The wife has been complaining about her driver's side turn signal acting funny and this past Sunday while I was in her X5, it happened to me.
You activate the turn signal and get the fast blinking which means that a bulb is out. Walking around the car I see it's the turn signal bulb up front in the Xenon headlight assembly (which conversely looks like a ***** to get to).
Here's the odd part - it only does the fast blinking in the morning when the car is cold! Drive it somewhere, park, take care of a few errands, get back in and the turn signal works just fine! I'm stumped!
Any ideas? Could this mean that the bulb in question is about to go? The car has always been garaged and we've had little rain here in Texas this summer so it's not a question of moisture.
I agree with Roton. Sounds like a bad connection. Maybe it has something to do with the metal expanding and making a contact when the car gets warmed up? Either way, you should look into replacing the bulb or at least investigating the situation a little more. Good luck.
I remember reading a post (which I canīt find now...) a while ago about the same problem. That was due to a bad connection between the wire and the lamp connector, not between the lamp connector and the bulb.
David
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2000 M5 LeMans blue/Silverstone sport interior, double glass windows, all options except alcantara ceiling and trailer. Michelin PS2 tyres.
Exactly the same thing happened to me, except eventually it stopped working completely. Took it in (no appointment), the service tech changed the bulb while I waited. He said the bulbs often go bad like that.
You can change the bulb just by reaching in and pulling, but it's extremely tight. I would let the dealer do it (it's under warranty).
I, too, experienced the intermittent double-time on my driver's side blinker. During last instance, front bulb appeared burned out.
B/c I was doing some work on my xenon angel eye unit (long story), I pulled out the whole assembly and removed the whole bulb. The filament was in-tact, so I reinstalled and it resumed operation. For all of half a day.
I then assumed it was the side-marker light, since the front large bulb worked. I took her to the dealer, after the parts department told me on the phone that the porters could replace the side-marker bulb right there in the drive-up lane. LIE, LIE, LIE.
It's more challenging than that. BUT, they ended up replacing both the side marker bulb and front small bulb at the same time, all under warranty (at 43K miles).
This happened a few days ago on my rear ones so i took it out and had a look at it. The bulb was fogged up and looked like it blew. But it still worked sometimes. It was weird but I decided to replace it myself anyways. The problem has since vanished.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions. It was in fact the bulb. Interestingly enough, it wasn't foggy nor was either of the two filaments blown. Rather, it was the exposed wire at the bottom of the bulb connector that had somehow fried.
The tough part of this repair was getting to the turn signal wire on the front of the X5. I literally had to remove the four screws holding in the Xenon headlamp assembly and then slide it forward to gain access. Once that was accomplished, a quick trip to the dealer and $7.00 later, problem fixed.
One thing to keep in mind... I had my driver's side turn signal bulb go out on me. It was wierd because my car was only a few months old (will be a year this Oct). Also the bulb seemed in tact. I noticed at the base of the bulb it looked kinda blackened. I took it in and it turned out they had to replace the wire/socket because it had somehow shorted and melted the bulb's connectors. It was odd, but make sure your socket is not shorted out or something. Mine's also was on an M5 though so... I dunno. My current problem is my PDC being dead. Have an appt on the 28th though.. Sigh..
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--Kamran
'02 Sterling Gray M5
MB Quart QSD 215's in the front
MB Quart Premiums in the rear.
JL Audio 13W7 Subwoofer
Two JL Audio 300/2 amps for left/right fronts.
One JL Audio 300/4 for the rears.
One JL Audio 1000/1 for the sub.
Custom enclosure lined with matching Alcantara fabric.
Thanks for the heads-up. If the bulb blows anytime soon, I'll take the car in armed with what happened to your M5. It's still under warranty and I'll let the dealership fix it.
Sorry to hear about your PDC. Hopefully, it's something simple!
Turn Signal Dilemma
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