I've had a relative's E46 in my care for the past 10 days or so and while driving it one day, I was reminded of an intermittent problem this car has regarding tail lamp wiring. It's an '02 325i but the issue also affects the ZHP. Description from B-Fest's E46 wiki:
"Tail lamp wiring faults. The updated E46 sedan (from 9/01 to 3/05 production) wiring harness has a design defect with grounding wires for the rear lighting that are too small and are made of poor quality materials, thus leading to wiring harness failure due to overheating. As stated in BMW's TSB, "Customers may complain that one of the rear lights is inoperative. CAUSE: Minor corrosion at the 8-pin rear lamp connector creates high resistance causing damage to the connector housing. CORRECTION: Repair the damaged wire(s) and replace damaged connector housing. Install additional ground wires to both left and right rear lamps." This can be easily confirmed by careful examination of the rear lamp wiring connectors which are usually melted. Symptoms include a "burned out bulb" warning in the instrument panel and (intermittently) completely inoperative rear lamp cluster(s). While BMW has a TSB for this problem, many have occurred out of warranty leading to arguments with the dealer (automotive lighting standards are Federally legislated, yet BMW refuses to repair this design defect once the cars are out of warranty). BMW dealers expect $350-$400, or more, PER SIDE to make the tail lamps work. As a result, check for a NHTSA recall (or a class-action lawsuit against BMW) before you pay for repairs. There are many threads on this problem; see the BMW TIS (search for SIB 63 03 06 if the attached link is inop)here. This problem was not limited to US market as you can read here. Cheaper DIY repairs can also be found on a variety of web forums, although your results may vary; here is one: here."
My ZHP experienced this problem and the repair was done under warranty.
On this 325 I've been babysitting, there is an intermittent tail lamp warning light on the dash, even tho the lamp is working fine. I pulled the bulb and it was HOT AS HELL (this was during the day and I did not have the lights on). The other bulbs in the socket assembly were at ambient temperature. So, I'm assuming it is experiencing the dreaded tail lamp wiring issue described above.
Before I set about planning for yet another DIY, I thought I might inquire as to whether a fix for this was ever covered by a recall and/or extended warranty on the parts in question.
Anyone know?
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Originally Posted by kayger12
