e46 320d Indicating rear bulb blown - but all are working

O7Pat

Hi

The display on my 320d is indicating that a rear bulb is blown but they are all working. Any ideas why it might be doing this?

Tipsy Mac

O7Pat wrote: »

Hi

The display on my 320d is indicating that a rear bulb is blown but they are all working. Any ideas why it might be doing this?

Did you check the centre mounted stoplamp?

milltown

Either poor quality bulbs or, just as likely, one of your rear number plate lights is out.

crosstownk

There are a few varieties of bulbs. Be sure that you are replacing like for like. There are differences between locator pin offsets (the little pins similar to what's on a house hold bulb) which can result in incorrect connections.

Be sure you have the correct bulbs.

Mr.Diagnostic

O7Pat wrote: »

Hi

The display on my 320d is indicating that a rear bulb is blown but they are all working. Any ideas why it might be doing this?

The way the system works it that the Lamp control module monitors the current being used by each lamp so even if a bulb is working it can cause the warning. The usual cause is bad quality bulbs. It is actually difficult to get good bulbs. Try and find Osram. I usually change both sides.

crosstownk

Mr.Diagnostic wrote: »

Try and find Osram.

Philips are another good brand for automotive bulbs - they usually last a long time too.

Tails142

I would put good money on it being the centre stop light in the rear windscreen

Balfa

The centre brake light is a multi-part light. Not sure if it's multiple bulbs of multiple LEDs, but check to see if each and every cell is lit.

Also, e46s have two-stage brake lights. They light when you brake, and then an extra section lights up making them bigger and brighter when you brake really hard. Have someone follow you (at a safe distance ) and mash the brakes hard enough to trigger ABS. They should see the extra set come on.

Apart from that, check all the usual suspects... two tail lights, all five brake lights (see above), two indicators, two reverse lamps, any fog lamps at the back, two reg plate lights and two interior boot lights, one behind each exterior light cluster.

Finally, you're sure you didn't get the ends of the car mixed up? Maybe you're looking at your dash icon backwards

O7Pat

Thanks for all the replies lads.

There was a number plate light gone, (on the opposite side to what was indicated on the internal dash) I just replaced it but the internal display is still lit up.

Any other ideas.

- The soft button on the boot lid for the opening the boot has also stopped working, would this be it or that be totally different?? And how would I fix?