Brake Light circuit/tail light fail

[GasWombat]

A vexing problem indeed.sometime the console would flash either message - Brake Light circuit/tail light fail - with the former more often than the latter. and the "Check" light would flash.the message would come on intermittently.M Speed replaced the rear tail light but after a day or two, the problem came back occasionally. the worker there earlier found that the right tail light had a wire that was connected to another slot and he rewired it back to the standard way.still no go. i know electrical circuitry probs is often hard to diagnose and it's a case of drilling down until u locate the fault.anyone having the same prob be4? let me know how it was resolved.e36/1994/325i

 

[affan66]

very very common. the plastics on the tail light usually melts and causes the bulb holder become loose. As a result, the OBC says you have a problem there. There are some MacGyver solutions but as usual it comes back once in a while.

I changed to white lights and got no problems for about two years. Then the tail light melts and the problem came back.

 

[three28]

Wow.... Keep hearing this ..ahahahahhha

Bro just get a soldering iron .

Remove the bulb holder .

There are 2 contact point at the holder . U will see it would have sank into the plastic.

Pusf the connector out .

Solder some lead onto connector (Thin Layer)

Fit it back . Just check it once a month . Hahahahahh e36 bulb holder also have to service .

mine has been ok for 6 months now ,.

cheers .. hope this helps

 

[ZeNeGeR]

yeah i got the same everytime on my light

1) Brake light circuit failured
2) Low beam light failure (bcos of HID)
3) no brake light
4) car plate light failure

4 of this damn bored..

how can i sort it out !!!

 

[tkew]

you must chk the connector the actual connector that connect to the bulb not just the casing, had this problem before when the connector is lose. Else pls chk the buld is the it is faulty or pls swap with another one to chk the taiwan made may give you this problem.

 

[Fireblade]

Yup, had experienced some of these problems as well. As for the brake light failure it was due to the loose bulb socket - just stuffed a piece of plastic between the holder & socket and it hasnt bothered me since. As for the license plate light failure (also intermittent) it was due to one piece of wire in the wiring harness (in the trunk) that was almost severed. Removed the harness cover and re-wired - an irritating problem finally solved.