e39 rear light issue.

[cliffdunedin 8]

Coming home from work last night my neighbour (who was following us) let us know that the rear lights on the e39 were not working, i had a quick look and saw it was flicking on intermittently and very dim, all the other lights are working fine just the rear night lights (Window, both sides and spoiler), i checked the connector and it's not corroded, the bulbs and they're fine, no OBC warning, quick scan and no fault codes.

Maybe an earth somewhere?

Any ideas/help would be awesome, Cheers!

[yng_750 247]

Any bulb errors on dash? And late model enough to have celis lights? Ive seen a few people on here need lighy control modules but not sure of that would cause this issue. Im sure someone will pipe up with the right answer

[francoisv 466]

I had this after removing the light module in the boot of my touring on Monday, my headlights would dim then brighten up. I fixed this by disconnecting the battery, then right beside the battery is the black light controle module, which i reconnected but noticed there was quite a bit of dust and metal shards clinging onto it. Maybe disconnect the battery, diconnect the module and give it a good blow out and reconnect module then battery.
Your other option may be to have a look at the grounding point to the left of the spare tyre (normally directly under the rear left tail light) this might need to be tightened too..

[cliffdunedin 8]

Any bulb errors on dash? And late model enough to have celis lights? Ive seen a few people on here need lighy control modules but not sure of that would cause this issue. Im sure someone will pipe up with the right answer

Nah not celis lights and no OBC light errors, just find it weird that the other lights are just fine, just the night rear lights not going.

[handgrenade 189]

Those electrical gremlins are a right pain in the a$$. Check your fuse box and see if there is a separate fuse for the rear lights, if not pull the fuse and check it or replace it anyway. Next step is to trace the wiring which is a nightmare! Maybe its a bulb issue? Check those ..

Spoiler light is your mid top third stop light I assume? Do they light up properly when braking? If not I'd get onto it quick as you'll end up with someone mashing into the back of your car .. Rear running lights not working is one thing but if the braking lights are out its real trouble!!

[cliffdunedin 8]

Thanks for the reply guys. The brake lights on all works fine but just the running lights that are playing up. I'm outta town for work till tomorrow so will have a good look when I get home at those suggestions.

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[cliffdunedin 8]

I had this after removing the light module in the boot of my touring on Monday, my headlights would dim then brighten up. I fixed this by disconnecting the battery, then right beside the battery is the black light controle module, which i reconnected but noticed there was quite a bit of dust and metal shards clinging onto it. Maybe disconnect the battery, diconnect the module and give it a good blow out and reconnect module then battery.

Your other option may be to have a look at the grounding point to the left of the spare tyre (normally directly under the rear left tail light) this might need to be tightened too..

Pretty much did this as well as replacing all 4 bulbs (even though they were fine) and they are now working fine, thanks for the help, pretty weird issue?!

[francoisv 466]

Ah no worries. Glad it's working again, I think the boot gets allot of dust so connections tend to lose connectivity haha I've removed everything from my boot