Fix for central console storage compartment light staying on
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:07 pm
When we bought our 2003 Z4 used, the light inside the storage compartment did not go off when the door was closed. Eventually the car cuts power to it to protect the battery. I finally got annoyed enough to take a look into the problem and come up with a free fix 
The light in the storage compartment is turned off with a small switch located just under the pivot point of the compartment door. When the door is closed, a small piece of plastic protruding from the bottom of the black inner panel of the door presses on this switch. This breaks the circuit and the light goes out.
On our car, something must have fallen down into the space under the pivot point and caused this piece of plastic to break off. All that was left was a stub which wasn't long enough to reach the switch. Rather than buy a whole new inner panel, I used a sharp knife to trim off the stub, made a small whole where the stub used to be, and then screwed a round headed or domed screw into the hole. I adjusted how much of the screw was sticking out (about an inch) so that it just made contact with the switch as the door closed. I was happy with my cheap solution until I noticed that the shiny screw was visible if you looked into the crack
. Ten seconds and a couple of turns of black electrical tape fixed that little issue 
Enjoy,
Bill
The light in the storage compartment is turned off with a small switch located just under the pivot point of the compartment door. When the door is closed, a small piece of plastic protruding from the bottom of the black inner panel of the door presses on this switch. This breaks the circuit and the light goes out.
On our car, something must have fallen down into the space under the pivot point and caused this piece of plastic to break off. All that was left was a stub which wasn't long enough to reach the switch. Rather than buy a whole new inner panel, I used a sharp knife to trim off the stub, made a small whole where the stub used to be, and then screwed a round headed or domed screw into the hole. I adjusted how much of the screw was sticking out (about an inch) so that it just made contact with the switch as the door closed. I was happy with my cheap solution until I noticed that the shiny screw was visible if you looked into the crack
. Ten seconds and a couple of turns of black electrical tape fixed that little issue Enjoy,
Bill