misterkudo

Hello everyone,

First off thanks for all the help with some of the other posts out there. This is truly a great community.

I have a 2005 530i and took it to get detailed. They did a great job and were very thorough and I'm thinking now that they were perhaps a bit too aggressive with the shampoo/water. When I got back in my car I didn't notice anything and then that night I noticed that the dome light wasnt working. In fact, the front AND back dome lights were both not working. Here is what IS working after some trouble shooting:

The manual switch works - the lights on the bottom of the front doors light up
The door switches work - the lower lights turn on when the doors open
The bulbs are fine - I swapped them out with the "reading lights" and they still work
The fuses seem to be fine? - I checked the ones for interior lamp (11 and 27 I think?)

I have heard that water from leaks can cause the wires to short out. Which wires though? And where?

Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Cheers.

seanjordan20

I have no idea what system controls the dome light but I would say turn on the heat and let it dry. It seems they used too much water some where. Keep your windows down when you can. In a few days it should be dry and start back working. It seems the module is working fine that controls it since there is no error message unless it is being stored on the system as an information message which does not trigger a reaction. Have you checked under the seats? Did they clean the headliner? If so did you take the front center down to see if water got in?

misterkudo

It has been a week and it still hasnt started working. Under the seats where? should I pull up the carpet? They did clean the headliner. I didnt notice any water damage when I swapped out the bulbs. I will check again.

UPDATE-
They are now (only when I open the door or turn off the car) slightly lighting up and staying dim and then quickly fading out again. Button still does nothing. thoughts?

seanjordan20

That would tell me there is water some where not a lot but enough to make the lights not work. Where I do not know. If it is at the button area that does not work take it down and let it air out. If they are working faintly now the water is drying up just not as fast as you would like.

If the headliner was done it could be the moisture coming from it cause condensation on wires and connectors. Also when they did it the probably went over the light pushing steam in. I would just take it do let it air dry or dry it with a blower dryer but not close. If it starts back working then you know what the issue is but be mindful it might happen again because the water has not fully evaporated on the headliner

AshVNicholls

I have a 2007 530i doing the same..
Did you resolve this issue?

thank you kindly