Idiot Light For Brake Lights Comes On Often...

[mikeyboy_esq]

I'm test driving a 1999 M3 Conv tomorrow evening and the seller tells me it is in pretty good shape except for a few minor things. The biggest concern I have is that an idiot light for the "brake light" comes on about every other time the seller drives it, but he says its probably some kind of minor electrical glitch b/c his brake lights work fine. My question is whether this a symptom of a serious computor/electrical problem and approx. how much $$ to fix this?

[4evrwyntr]

As far as I know, in e36's this is a common problem regarding a short (I had it on my last bmw). You mean that the brake light thing comes up, but your brake lights are fine, correct? Yah, I got it fixed for free.
Hell, heckle it. If you really want the car, play that card. Go halfway through the process of buying it, but make sure they fix that short before you buy the car - is this a certified pre-owned? The dealer should take car of this problem before selling it, if it is.

[mikeyboy_esq]

Originally posted by 4evrwyntr@Aug 3 2005, 10:39 AM
As far as I know, in e36's this is a common problem regarding a short (I had it on my last bmw). You mean that the brake light thing comes up, but your brake lights are fine, correct? Yah, I got it fixed for free.
Hell, heckle it. If you really want the car, play that card. Go halfway through the process of buying it, but make sure they fix that short before you buy the car - is this a certified pre-owned? The dealer should take car of this problem before selling it, if it is.

[snapback]367079[/snapback]

Yes, you have it correct. And that is good advice about using it to heckle on the price of the car. I will definitely do that.

Unfortunately, there is no warranty period left on this particular car. If I like this car after tonite's test drive, I'm going to try to convice the seller to take it to a BMW certified mechanic and get it inspected at my expense. Hopefully, I will have a better idea of all the potential issues on the car at that time.

Thanx again for the help.

[SnowLeopard]

Originally posted by mikeyboy_esq@Aug 2 2005, 08:21 PM
I'm test driving a 1999 M3 Conv tomorrow evening and the seller tells me it is in pretty good shape except for a few minor things. The biggest concern I have is that an idiot light for the "brake light" comes on about every other time the seller drives it, but he says its probably some kind of minor electrical glitch b/c his brake lights work fine. My question is whether this a symptom of a serious computor/electrical problem and approx. how much $$ to fix this?

[snapback]366989[/snapback]

My '98 has the same problem! It was diagnosed by the previous owner and the quote for the switch was $117