DIY LCI taillight retrofit
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From: London, UK
My Ride: BMW E60 520d SE Saloon M47 2.0dTitanium Grey II, Grey−Dakota Leather, Visibility Package, Media Package, Through Load System, Lumbar support − fr seats, Automatic Air Conditioning−Advanced, High beam assistant, Hi−Fi Loudspeak
Model Year: 2006
Andy,
Not only in the UK. Any pre-LCI car EU spec car has only one light come on. If you remember the other was the BFD light. In the LCI car BMW have made both light up however because I'm not touching the LCM I cannot make both bulbs light up. Well I could actually but then the iDrive error checking gets the better of me.
Sorry for being a bit technical here but two bulbs in parallel have too low an effective resistance so the LCM gives an error, in series the bulbs are not bright enough to be used as Brake lights.
So I actually moved the Brake to the center because its got more surface area in the light housing than the outer bulb area.
However in the US spec pre-LCI cars both bulbs light up even with normal Braking because there due to the absence of the rear fogs BMW moved the BFD to the circle fog light like they've done in the LCI cars.
Not only in the UK. Any pre-LCI car EU spec car has only one light come on. If you remember the other was the BFD light. In the LCI car BMW have made both light up however because I'm not touching the LCM I cannot make both bulbs light up. Well I could actually but then the iDrive error checking gets the better of me.
Sorry for being a bit technical here but two bulbs in parallel have too low an effective resistance so the LCM gives an error, in series the bulbs are not bright enough to be used as Brake lights.
So I actually moved the Brake to the center because its got more surface area in the light housing than the outer bulb area.
However in the US spec pre-LCI cars both bulbs light up even with normal Braking because there due to the absence of the rear fogs BMW moved the BFD to the circle fog light like they've done in the LCI cars.
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Joined: Jul 2004
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From: expat in The Netherlands
My Ride: BMW 545iA Black Sapphire
Model Year: 2005
Engine: 545i
Originally Posted by bruce_miranda' post='540673' date='Mar 6 2008, 08:15 PM
Andy,
Not only in the UK. Any pre-LCI car EU spec car has only one light come on. If you remember the other was the BFD light. In the LCI car BMW have made both light up however because I'm not touching the LCM I cannot make both bulbs light up. Well I could actually but then the iDrive error checking gets the better of me.
Sorry for being a bit technical here but two bulbs in parallel have too low an effective resistance so the LCM gives an error, in series the bulbs are not bright enough to be used as Brake lights.
So I actually moved the Brake to the center because its got more surface area in the light housing than the outer bulb area.
However in the US spec pre-LCI cars both bulbs light up even with normal Braking because there due to the absence of the rear fogs BMW moved the BFD to the circle fog light like they've done in the LCI cars.
Not only in the UK. Any pre-LCI car EU spec car has only one light come on. If you remember the other was the BFD light. In the LCI car BMW have made both light up however because I'm not touching the LCM I cannot make both bulbs light up. Well I could actually but then the iDrive error checking gets the better of me.
Sorry for being a bit technical here but two bulbs in parallel have too low an effective resistance so the LCM gives an error, in series the bulbs are not bright enough to be used as Brake lights.
So I actually moved the Brake to the center because its got more surface area in the light housing than the outer bulb area.
However in the US spec pre-LCI cars both bulbs light up even with normal Braking because there due to the absence of the rear fogs BMW moved the BFD to the circle fog light like they've done in the LCI cars.
good work.
Thread Starter
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From: UK
I just wanted to add to my LCI DIY:-
The part numbers for the EU spec lights i.e. the ones with the Amber Turn indicators are
Left Taillight part : # 63 21 7 177 281
Right Taillight part : # 63 21 7 177 282
It is also important to plug the cables the correct way, i.e. Cable marked LEFT to LEFT taillight and cable marked RIGHT to RIGHT taillight. The lights will not work correctly if they are plugged the wrong way around!
The part numbers for the EU spec lights i.e. the ones with the Amber Turn indicators are
Left Taillight part : # 63 21 7 177 281
Right Taillight part : # 63 21 7 177 282
It is also important to plug the cables the correct way, i.e. Cable marked LEFT to LEFT taillight and cable marked RIGHT to RIGHT taillight. The lights will not work correctly if they are plugged the wrong way around!
