[Mike_Rock]

Getting this message and annoying ding each time I drive the beast now. But the brake lights are working fine. I even replaced the lamps, no joy. Does anyone have a short description of how the faulty lamp detection works?

Is this leading up to electrical gremlins?

Thanks.

 

[6spd]

Its intresting when this happens, I have looked all over the back light panels and not found a thing. I had this happen just the other day with people in the car. it started the new conversation of how smart the cars are these days.
My next option is to apply dilectric grease on the contacts of the light panel.

 

[billrM5]

Finally, a subject I can reply to that I have some knowledge about

I had this happen to to me and it drove me crazy! I had it to 3 dealers. They each had different suggestions on how to fix the problem, but nothing worked. Replaced ALL the bulbs, replaced the middle brake light bulb in the back windshield, double checked the connections on all the wires. Nothing worked.

Until I had the car in for a normal service interval and i asked them (again) to see if there was anything they could do to fix the "Brake Light" issue. I picked up the car, no more Check Brake light fault ! I asked the mechanic what he did to fix it. He had to replace the ballast (I think that's what its called) that holds all of the light bulbs that connects to the inside of the tail lamp assembly. He said even if everything works OK as far as lights working, the computer on board can detect if the ballast is going bad, even before it fails.

I sure hope this helps, it took me a solid year to get rid of the fault and the ding every time I turned off the car.


Now if someone brings up the other issue i struggled with regarding sitting in the drivers seat and tripping a fuse that controls the seat and steering wheel controls, I'll really feel like I'm helping my fellow M5'ers.

let me know if this helps :M5launch::M5launch::M5launch::M5launch::M5launch:

 

[Beamer_usa]

The same thing happened on my old 540, it took them (Dealership) an while to find the problem, but they ended up tracing back one of the wires to the rear of the car. They found the wire was rubbing against metal or something rough and it was cutting into the wire and causing a short, which in turn caused the dash light to illuminate. Hope this helps

 

[baldy_bonce]

Ive got this problem on my E34 525i, but it doesnt do it all the time, may do it for a week and then not again for a few days, very annoying!

 

[Ashok Arora]

Mike, please use the "search" feature on this board as we have tons of info on almost everything you can think of.

For example, may I suggest you read this:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=47303&highlight=pairs

:byee55amg

 

[Mike_Rock]

Thanks for the information everyone. Seems to be a common problem so I'll pursue all the leads.

Askok, I did use the search feature :typing: but while "brake light" returned nothing, "break light" would have.

 

[Osodog]

I had the same issue, replaced all bulbs, no luck. Too it to the dealer and they replaced the entire bulb + socket, under warranty.