Flickering 'disco' rear lights?

[Blitzer]

one for the e36 bros...

..do your rear lights flicker like it should belong at MOS instead of the rear of your car?.. or worse.. one side goes kaput & then come back on again?.. or go into the 'dimming' mode when u step on the brakes? in short... unnecessarily provide the car following u behind with some hip-hop-blinky-on-off-& on again entertainment?..

FEAR not... one of our e36 bros has done an in depth d.i.y repair on the rear wiring at an amazing not-too-expensive cost..
and..presto!.. no more 36disco funky-town effects anymore...

jus to share with the bros how its done... and get peace of mind once & for all..

*iT all happened one dark & stormy night to one of our 36-US bros.. who related the incident..*

Attention: ALL E36 owners beware - WIRING PROBLEM
Hey guys. Just letting you guys know to be carefull because I just caught something really bad in my 325is. I was driving one day and then all of a sudden things started to go really wrong. I lost my headlights, I had no interior lights, no dash lights, and no turn signals. MY OBC was going crazy saying all these electircal failures were going on. It was night and all that worked were my foglights to light up the road. I stopped by the dealership I work at and opened up the fuse box and saw about 10 fuses blown. I replaced them all and then they instantly blew out. Then we noticed something interesting, all my lights didn't work, except my tailights. They were still lit up. The mechanics traced all these problems to the wiring harness that goes from the car to the trunk. If you look on the left side, when your trunk lid is up, you see a thing of wires wrapped up in a black covering. We took off the covering and you won't beleive what we found.

ALL THE WIRES OVER TIME RUBBED AGAINST EACHOTHER AND THE WIRE COATING RUBBED OFF EVENTUALLY AND ALL THE WIRES WERE TOUCHING EACHOTHER. FROM YEARS OF OPENNING AND CLOSING THE TRUNK, THE WIRES GET WEAK AND SO DOES THE WIRE COATING. Mine was really bad, it went all the way into the car, luckily it stopped before it went deep into the car where I would most definetely not be able to reach it.

I RECOMMEND EVERYBODY CHECKING THIS OUT ASAP. SAVE YOURSELF ALOT OF MONEY AND PREPARE AHEAD. I INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED EACH WIRE IN ELECTIRCAL TAPE.

IF THIS HAS HAPPENED TO YOU, POST. I can't be the only one.

UPDATE : YOU HAVE TO TAKE OFF THE BLACK PLASTIC COVERING AND THE RUBBER LIKE TUBE TO EXPOSE ALL THE WIRES BEHIND TO BE SURE IF THE WIRES ARE FRAYING. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO TELL ANYTHING WITHOUT CUTTING THROUGH AND SEEING.

It makes sense that when you open and close your trunk that those wires are going to rub against eachother everytime you open and close.

(i moved this from deep in the thread to up front.) i posted this a few months ago, but i want to stress the importance of checking this)

UPDATE :
MY CAR CAUGHT ON FIRE LAST NITE. BE CAREFUL. I CAUGHT IT BEFORE IT CAUSED ANY REAL DAMAGE BUT THE FRAYING HAS BECOME WORSE AND LIVE WIRES BEGAN TO TOUCH EACHOTHER. CHECK EVERY INCH OF THOSE WIRES. IF I DIDN'T NOTICE A FLICKER IN THE LIGHTS AS I WAS WALKING INSIDE, I FEAR MY WHOLE CAR WOULD HAVE WENT UP ALONG WITH MY HOUSE. I AM WRITING A LETTER THE THE NHTSA TO GET A RECALL ON THIS. THIS IS REALLY BAD. ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS SYMPTOMS OF THIS OR SEES SIGNS OF WIRE FRAYING, POST....IT'LL BE MORE BACKING FOR THEM TO DO SOMETHING"


a pictorial of the procedure...
basically BMW offers a wiring kit to replace the old harness.. you just need to solder it in..










and the final step...

Nuthin like bright,steady rear lights from now onwards..!


hope this helps! a little pre-emptive action wud definitely guard against mishaps in future... specially in the local sweltering heat..

[snowy]

Thanks for the sharing....will check on mine.

[Blitzer]

Originally Posted by snowy

Thanks for the sharing....will check on mine.

anytime!! hope to add more d.i.y. repairs for the 36 bros for easy trouble shooting & reference

[joon]

YO BLITZER.. thanks for sharing my DIY I was kinda lazy to post it but I hope it helps some people solve their electrical issues

I recommend this to all E36 owners.. the boot lid wiring is fragile and after many years the insulation tends to peel off.. leading to all sorts of weird electrical problems you can never seem to track down..

I bought the rear trunk wire repair kit from Eng Soon for $150.. it's cheap insurance..

anyway this is my first DIY on my E36... I'm in the process of stripping out my entire interior and replacing some stuff.. all E36 brothers are welcome to join me

[Blitzer]

one up for bro Pete, the d.i.y maestro...

more 'home-improvement' goodies to come!