Hello everyone, I'm having an issue that I hope could be resolved with a little additional brain storming.
**Summary at the bottom**
I have a 1994 525i 5 speed. I turned on the car a week ago and was presented with a tail light warning on the dash. No big deal I thought since I always carry extra bulbs with me. I then notice that both tail lights are off. I check to make sure my brake lights work and they indeed do. I then check the bulbs for both taillights and they are both looking good.
I begin at the basics with checking the fuses and all the ones for the taillights are fine. I then get into the trunk and begin looking at the wiring for the light since sometimes I carry a lot of cargo in the trunk. Everything looks good.
Today i realized something interesting that appears to be related. Both of the rear marker lights were also off.
As I grab my multimeter, where should I begin to look first?
**SUMMARY**
94 525I 5speed
Both taillights and rear marker lights are not functioning. (checked fuses)
Brake lights come on, license plate, and inside trunk lights are all functioning.
Need help from those that are more familiar with the electrical system.
Thanks!
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Do the front park lights work?
I would first check for power on the grey/yellow and grey/violet wires at the light switch and then proceed from there.
demet
Currently have the same issue. Going to be looking at it tomorrow
You need this.
some trunk cables broken around hinge
^^^^That would be where I'd look first. The sedans have the wiring in only the driver side trunk hinge, while the tourings have wire looms in both hatch hinges.
Tommy L.
(oOO \ (IIII) (IIII) / OOo)
-o- (##########) -o-
2001 BMW M5 LMB LHD Euro
Bilstein PSS, Black Kidneys, Dinan Rear Anti-sway Bar, Matte Black Style 65, UUC SSK w/DSSR, Alpine iLX-007, Alpine MRV-F 340 Amp, Boston Acoustics Pro components, Alpine MRP-M450 Amp, Infinity Kappa 102.7W Sub x2
Current Garage:
1993 BMW M5
1994 BMW 525i Touring 5spd
2004 Ford SVT Lightning
Thanks for all the input everyone!
It ended up being a combination of two things.
1. There was a single wire that had snapped along the hinge of the trunk which has now been fixed.
2. These tail lights are not OEM (Depo) and the plastic around the bulbs on both tail lights had cracked which caused the bulbs to move and prevented contact to the wires.
(I know I can't believe both were bad!)
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Cool thread, helped me repair my trunk lightning. Very cool person/s sharing this info. Went right to the problem and fixed it.
Is there any particular reason bmw's designers decided to allow such a weak point? Makes me kind of concerned about the rest of the wiring. And then, any other failure points I need to be concerned about with this 93 525i that I need to know about?
There are 40 or so wire splices under the back seat fuse box as well as under the carpet of the rear driver's side footwell. If you have any odd electrical gremlins, check there. Moisture has been known to collect there and corrode the splices.
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