Full beams - life of their own? |
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Starfury
Really Senior Member I Joined: 16-February-2005 Location: Midlands Status: Offline Points: 319 |
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Posted: 22-November-2006 at 08:46 |
When I was flying down a back lane a number of months ago with my full beams on lock they would switch off when hitting bumps which I thought was odd and might be a loose connection, but they stayed on when I held the full beam flasher whilst hitting the same bump...
But in the last two weeks I have experienced the full beams flashing themselves with or without me driving...?! And just now the full beam stick in flash or lock mode doesnt activate the lights. Is this a known problem or one specific to my car? 1999(T) E46 328i SE |
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BMW 328i SE (E46/M52TU - I think) 99/T
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Starfury
Really Senior Member I Joined: 16-February-2005 Location: Midlands Status: Offline Points: 319 |
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Just gone and driven the car again now and the last paragraph is all OK...
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BMW 328i SE (E46/M52TU - I think) 99/T
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Peter Fenwick
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 27-August-2003 Location: Lost somewhere in time... Status: Offline Points: 6484 |
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Perhaps your car is posessed!
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Entering an age of Austerity and now driving a Focus Diesel.
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flyingalexf68
Really Senior Member II Joined: 01-April-2006 Location: 53°19’59,6°14’56 Status: Offline Points: 2581 |
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Sounds like a loose connection at the bulb or at the stalk. I had a similar problem (high beams wouldn't come on or would turn on and off) on my old 1986 Patrol years ago and it turned out to be a loose wire at the stalk.
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1995 e36 3.0 M3 Coupe, Daytona Violet, AP Racing BBK, CCFL Angel Eyes, M3 Spoiler, M-Tec 3 Steering Wheel.
2000 530d Steptronic, Poverty Spec, 18" Alloys. |
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Starfury
Really Senior Member I Joined: 16-February-2005 Location: Midlands Status: Offline Points: 319 |
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I'd go with the stalk, someone else mentioned that too... plus it affects both at the same time...
How easy is it to do yourself, or is it a main dealer fix? |
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BMW 328i SE (E46/M52TU - I think) 99/T
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Starfury
Really Senior Member I Joined: 16-February-2005 Location: Midlands Status: Offline Points: 319 |
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OK tonight I happen to go check on my car and its locked and the lights are on (the main beams (outside pair) not the full beams). The controls for all lights are off and the ignition is off and the keys are nowhere near the ignition barrel.... wtf? Is this a known problem or is this a rare occurance?
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BMW 328i SE (E46/M52TU - I think) 99/T
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IamSpartacus
Moderator Group Joined: 21-November-2002 Location: Singapore Status: Offline Points: 3625 |
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spooky... stalk would be my first guess
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The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
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bmwcare
Really Senior Member I Joined: 02-June-2006 Location: Galway Status: Offline Points: 321 |
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A couple of things first: 1. There is a comfort option in all E46's where the lights can be left on for a short time to "get you in the door" so to speak. To operate it - turn off your lights, turn off the ignition and pull the stalk for "flasher". Get out of the car and lock it. The DIP or LOW beams will stay on for approx 60 seconds and then go off... 2. Ensure that this is not what is happening with your car. To diagnose this you really need to interrogate what's commonly called the Light Control Module (LKM) or more correctly, in an E46, the Light Switching Centre. Check for fault codes first - probably will not show any relevant codes to your problem. Then look at datastream values and check the relevant inputs, in particular the stalk positions and the rotary switch positions. If there is something showing faulty here then you have your culprit. If that shows nothing wrong, then you are looking at an internal error with the LCM. This is the complete rotary switch assembly. They are coded & programmed with the car options, mileage & chassis number. You can buy a new one and get it coded by a dealer or get a secondhand one... Don't attempt to fit the s/h one yourself - you will have a clash with the cluster and the mileage and/or manipulation dot may change. Get a specialist with the correct equipment to do the job in that scenario. Dealers in my experience will not have anything to do with secondhand modules... Regards, BMWcare bmwcare@eircom.net |
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