XSeries-forum

Well its been fun in the white stuff in and around Birmingham and the X has driven faultlessly, the winter wheels really do the job. However, the other day, the brake light drivers side failed and I got the dash message "brake light failure" , thought no problem a popped bulb, and finally got around to replacing it yesterday, but it still doesn't work.  I took the whole cluster out and cleaned the contacts and refitted, but no joy. The other two bulbs in the cluster work fine. The bulb I removed on closer inspection does not seem to have popped, either.

I seem to remember some sort of issue with rear clusters but can't find the thread anywhere. Any ideas?  Everything else is ok touch wood, the parking heater / Webasto is the BEST in this weather if you remember to set it for 15 minutes or so before leaving for work in the mornings, but it would be really nice if both brake lights work.

Is there a simple fix or is it a dealer issue again?  The cluster and the contacts etc looks absolutely fine.

I found this link and will give it a go. It was getting dark when I did it the first time so will have another good look before giving up. I wonder if the light cluster is covered under the extended AUC warranty?

Would help if I posted the link I guess......

http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/e53/B ... Repair.pdf

Light cluster should definitely be covered under warranty though, it might be that the wire has got damaged in the hinge.

I had the same issue 2 weeks ago but mine was on the passenger side brake and parking light bulb. Mine was due to oxidation/corrosion inside the cluster. After taking the back seal off and cleaning all the connections within the cluster it works fine now