rear Fog Light not working

[Aido]

i have a 316i and only the left rear fog light works,the rear right wont light, ive checked the bulb,fuse and still no go,any ideas??

[Brianmoooore]

They are both fed by the same grey/purple wire that comes back the LH side of the car, goes just below the LH rear cluster, with a branch off to this cluster, then goes across the back of the car to the RH cluster.
The last time I came across something like this, the fault turned out to be in the bulb holder assembly. Couldn't see anything obvious wrong with it, and twisting/bending it didn't bring it back to life.
I just stuck a fresh one into the car in question, and threw the faulty one onto a shelf for investigation later - where it still sits eighteen months later!

[Aido]

should i just get a second cluster see if that works

[Brianmoooore]

You can try connecting a bulb between the grey/purple wire at the socket and the car body, and see if it lights.
If it does, then the problem is in the cluster.
There a several versions of the lamp cluster used by BMW for E30s, ranging from a cheap looking solid wire version, where every part of the "wiring" is fully exposed, to a type which is made of two pieces of plastic clipped together, where none of the internal "wiring" is visible.
It should be possible to open the assembly up and see where the fault is, but I didn't simply because I had spares available.

[daimlerman]

Aido,I had this problem recently.In the R/H cluster the reverse light had never worked,then the brake light went as well so I had to sort it.As Brian says,the only answer is a replacment bulb holder,about £10 S/H or £20 new from zimmer-bimmer.