Sort of newby tailight question

[Edo]

Guys, had the car about one year, read about some ground issues with the taillights. Min work fine except it appears a few bulbs or LED are bad. Specifically the ones on the outside half circle. So the magic question is, how many are supposed to be illuminated and is the fix a complete assembly?

04 CI with about 78,000

Thanks Ed

[fredo]

I have no clue since my ZHP is a sedan. Do you have a pic handy ?

[johnrando]

No idea. I will count mine later to see if someone does not provide an answer by then. FYI: I am going to move this thread to the lighting section, but leave a "redirect" for a day to make sure you can find it.

[BMWCurves]

Five in the middle four columns, six on either side, and one odd one further out from the outermost "column." Pictured is the driver's side tail light:

http://i.imgur.com/YVkCgSd.jpg

[PdZHP]

I had similar issues with my driver's side taillight, known issue with coupes. I was in the process of repairing with a spare unit but was a pain. Picked up a replacement from craigslist and made sure to get a replacement gasket. I think moisture gets inside and starts to cause issues.

[BMWCurves]

I had similar issues with my driver's side taillight, known issue with coupes. I was in the process of repairing with a spare unit but was a pain. Picked up a replacement from craigslist and made sure to get a replacement gasket. I think moisture gets inside and starts to cause issues.

+1

I had one dead LED in my driver's side tail light. I thought about repairing it myself, but I'm a novice when it comes to soldering and you have to physically cut open the housing to get to the LEDs, so I opted to just buy a used pair from a part out car.

[Edo]

Guys, thanks for the replies and also moving this to lighting section. I have a number of bad ones, both sides. I found a post on another site about getting LED bulbs from Radio Shack or similar. Doesn't look to challenging. Also, there is MAS repair in Ga that does a lot of board repair. I will send them an email. My concern about the used ones is that it may be as bad mine. My car came from Fresno, CA so it has been dry most of it life.

I'll pull one apart tomorrow night and see if there are any signs of corrosion.

Ed

[Edo]

I took apart the pass side. Not encouraging as the outer and inner seal (plastic weld) was not tight. The LED's are tiny and it doesn't take much corrosion to cause them to fail. To me, a great example of why new tech is not as good as the old, proven inexpensive bulbs. I can reseal it and use it till I can find a replacement.