E39 License plate light

[KennnzoNy]

I was changing light bulb in my E39...and i pushed to hard and finally cracked licence plate housing, i was looking for that part in the web, but i cant find it...is it only available from the dealer ? thanks.

[rbdimartino]

Did you ever get a reply on this? I just did the same thing yesterday and then found that you need to slide to the right not the left. So now I need a new light assembly thanks to bad info in the owners manual.

[stevecvo]

Yep I did the same. The owners manual gives incorrect info leading you to push the wrong way and break the casing. I sealed mine back in place. I took mine out to replace a bulb and found that there was no current down the wire. Rather than try and trace the break I simply spliced into the feed to the other light.

[rbdimartino]

So, I went on E bay and found LED replacement lights that are significantly brighter than stock. The LED's are part of the housing so rather than finding the replacement bulb and the replacement light assembly I just purchased two new LED assemblies.

They are worth the $60.

[DonJ]

Do you know the actual BMW part number for the license plate housing?
I have had luck putting the part number in to Google and finding on-line parts suppliers that carry the part.
If you don't know the part number - go to RealOEM.com they have diagrams for just about everyting including the BMW part number. They don't sell the parts but it gives you a part number to search on.

Good luck!