Electrical short with tail lamps?

[bimmergalnj]

My 1994 525i goes through lightbulbs faster than edison. Constantly replacing tail lights and parking lights. Now she has the superfast blinker on the right front turn signal and the right rear turn signal will not light at all. Mechanic (non-BMW) said he thought there was some sort of oddity in the right rear tail lamp assembly. Oddities to me spell major investigation dollars. Is this something that I can take to a stealer and have diagnosed with a computer or will this be a major gremlin search regardless of who looks for the source? The folks at DMV were unimpressed with my gremlim story at inspection so I need to try to sort it out within the next 45 days. I do know that there was a recall of the tail lamp switch with these cars, but since I bought it used I do not know if it was replaced. Unfortunately I no longer have the carfax and local BMW dealer has not returned my calls regarading the possibility of searching under the VIN to see if it was done. Also...that is tail lamp, not directional so not even sure if it is related. Heck, I am lucky I know (sort of) how to change a brake pad so any help would be appreciated

[Bill R.]

bulb causing the blinker to flash rapidly... Even if you replaced the rear try another and see if it still does it. If fairly often that you have poor contact on these too.. so if you bend the contacts some where the bulb goes and clean them up they usually work.








My 1994 525i goes through lightbulbs faster than edison. Constantly replacing tail lights and parking lights. Now she has the superfast blinker on the right front turn signal and the right rear turn signal will not light at all. Mechanic (non-BMW) said he thought there was some sort of oddity in the right rear tail lamp assembly. Oddities to me spell major investigation dollars. Is this something that I can take to a stealer and have diagnosed with a computer or will this be a major gremlin search regardless of who looks for the source? The folks at DMV were unimpressed with my gremlim story at inspection so I need to try to sort it out within the next 45 days. I do know that there was a recall of the tail lamp switch with these cars, but since I bought it used I do not know if it was replaced. Unfortunately I no longer have the carfax and local BMW dealer has not returned my calls regarading the possibility of searching under the VIN to see if it was done. Also...that is tail lamp, not directional so not even sure if it is related. Heck, I am lucky I know (sort of) how to change a brake pad so any help would be appreciated

[Scott C]

bulb causing the blinker to flash rapidly... Even if you replaced the rear try another and see if it still does it. If fairly often that you have poor contact on these too.. so if you bend the contacts some where the bulb goes and clean them up they usually work.

My 95 525 had goofy problems due to melted plastic in the tail light assy (which is very poorly designed). This caused the bulb to not make contact on the quite poorly designed assy. I fixed mine with JB weld and heat and then lightly dabbed the pair with some silcone to keep the bulb from shifting.

I really intended to try the new LED bulbs but it has been over 1 yr since I have had a problem.

Scott.
I keep my lights on at all times which really made the problem worse.

[Beemr750]

My 1994 525i goes through lightbulbs faster than edison. Constantly replacing tail lights and parking lights. Now she has the superfast blinker on the right front turn signal and the right rear turn signal will not light at all. Mechanic (non-BMW) said he thought there was some sort of oddity in the right rear tail lamp assembly. Oddities to me spell major investigation dollars. Is this something that I can take to a stealer and have diagnosed with a computer or will this be a major gremlin search regardless of who looks for the source? The folks at DMV were unimpressed with my gremlim story at inspection so I need to try to sort it out within the next 45 days. I do know that there was a recall of the tail lamp switch with these cars, but since I bought it used I do not know if it was replaced. Unfortunately I no longer have the carfax and local BMW dealer has not returned my calls regarading the possibility of searching under the VIN to see if it was done. Also...that is tail lamp, not directional so not even sure if it is related. Heck, I am lucky I know (sort of) how to change a brake pad so any help would be appreciated

Sounds to me you have a grounding problem in the trunk area.Usually the ground wires (brown)are bundled connected to the body.Sometimes corrosion sets in and causes poor contact in turn causes the lights to act up.This also overheats and sometimes shorts out the wiring or bulbs go on te "blink".

[George Davis]

In addition to the info above, some bulbs are pretty crappy, such as Wagner. I've had Wagner tail and brake light bulbs fail in less than a day, several of them I might add. After replacing them with Osram bulbs, they've been fine for a long time.

Another thing is replace bulbs in pairs. If you only replace one bulb in a pair, the other, older bulb (which has probably used up a significant part of its service life anyway) will often fail soon afterwards.

[Black 535i]

My wife had this same problem in her old Volvo and it turned out there was relay that controlled these things that had worn out and she blinking like a strobe light from behind. Hope it is just that simple.

[bimmergalnj]

WOW...thanks for all your replies...been out of town visiting the folks who don't have a pc so late to respond. Regarding bad bulbs....don't think that is the problem since I have replaced more bulbs than I care to admit. I have limited knowledge of suspension, but know NOTHING of electronics. How do I look for a relay problem? Same question about a bad ground. THANKS guys

[bimmergalnj]

Also....would suspect it is not an obvious problem since the mechanic that replaced my thermostat, did oil change and bulbs (no I am not that lame, but was short on time and needed to inspect before leaving town) did poke around and could not find the source of the problem.