Front NS Indicator Glows ON if headlights not on

M

MD99

Member
Hi Folks, any steer on why I have this issue on my E85 / 2005 Z4 .The front near side indicator glows steady state on unless the headlights are on main beam.

Example:

No IGN on
If I switch the side lights on, the front near side indicator ( both bulbs) glow ON ( not flash) .
If I switch ON IGN ( not start) then during the power up routine, the glowing indicator light goes out, for 5 seconds, then comes back on .
If I switch on the main beam ( ie dip headlights) the glowing indicator goes out and stays off. Normal flash works now.
The same happens when I have the engine running.

Any help or thoughts appreciated.
 
I noticed mine glows on the passenger side but only faintly. It indicates fine and it's LED, I'd be interested if anyone has any answers for this too.
 
I took out the side light bulb on the glowing indicator side in case it was affecting it, but no the same I am afraid.
 
Just to clarify, I mean both indicator bulbs contained in the headlight assembly glow, ie being powered in a steady state of on, full brightness.
 
Side light bulb gone. The car compensates for the safety risk of the missing light by putting the indicator on constantly instead. With dipped beam on there is no need so the indicator is off again.
If you like the effect pull both side light bulbs out.
 
Ah I see, that makes sense of why the indicator light goes out during IGN on and canbus "boot up" time, then thinks a sidelight bulb has gone. Will try some other sort of sidelight bulbs, and clean the sidelight bulb holders. Both appear to be on but maybe they are not pulling enough current to show as working the the ECU ? So as somebody said a bad earth may be to blame on the side light circuit. Will sandpaper the sidelight bulb holders. I assume these cars use a switched earth system to energise the lights and other functions?
 
NickDE said:
Side light bulb gone. The car compensates for the safety risk of the missing light by putting the indicator on constantly instead. With dipped beam on there is no need so the indicator is off again.
If you like the effect pull both side light bulbs out.
Click to expand...

Mine is the actual side indicator as in the one on the side of the car. Would this still be the case?
 
I know when I was swapping my halo (facelift xenons) bulbs for LED's, that when I pulled the halo bulb connector plug off, with the ignition on, the indicators in that light light up. Went back off when bulb plugged in, including the new LED I put it down to the system checking the bulbs and one being missing..

Mike
 
Ah ok I've done quite a lot with my headlights, retrofitted halo's as dlr's and chasing indicators, which involved resistors to balance the LED's with the Canbus. Plus I've replaced every bulb on the car with LED's. So it could be that somewhere along the wiring I could have miscalculated?

I also get when I turn the ignition on my driver side headlight indicator will flash three or four times and then everything goes back to normal.
 
I had similar issues trying Canbus side lights - ditched them and the indicator light corrected itself, although bizarrely it took a few days to clear.
 
The system is very sensitive to both the loads of the bulbs when on, and also their resistance when off. You should have mentioned it when you were at mine, I could have had a look at the LCM functions when I had the launch connected. Recently had one that had been to a garage twice for an indicator fault that they couldn't cure, and suggested he needed a new LCM. I spent an hour on it and tracked it down to an incorrectly inserted indicator bulb holder!

Mike
 
thanatu55 said:
NickDE said:
Side light bulb gone. The car compensates for the safety risk of the missing light by putting the indicator on constantly instead. With dipped beam on there is no need so the indicator is off again.
If you like the effect pull both side light bulbs out.
Click to expand...

Mine is the actual side indicator as in the one on the side of the car. Would this still be the case?
Click to expand...
That's just weird. Way beyond my knowledge....
 
I've had an intermittent LCM fault for about six years. Sometimes an angel eye fails to light, occasionally one of the Xenons. On one occasion, I had a permanently illuminated indicator that persisted even after the ignition was switched off. It cleared by disconnecting the battery over night.
 
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