Tail Light Failure? Cel - BMW Forum

abemcclellan · 03-27-2005, 02:23 PM

hey guys, when i'm driving down the road without my parking lights on, this check engine light "Tail light failure" doesn't come on. but when i switch on the parking lights or the head lights, this message appears. but i've checked all the damn tail lights and brake lights and no burnt ones. so i've kinda ignored it for a while, but decided to see what you guys think. oh yeah and sometimes, when i turn on the headlights or parking lights, this message doesn't immediatly come on like most of the time lately. it'll pop up like within 20 minutes of driving.

toast_mcmann · 03-28-2005, 04:13 AM

Yeah I have a 95 325is 5 speed, and I have the exact same problem. The only difference is that it happens immediatly when I turn the head lights on. I also think it's important to add that I do not have an actual problem with the tail lights, they work fine. For quite sometime I've believed that the contacts are dirty and the computer just can't detect amperage, but I'm lazy and am yet to test my hypothesis by cleaning my contacts. If you do try cleaning your contacts let me know how it turns out.

aheath · 03-28-2005, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by toast_mcmann@Mar 28 2005, 05:13 AM
Yeah I have a 95 325is 5 speed, and I have the exact same problem. The only difference is that it happens immediatly when I turn the head lights on. I also think it's important to add that I do not have an actual problem with the tail lights, they work fine. For quite sometime I've believed that the contacts are dirty and the computer just can't detect amperage, but I'm lazy and am yet to test my hypothesis by cleaning my contacts. If you do try cleaning your contacts let me know how it turns out.

[snapback]319950[/snapback]

I had a Brake Light Circuit pop-up. Turned out to be the switch from the pedal to lights was about to fail.

abemcclellan · 03-28-2005, 11:56 AM

yeah my tail light failure message pops up right after i turn on the headlights most of the time. and my tail lights are perfectly fine. i think over time the metal connectors corrode and get dirty, so i'm going to check it out soon.