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E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:39 pm
by nickso
Weird happenings with the E39 tonight. Its a facelift with HID's and the fancy rears too
Rear lights have been showing intermittently as faulty for a few days despite all of them working....one of the anal eyes hasn't been working for a few weeks. Went on a short journey tonight and lights were on Auto so came on straight away as key was turned. When I switched the IGN off the lights stayed on and the car buzzed to remind me....they should have gone off with the IGN of course. Hazard switch faintly pulsing.
On the return journey it started doing disco lights. Hazard switch, instrument cluster, headlights, Full beam and possibly rears and stop lights all flashing/cutting out randomly. Indicators not working at all on dash or outside.
Got home and disconnected faulty anal eye and now indicators work but flash really slow and stay on with IGN switched off. Lights all seem to work but wonder how long for. Hazard still flashing away dimly.
Where the fuck do you start with that lol? LKM maybe? Check all bulbs for dodginess?
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:43 pm
by nickso
Should also add battery is three months old. IGN switch is looking like another possibility? Car is only 92k miles though.
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:04 pm
by Topblag
I'd be checking for mice damage, perhaps the loom has damage and wires are getting crossed.
Have you done a full power cycle ?
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:15 pm
by nickso
No I haven't. Will try it tomorrow.
Mice unlikely but they maybe took refuge in the car after I finally got rid of them from the house

Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 11:35 pm
by wellard
Sounds like the lamp control module is on its way out.its located in the drivers footwell behind the a post trim. It may have water ingress but its more than likely its fooked.
You may find someone who repairs them on the internet but you can fit a seconhand one but they are assingned to the car ie they have the vin number burnt in to them when they are fitted from new or replaced at the dealer.you can fit one from another car,get it coded and it should work okay but the manipulation dot will come on which is a small orange light by the odometer.
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:31 pm
by nickso
Still pissing about with this problem.
Sent it away to get fixed and my LKM supposedly cannot be repaired because its a software error probably caused by my dodgy battery and the subsequent jumping of it....will have to take their word on that.
BMW want £468 for the LKM plus the car into the workshop to repair it......waiting to hear how much they want for that but that's clearly not worth it on a 2k car.
Seems my LKM is version 4 which means I probably have less options on ebay and the like.
Could care less about the manipulation dot but does anyone know if an LKM-3 will work the Celis lights etc or is it a 4 only?
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:30 pm
by wellard
Have you tried a bmw breakers? FAB are pretty good, get the part number off your lcm and ring them up, they may have one.
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:34 pm
by alpina123
You will need to get the part number off the one in your car
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:46 am
by DanThe
Easier to just change the lkm the part numbers have to match but generally if you get it from a car of the same year with the same options it should be fine
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:36 am
by nickso
Well it seems it needs to be a LKM4 as the 3 is for manual headlight adjusters and mine is auto with auto lights and Celis rears....all of which need a 4 to run them correctly.
Will have a check around the breakers for a 4 but looking on BMWFans it seems there's the usual minefield of part numbers for this. Could possibly get away with a facelift M5 or perhaps an X5 as they all seem to have those options on them.
Next problem is I have seen reports that the higher of the two stored mileages is used so if the new LKM is higher miles it will overwrite the cluster mileage......lets hope for a similar mileage then.
Aren't modern BMW's great

Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:32 pm
by alpina123
Has yours got xenons? IF not then an m5 one will be no good
Re: E39 facelift mental lights....interior and exterior
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 9:11 pm
by nickso
Yeh it has Xenon fronts, Celis rears and auto levelling.
Breakers either don't have the right LKM or don't want to sell it. Could be a bit of a wait.