higher

I have a 2008 E61 LCI touring with the rear LED turn signal indicators.

One of the rear indicators has a fault. The rest of the light cluster works fine, brake, light, reversing etc, etc. But the turn indicator is operating at maybe 1% brightness (hardly noticeable, even at night). This is setting off the warning in the car and that very fast flashing of the other indicators. Like you would get with a standard bulb failure.

I sprayed some WD40 over the connector in the trunk, and wiggled a few wires that made it work for maybe 1-2 seconds, but now the fault is permanent. There is some moisture / condensation in the indicator lens, as the car has been standing for 1 month outside in winter conditions.

Anyone see this fault or have suggestions for repairs. I don't want massive cost for replacement unit just for indicator led's.

iamnatio

Sorry to hear about the issues you are having. Maybe a burnt or faulty fuse? I've been messing around a lot with my reverse and brake lights so been accessing that area a lot, however haven't looked much into the rear turn signals so at this point not sure what wire it is. I'd check if it was a fuse related issue and if not try to find the wire and see if you can try to manually fire power to the lights to make sure the LEDs are working.

Lotus99

Would it work to swap the taillights, just to see if it's a wiring issue or the taillight bulb itself? I realize you can't actually install one side into the other, but if the connectors are the same for either side, which I'd imagine, I'd just plug it in to see. Or are our cars with these fancy lights now too smart to even let us do that?

higher

I have taken another look at the faulty light now it's the weekend !

I put some heat on the lamp and connectors inside to dry out any moisture that might be affecting it. That didn't work. The LED's are lighting up but only to about 1% of their full brightness, which kinda indicates a faulty earth ??? I think. And it looks like one strip of LED's is out, but difficult to tell as the lens distorts vision.

Good suggestion about swapping the lights over, the connector is just a standard plastic snap fit, very easy to disconnect and reconnect and only three small bolts holding light in place. I can easily hold the light in place while I test it. Unless they are coded. I don't think they are as I disconnected the faulty one today. I will also look at the fuse once I work out which one it is.

I heard that there might be a recall on some of these lamps, already recalled 1 series due to moisture getting into LED rear units. BMW will probably deny all knowledge and sell me a new 3 figure lamp if it comes to that.

higher

Another brief update on this for any forum members that experience the same.

I swapped over the rear lamps today and this showed that the fault is definitely with the lamp not the wiring. It's impossible to fix the LED lamp even though I pulled out a few connectors and tried to dismantle it and look for faults with a test meter.

To be honest I am pretty P****d about it because the car is a 2008 (6 months out of warranty - of course !) and I just don't expect a lamp to fail so soon. Compared to a traditional rear indicator bulb where I would be looking at maybe 4-5 Euro / Dollar for a bulb I am now looking at 250 Euro / Dollar for a new whole rear lamp, what a rip-off !!! Still it's better than a headlight, these a 1500 !