No/intermittant internal light indicators!

[jcerecke 2]

All the indicator lights on the cluster that tell me my lights are working (high beam/indicators/fogs)... don't work! But the lights themselves do work fine!! To make matters more complicated, ages ago my indicator "auto flick off" thingy broke about 6 months ago so I manually switch them off but could this be contributing??

Sometimes the internal indication lights works but then they can also stay on after I've switched the light off. I've noticed it on the indicators because that's what I use all the time, but also seen it happen on the high beams once.

I can't get my reverse lights to come on when I'm in reverse either!

The last thing is the backlight for the mileage display has been either not working or flickering when I go over bumps for the last year or so, but I doubt that's related??

Light module??

Edited April 1, 2013 by jcerecke

[cliffdunedin 8]

I've read somewhere that a faulty ignition/system can cause e39's lights/electrics to play up... maybe something to lok in too

[jcerecke 2]

I've read somewhere that a faulty ignition/system can cause e39's lights/electrics to play up... maybe something to lok in too

Ahhh that might make sense that once every ~five times I start the engine it clicks like the battery's flat and then starts and all my settings have been erased. Brand new battery last year.

[Allanw 1052]

Ahhh that might make sense that once every ~five times I start the engine it clicks like the battery's flat and then starts and all my settings have been erased. Brand new battery last year.

The switch is really common - does do some REALLY weird stuff - do your sun visor lights flicker or blink sometimes???

[jcerecke 2]

The switch is really common - does do some REALLY weird stuff - do your sun visor lights flicker or blink sometimes???

So I got in my car the next day and tried to start it, steering wheel came down like normal and then when I tried to crank, all electrics went dead. Doors locks, all lights, everything. Wiggled the battery terminals and everything came back to life... so I think I need to give all the terminals and ground points a clean and then see how it goes. Thanks for the advice team.

[Allanw 1052]

E39's do NOT like a power shortage!

Give those terminals a really good clean, and press the right down on the battery terminals before tightening them up. It the get grubby emough, the arcing makes it worse, and can actually arc parts of the terminals away so the contact is never right again.