Lighting Flashing &

Hi all,

I am doing some routine maintenance after buying the car from the previous owner two weeks ago. One of the front light, the front right side hasn't been replaced for a while. The xenon light seems to turn on and stay on on some drives, then flickers when i hit a bump or a rocky part of the road. After the light flickers and turns off completely on some drives, the fog lamp turns on automatically (because I am in automatic mode) and the dash cluster indicates the light is out.

So I am curious if anyone has had a problem like this and where should I begin trouble shooting this?

Should I check the lighting connection? (which I already did and didn't seem like any big issue)

Is it the LCM going bad (car has 170k)? Should I switch out the LCM?

Is it just a burnt bulb?

Thanks you guys

Sounds like a loose connection. Do you know if the PO replaced the projector bowls at all? Perhaps something wasn't quite connected properly upon reassembly.

That I am not sure of, is it common for people have to have replace the LCM in any way? I can't help but think its something electronic because of the way it flickers on and off. For example, it would turn off and indicate up on the cluster that its out, and if I take it out of automatic again into the regular mode, it turns back on again. Would this still be a loose connection?

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by kw740735

That I am not sure of, is it common for people have to have replace the LCM in any way? I can't help but think its something electronic because of the way it flickers on and off. For example, it would turn off and indicate up on the cluster that its out, and if I take it out of automatic again into the regular mode, it turns back on again. Would this still be a loose connection?

Thanks!

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Is it just that one light? Does it flicker on/off when in the On position (not Automatic)? When in automatic, does it immediately turn on even if it's bright out?

Yes! Its just one light, but it does flicker on and off on the On position sometimes, but rarely. In automatic, it does turn on when its bright out, i thought that was the sensor. What may this be?

I'd just do some troubleshooting to isolate the problem. But I'd check it first to make sure. Swap the bulbs, if the problem moves sides, it's the bulbs. If not, swap the ballasts. if the problem changes sides, it's the ballast, otherwise, it's most likely the igniter.

Although, usually when the fog lights comes on, it indicates a bad/loose ground connection. But it could also be the igniter. I'd check those two things.

edit: I was going to like my e46f troubleshooting guide, but looking through the links. I totally need to update the picture links lol too lazy for that