Brake Lights

[RKM]

2005 E85
Have light bulb warning light on dash staying on when I start up. Goes off when I tap the brake pedal. I'm guessing that one of the brake light bulbs is on its way out. Any way to diagnose which one at this point or do I just wait for failure?
Thanks

[Steeler]

Originally Posted by RKM

2005 E85
Have light bulb warning light on dash staying on when I start up. Goes off when I tap the brake pedal. I'm guessing that one of the brake light bulbs is on its way out. Any way to diagnose which one at this point or do I just wait for failure?
Thanks

Rear bulb replacement is a relatively easy maintenance item for a DIY.

Last winter I replaced all brake and signal bulbs as a matter of pre-emptive maintenance.

I went a step further and bought red and orange bulbs to match the lens colours, after reading that the light emitted through the lens with same colour bulbs as lens would be more vivid.
To my eye the the light colour is more vivid.

[garz747]

Agreed- change the bulbs for what they cost- standard not led. If its still an issue its your brake pedal switch.

[dhlairbusb4@cs.com]

Not sure if you can help here, but has anyone tried to replace the existing bulbs with LED type bulbs? I have done this on other vehicles, but knowing that Beemers are some what sensitive...
Would like to do the backup's as well!
Thanks in advance...

[pungo]

Originally Posted by dhlairbusb4@cs.com

Not sure if you can help here, but has anyone tried to replace the existing bulbs with LED type bulbs? I have done this on other vehicles, but knowing that Beemers are some what sensitive...
Would like to do the backup's as well!
Thanks in advance...

You can, though most bulbs will cause a bulb out warning unless you code out the cold/hot bulb monitoring for those bulbs.

[cbpip]

You can switch the standard bulbs out to LED, try finding ones that are error free canbus compliant and match color to what it is being used for, ie brake - red , Turn- amber and so on. If you get error warnings still you can code out the warning. Just a note: you will have problems trying to find front turn signal LED lights. BMW found an interesting way to make standard ones fit and I have not found one that will slide into the very narrow tube.

[chickdr]

Agreed with the last poster. I have LED's in all my rear lights, hamburgers and interior lights. Didn't even look for a solution for the front turn signals. My LED's cause no issues.