e36 tail light, park light, dash light failure

[james0202 0]

My e36 is having all sorts of elec problems.

The right tail light does not work properly most of the times (Sometimes fully operational) and only work sometimes because I have directly connected the left side to the right side (The headlight wires do not provide power). The left side works and the right side does not when theyre linked together which doesnt make any sense? The right park light does not work either, the bulb blew so replaced it with a new one but it doesnt like to go on. The dash lights have given up on me also...What could the problem be? My warrant money is only valid for a week now and this car is messing up my life. Any valid suggestions?

[jochen 4]

My e36 is having all sorts of elec problems.

The right tail light does not work properly most of the times (Sometimes fully operational) and only work sometimes because I have directly connected the left side to the right side (The headlight wires do not provide power). The left side works and the right side does not when theyre linked together which doesnt make any sense? The right park light does not work either, the bulb blew so replaced it with a new one but it doesnt like to go on. The dash lights have given up on me also...What could the problem be? My warrant money is only valid for a week now and this car is messing up my life. Any valid suggestions?

Assuming you have a 1999 323i, check the following:

The only common factor is the light switch.

Remove the light switch, have it hanging out and still connected and measure the pins / wires as follows:

Position

0 = Off

1 = Park lights

2 = Park lights and Headlights

Right Hand Taillight

F37 (Engine Bay, 10A) feeds power on Red/Blue wire to pin 11 of the light switch

The switch switches power to the taillight.

The wire to the taillight is on the switch pin 2, and is Grey/Yellow.

If no Check Control fitted, the wire goes direct to the taillight.

If Check Control, it goes via the Check Control module and becomes Grey/Blue/Yellow for one bulb and Grey/Blue/Yellow for the other bulb. (maybe BMW made a mistake with wire colours here?)

Left Hand Taillight

F33 (Engine Bay, 10A) feeds power on Red/White wire to pin 5 of the light switch

The switch switches power to the taillight.

The wire to the taillight is on the switch pin 6, and is Grey/Violet.

If no Check Control fitted, the wire goes direct to the taillight.

If Check Control, it goes via the Check Control module and becomes Grey/Violet/Yellow for one bulb and Grey/Green/Yellow for the other bulb.

Instrument Lights

F37 (Engine Bay, 10A) feeds power on Red/Blue wire to pin 11 of the light switch

The switch switches power to the light dimmer.

The wire to the light dimmer is on the switch pin 1, and is Grey/Black.

This goes to pin 3 of the Light Dimmer

The power leaves the light dimmer on pin 2 and becomes Green/Red

The Green/Red wire then goes to all dash illumination including the instrument cluster, where it becomes pin 2 on the cluster connector.

CONCLUSION

If you have the right hand taillight fail at the same times as all dash illumination, then suspect F37 and/or the light switch.

Check the fuse carefully, the connectors are firmly seated and clean and tight, and the light switch

If the light switch has failled or has bad connections, replace it with a new one

[james0202 0]

Assuming you have a 1999 323i, check the following:

The only common factor is the light switch.

Remove the light switch, have it hanging out and still connected and measure the pins / wires as follows:

Position

0 = Off

1 = Park lights

2 = Park lights and Headlights

Right Hand Taillight

F37 (Engine Bay, 10A) feeds power on Red/Blue wire to pin 11 of the light switch

The switch switches power to the taillight.

The wire to the taillight is on the switch pin 2, and is Grey/Yellow.

If no Check Control fitted, the wire goes direct to the taillight.

If Check Control, it goes via the Check Control module and becomes Grey/Blue/Yellow for one bulb and Grey/Blue/Yellow for the other bulb. (maybe BMW made a mistake with wire colours here?)

Left Hand Taillight

F33 (Engine Bay, 10A) feeds power on Red/White wire to pin 5 of the light switch

The switch switches power to the taillight.

The wire to the taillight is on the switch pin 6, and is Grey/Violet.

If no Check Control fitted, the wire goes direct to the taillight.

If Check Control, it goes via the Check Control module and becomes Grey/Violet/Yellow for one bulb and Grey/Green/Yellow for the other bulb.

Instrument Lights

F37 (Engine Bay, 10A) feeds power on Red/Blue wire to pin 11 of the light switch

The switch switches power to the light dimmer.

The wire to the light dimmer is on the switch pin 1, and is Grey/Black.

This goes to pin 3 of the Light Dimmer

The power leaves the light dimmer on pin 2 and becomes Green/Red

The Green/Red wire then goes to all dash illumination including the instrument cluster, where it becomes pin 2 on the cluster connector.

CONCLUSION

If you have the right hand taillight fail at the same times as all dash illumination, then suspect F37 and/or the light switch.

Check the fuse carefully, the connectors are firmly seated and clean and tight, and the light switch

If the light switch has failled or has bad connections, replace it with a new one

Thanx for the help, Ive checked the fuses before but when I checked again today F37 was blown.