Taillight woes

[indierthanthou]

my passenger side taillight doesnt work. its not the bulb, i checked that, and the check control doesnt throw a code. a swift kick will make it come on usually. whats my problem? bad ground?

[Atl530i]

Check the wires inside the trunk before they go into the wire conduit on the trunk hinge. I had the same problem last week. I was not getting 12v on a reverse light and interior trunk light.

http://www.e34post.com/misc/pics/DSC00422.JPG

[uscharalph]

Common Problem

[indierthanthou]

it might be common ralph but that doesnt really help me....my reverse lights dont work either. alt530, what did you do when you checked the wires?

[uscharalph]

it might be common ralph but that doesnt really help me....my reverse lights dont work either. alt530, what did you do when you checked the wires?
All I meant by common problem is that you will find the answer just by doing a search. If you look on the driver's side inside of your trunk, you will see many wires running along the trunk hinge tube. These wires are easily crimped, cut and broken. Fix these wires and your problems go away.

[whiskychaser]

my passenger side taillight doesnt work. its not the bulb, i checked that, and the check control doesnt throw a code. a swift kick will make it come on usually. whats my problem? bad ground?
May be an iffy filament which makes a connection when you whack the light. Had this happen a few times. Try a new bulb then its out with the DMM

[indierthanthou]

Sorry to come off defensive. But the taillight that is out is the one mounted on the body of the car, not the trunk lid. do these wires run to that too?

[uscharalph]

Different wires.

[uscharalph]

The reverse lights you mentioned are effected by the trunk hinge though.

[indierthanthou]

Thats what I figured. I will check them tomorrow when its not dark time.

[attack eagle]

I had this problem earilier today after putting a new bulb in. Removed the socket a second time and inserted it yet again and it finally clicked properly into place, the bulb illuminated, manna fell from heaven, choirs of angels sang, etc etc.

[s4martin]

More than likely this is a bad connection somewhere around the bulb/holder assembly caused by overheating and/or fretting corrosion.

I just fixed the passenger side brake light on my E36 last night. The plastic bulb holder has 2 metal contacts - 1 of these had overheated and broken away. I managed to recover this one by soldering a new contact tab in place. I can't remember if the E34 has similar bulb holders but it's almost certainly a contact in that area - I haven't yet come across a BMW suffering from the more typical corroded earth contact problems.


my passenger side taillight doesnt work. its not the bulb, i checked that, and the check control doesnt throw a code. a swift kick will make it come on usually. whats my problem? bad ground?