e86/facelight rear tail light

T

Thermaltake

Member
so have discovered the tail light "bulb" is out on my z4c. To my delightful suprise, BMW designed a rear light unit in which the tail light bulb tis not replaceable!

From reading around it seems to be a control board with the 3 leds that emit down the light tube and it not replaceable and tail light out means whole new light cluster! Awesome job bmw!

before i go scavenging for a new light unit, is there anything that can be done? I saw one brave poster took a hole saw to his and resoldered in new led's on the board but looks beyond my diy skills.

I have tried contact cleaner on the main plug to the light unit and didnt see any corrosion on pins etc and all other lights in the cluster work fine, just the led tail light that it out.

Anyone else had luck repairing in anyway or is it bend over time?
 
Do you mean the 3rd brake light in the boot lid? If so, then I'd ask for one on here from a breaker, as they're all the same IIRC. Or get something from eBay/Amazon (£25). BMW still do them but I think they're circa £100.
 
I have an aftermarket one you can have, I didn't like how it fit my zed. Would just need to transfer the connector from your previous one as I've lost the connector
 
the facelight taillight isnt a bulb despite what the various bulbsdirect type sights seem to say. its definitely a hardwired LED

@skmattwell, Ive never seen aftermarket light units around?
 
Thermaltake said:
the facelight taillight isnt a bulb despite what the various bulbsdirect type sights seem to say. its definitely a hardwired LED

@skmattwell, Ive never seen aftermarket light units around?
Click to expand...
Just to be clear, are you saying its the rear light unit of an E86 coupe thats got LED main rear light clusters instead of regular bulbs per the RealOEM diagram I posted? I’ve never been aware they existed, so I guess every day is a school day!
 
yep
(stolen photo)
IMG-0145-420x560.jpg

The top strip is the taillights which are leds which shine down the 4 light tubes. There are not accessible
the brake/fog/reversing/indicator lights are bulbs which are accessible and the whole unit connects with a single connector rather a connector per bulb.
 
Thermaltake said:
the facelight taillight isnt a bulb despite what the various bulbsdirect type sights seem to say. its definitely a hardwired LED

@skmattwell, Ive never seen aftermarket light units around?
Click to expand...

I'm referring to the 3rd brake light, the one in the middle
 
Thermaltake said:
yep
(stolen photo)
IMG-0145-420x560.jpg

The top strip is the taillights which are leds which shine down the 4 light tubes. There are not accessible
the brake/fog/reversing/indicator lights are bulbs which are accessible and the whole unit connects with a single connector rather a connector per bulb.
Click to expand...
Well I never knew that! Sorry I cant offer up any good advice on a fix then. Does seem a little shortsighted of BMW but then I guess LEDs are perceived super-long life. Could you maybe trying to resolder? Perhaps the contacts need more than a clean.
 
I managed to source a good second hand unit of ebay for a little over £100. Easy to replace and still OK two years later. I agree with a previous poster, it is very short-sighted of BMW to make the LED's integral to the light unit. :punish:
 
I had exactly the same issue when I bought my E86.
I knew the tail light was out but just assumed it was a bulb. Slightly annoyed when I discovered a whole new unit was required.
Was quite jammy and got a used set (both left and right) on eBay for only £150. So I am saving the extra one incase the other side goes some day.
Weird thing is, there was never a bulb out light on the dash indicating this.
 
chanlon1 said:
I had exactly the same issue when I bought my E86.
I knew the tail light was out but just assumed it was a bulb. Slightly annoyed when I discovered a whole new unit was required.
Was quite jammy and got a used set (both left and right) on eBay for only £150. So I am saving the extra one incase the other side goes some day.
Weird thing is, there was never a bulb out light on the dash indicating this.
Click to expand...
I had a good old nosey on the Internet and found a website in Germany.£45 brand new. 8)
 
This is the case on many of the newer BMW’s. I’ve had the same issue on our E90 LCI. Had led as part of the indicator light system. I sold the broken one for “spare or repair”. Little above my soldering skill so just bought a replacement unit.
 
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