[SidekickChuck]

The on board screen says "Check Side Lights" so I did.
I used the turn signals, hazards and for the heck of it looked at the parking lamps, brake lights and all that. They all work.....anyone know why I get this message?

 

[gherardini]

That's funny, I just started getting this alert as well and haven't figured out which light is causing it. Maybe checking at night?

 

[Tj Hunter]

The on board screen says "Check Side Lights" so I did.
I used the turn signals, hazards and for the heck of it looked at the parking lamps, brake lights and all that. They all work.....anyone know why I get this message?

Check angel eye bulbs? I had the error when I had my AE's unplugged.

 

[LoCalM5]

I believe this has to do with the little led light on the side of the turn signals.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/93530-check-side-lights.html

Got "Check Side Lights" Message - but can't change bulb - BMW CCA

 

[CarbonCopy]

The linked forums are correct but in brief this refers to one of your angel eye bulbs being out (if 2001-03). Turn the headlights on and see for yourself. It's accessible at top rear of light assembly and linked by fiber optics to the bottom orange side reflector. The pixel display isn't long long enough to say "check your angel eye and fiber-optic-directed side marker display for bulb failure.":3:

 

[SidekickChuck]

I believe this has to do with the little led light on the side of the turn signals.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/93530-check-side-lights.html

Got "Check Side Lights" Message - but can't change bulb - BMW CCA

AHHH dangit, the one set of bulbs I didnt think about!
I'll check them when it stop raining. I always forget there are bulbs in the amber corner.
Thanks LoCal~

 

[Quicksilv3r]

"Check Side Lights" refers to the angel eye bulbs, evidently one of 'em is burned out.

 

[kiddhan625]

I have the same error message. In my case it was the the parking light (The orange lens).

1. Turn the light switch one dial to the right (parking light)
2. Look at the corner of both headlights

 

[herrubermensch]

I have this message consistently, yet all my bulbs work. I determined after much fussing that it is a defective LCM.

--Peter

 

[jfoj]

I just started to get this message intermittently as well, usually when I turn the car off. However, my OEM angel eyes are working??

I did just recently start check on the headlights and just replaced the adjusters (without cracking open the lens!!!, ask me how I my fingers feel!). Note sure what is going on, however, colder weather has also set in lately/

One other strange problem I just recently encounter, maybe not related, it the gas gauge was stuck at about 1/5 full. I was driving, low fuel light came on, then parked for a bit and noticed the low fuel light was not longer one. Filled car up and gauge did not move?

Ran cluster test, all is good, used OBC to verify fuel level, all is good. Thought about disconnecting battery, however, parked car for about 30 minutes, then next time it started, gas gauge is fine??

Anyway, need to keep and eye on things to see if other strange things are happening. Battery is new about 10 days ago, so expect I can rule that out?

 

[feeblebob]

FWIW, I read on another thread that the car checks the resistance of each bulb to check it's working and if the resistance is wrong, it flags a fault, but the bulb hasn't neccessarily gone. I think the thread I am referring to was for brake lights, and the advice was to replace with genuine BMW part, as it is no more expensive than a motor part retailer. Will usually cure the fault. I hasten to add, thisd may not be the case in this instance but worth bearing in mind.

 

[SidekickChuck]

It was a loose connector on the angel eye. Which explains why it was all working but as soon as I would drive off, the vibrations would turn it off. Secured it and is all good now. Thanks everyone.

 

[P11]

AHHH dangit, the one set of bulbs I didnt think about!
I'll check them when it stop raining. I always forget there are bulbs in the amber corner.
Thanks LoCal~

The side 'LED' looking indicator actually runs off the same system as the angel eyes. It uses a single bulb that transmits the light though a series of a fiber optic plastic pieces.

Your headlights have 4 bulbs; 1 low beam, 1 high beam, 1 turn signal, and 1 angel eye/fiber optic bulb.

 

[SidekickChuck]

You are forgetting the corner parking bulb that is in the amber portion of the headlight. That it the one I forgot about too until LoCal reminded me there was a bulb there. But it was actually the AE harness that was loose. Fixed now.

(edit)Oh wait, are you trying to say that this amber light is not a separate bulb but its light comes from the fiber cable from the AE?

 

[P11]

You are forgetting the corner parking bulb that is in the amber portion of the headlight. That it the one I forgot about too until LoCal reminded me there was a bulb there. But it was actually the AE harness that was loose. Fixed now.

(edit)Oh wait, are you trying to say that this amber light is not a separate bulb but its light comes from the fiber cable from the AE?

Yes, it runs off the same fiber optic lines as the AE's do.

If you inspect your headlight assembly when removed from the vehicle you will notice no electrical cables plug into any socket. All plugs are directly connected to their associated bulbs and of course, the auto-leveling motor.

 

[SidekickChuck]

Very cool. Thanks for the info.

 

[mister2d]

I got the "Check Side Lights" recently when the weather turned REALLY cold.

Turned out to be the passenger side angel eye light bulb.

Instead of buying the plastic housing I was able to take it apart and remove the 10w bulb. I've found that this bulb is VERY hard to find. After some part number searching I found out that the interior map lights in the headliner are the same bulb for the AE's. So, I took them out and replaced both AE bulbs. Real easy fix.

bimmerfest - BMW Forums - View Single Post - angel eye help

Now I'll get to the map light bulbs when I feel like it now that the dash has left me alone.

 

[timmay77]

Navcoder FTW. Peter, we can fix this the next time we are all together, Chris has the programming.

 

[gmajor]

Check Parking Lights

Just had to deal with this myself, following 'check parking lights' on the dashboard display.

I've got the first year of angel-eye lights, with the anti-tamper housing/bulb unit described by a previous poster - this part number 63126904048 (item 4) on this realoem page RealOEM.com BMW E39 M5 Indiv. headlight parts/xenon headlight

At GBP23.50 for the complete housing/bulb part, it wasn't worth the time to break into the original in order to fit a new bulb, but looked trivial if a spare bulb is to hand.

Note to self - get a selection of spare bulbs to save driving miles to the dealer on a Saturday.

 

[mister2d]

Just had to deal with this myself, following 'check parking lights' on the dashboard display.

I've got the first year of angel-eye lights, with the anti-tamper housing/bulb unit described by a previous poster - this part number 63126904048 (item 4) on this realoem page RealOEM.com BMW E39 M5 Indiv. headlight parts/xenon headlight

At GBP23.50 for the complete housing/bulb part, it wasn't worth the time to break into the original in order to fit a new bulb, but looked trivial if a spare bulb is to hand.

Note to self - get a selection of spare bulbs to save driving miles to the dealer on a Saturday.

If you can deal with no map light until then, you can just swap them out and deal with your interior map light later.