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hey Dav,
I for one really appreciate the time taken for this little write up.
frick those lights look the dogs bollocks compared to the pre lci..
I am ONBOARD for this..
just need to complete the xenon retrofit first and then will tackle this one.
Bruce
those cables look pretty damn good mate.
will be in touch
I for one really appreciate the time taken for this little write up.
frick those lights look the dogs bollocks compared to the pre lci..
I am ONBOARD for this..
just need to complete the xenon retrofit first and then will tackle this one.
Bruce
those cables look pretty damn good mate.
will be in touch
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,719
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From: London, UK
My Ride: BMW E60 520d SE Saloon M47 2.0dTitanium Grey II, Grey−Dakota Leather, Visibility Package, Media Package, Through Load System, Lumbar support − fr seats, Automatic Air Conditioning−Advanced, High beam assistant, Hi−Fi Loudspeak
Model Year: 2006
Originally Posted by sanctifyd' post='548035' date='Mar 20 2008, 01:10 PM
hey Dav,
I for one really appreciate the time taken for this little write up.
frick those lights look the dogs bollocks compared to the pre lci..
I am ONBOARD for this..
just need to complete the xenon retrofit first and then will tackle this one.
Bruce
those cables look pretty damn good mate.
will be in touch
I for one really appreciate the time taken for this little write up.
frick those lights look the dogs bollocks compared to the pre lci..
I am ONBOARD for this..
just need to complete the xenon retrofit first and then will tackle this one.
Bruce
those cables look pretty damn good mate.
will be in touch
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 135
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From: Orange County, California
Originally Posted by subarashi' post='539770' date='Mar 4 2008, 07:24 PM
BTW -- Rover Active is selling the LCI lights on eBay for 599 USD with a retrofit kit that says wil work without error messages. Does anyone know about this offer/tried it? Bruce, is this your kit he is selling?
Depending on the build date of your pre-LCI car, I believe you actually can purchase the Rover Active lights with the harness, connect the harness to the (updated) Light Module and have the dealer do the programing. Someone coreect me if I am wrong.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,719
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From: London, UK
My Ride: BMW E60 520d SE Saloon M47 2.0dTitanium Grey II, Grey−Dakota Leather, Visibility Package, Media Package, Through Load System, Lumbar support − fr seats, Automatic Air Conditioning−Advanced, High beam assistant, Hi−Fi Loudspeak
Model Year: 2006
Originally Posted by DBU' post='552876' date='Mar 29 2008, 09:35 PM
The Rover Active lights are Euro Spec (Yellow turn-signal LEDs) and come with a wiring harness that connect the tail lights to the lighting module in the front of the cabin. If you purchase the cable from Bruce (highly recommended), you won't be using the Rover Active wiring harness.
Depending on the build date of your pre-LCI car, I believe you actually can purchase the Rover Active lights with the harness, connect the harness to the (updated) Light Module and have the dealer do the programing. Someone coreect me if I am wrong.
Depending on the build date of your pre-LCI car, I believe you actually can purchase the Rover Active lights with the harness, connect the harness to the (updated) Light Module and have the dealer do the programing. Someone coreect me if I am wrong.
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Joined: Nov 2006
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From: High Desert, So. CA USA
If you are not planning to do the full headlights....I recommend Bruce's cable! It will be a TON less hassel. Dealer's here will charge you an arm and a leg for the installation. The labor is routing the wires and before encoding the light module--the car must have the latest progman version. In addition, will lose some features of the old current headlights you still have on the car.
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From: The Netherlands
This looks good.
Thinking about this too.
But a question first.
All I need to buy is the LCI OEM Taillight and the cable from Bruce to let it work?
I noticed that there a different LCI OEM Taillights? One with amber turn signal and also one with yellow? Or still any others?
Anyone got a pic to compare this?
Thinking about this too.
But a question first.
All I need to buy is the LCI OEM Taillight and the cable from Bruce to let it work?
I noticed that there a different LCI OEM Taillights? One with amber turn signal and also one with yellow? Or still any others?
Anyone got a pic to compare this?