my issue on the E21 was one of the wires going into the jumper (your second pic) was loose, therefore making a bad connection. I would first say you should try pushing the wires all the way in the jumper. Yours also appears to have some corrosion on one of the pins, maybe go get a can of electric contact cleaner for that.

I believe you can buy that jumper itself if you want to replace yours

[LivesNearCostco]

I once had a problem where one of my tail light bulbs (in the trunk lid) was failing but not completely failed. It made the bulb out indicator light up and drove me nuts because I kept checking the main tail lights in the back of the trunk but not the ones in the trunk lid. Finally I found it, saw it was frosted over inside, replaced it, and bulb-out light went away. And then I got the recall repair done on the wiring.

[danewilson77]

That looks just like the taillight ground issue.

[telijah]

I was thinking that too Dane, but ever since doing the same thing to my driver's side, the problem has not come back... yet. So I still plan on only replacing the passenger front blinker housing and the rear passenger bulb housing, and will also check the wire connection per Hermes comments.

[brettbimmer]

FWIW, just did the rear tail light ground repairs to both sides myself due to a non-functioning blinker problem (right rear blinker not working). Check light on the dash has been ok since.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[telijah]

Thanks Brett, but even if mine is a ground problem, it is slightly different from the facelifted models.

[telijah]

Ironically, it is the same pin burning out on both sides...

[wsmeyer]

Might take more than that. Here are photos I took when I had the trouble on the driver side. Only replaced the bulb housing, which is the female side of the connector.

http://i.imgur.com/s7q8Ml.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YRI0Wl.jpg

That damage is the result of arcing caused by more current than the connector is designed for. Non OEM bulbs with a lower resistance would be the most likely cause.

At this point both sides of the connector are irreparable. Considering that and the fact that this connector isn't one that is generally disconnected and connected I wouldn't hesitate to cut the wire going to the bad pin and soldier it directly onto the trace on the housing. Problem solved, permanently.

William.

[telijah]

Ah yes, I remember someone else a while back suggesting that. Now, I already have a bulb housing though for the rear on order. If I wer to buy part 15 mentioned earlier, with the new housing, and ensuring OEM bulbs are in use, then that "should" solve the problem permanently also. My only question then would still be, as I asked earlier, when I remove that connector from the wires, does it permanently damage those wire ends to the point where I could not reuse them?

[wsmeyer]

You'll need to replace at least the one connector, it's part # 61130006626 on RealOEM. There's also a picture of it:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/photos/61130006626.jpg

In the picture you can see the locking tab on the bottom side of the connector. If you look at the plug on your car, you'll see the row of locking tabs on the bottom side, just press them in with a small screwdriver and pull back on the wire to remove it.

Cutting the old connector off the wire is tempting but make sure the wire will still be long enough before going that route. If not you can bend the tabs up with the tip of a knife and get the wire out.

William.

[telijah]

Well, yesterday I got the rear bulb housing in. So I replaced it as that was certainly needed, due to the burnt connector on the housing side. Then, I took one of the OEM bulbs out of the old housing and stuck that bulb into the front blinker assembly for now, that way I have all OEM bulbs all the way around now. So far, so good. I should be getting the OEM blinker housing today, which is also needed since the locking tab broke that you're suppose to be able to push down to remove the blinker. Right now, that blinker is held in by friction only. I have noticed though that the entire rear passenger tail light assembly is all around brighter with the new bulb housing, and I assume it is simply because that part of the connector is fresh. I may still go ahead and replace the plug as well back there.