Re: <E36> Taillight problems

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Hans Conser <conser@domain.elided> wrote:
> I have been having taillight problems for years, fiddle with the 
> bulb holders and they would go away for somewhere between 2 minutes
> and 5 months. 

Hans,
What exactly were your 'problems'?
Did the tail lights not work? Or were you just getting OBC warning 
messages?

> So I bought some clear tails to see if that would help and now 
> it is way worse.  Does anyone know the trick to solving this? 
> The problem seems to be the interface between the contacts on 
> the bulb holder and the board it screws into.  I have a 92 325i.

What bulbs are you using? 
Osram bulbs sold at the dealer are the only ones known to have exactly the 
right resistance not to trigger OBC messages.
Plenty of aftermarket bulbs work, but trigger intermittent OBC warnings.

> I like the look of my new lights, but I need to get them working.
> If I bought new bulb holders would that help?

Depending on the source, aftermarket light clusters may have flaky 
soldering/wiring.
I would go back to OE clusters and OE bulbs and see if the problem goes 
away. Than introduce new components one at a time to check if the problem 
returns. That's one sure way to find the culprit.

alex f

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