Z4 defective bulb warning light

[ninjahamster]

The defective bulb warning light has started coming on in my new Z4, all the main lights appear to be ok, what bulbs does this actually cover?

Also the light goes out after a few minutes, is this normal? should the light be on all the time?

 

[Terryvision]

Indicators, side light, rear lights pretty much all of them!

Light shouldn't be on at all...Maybe you have a faulty lamp and will have to wait until it actually decides to fail completely

 

[ninjahamster]

I checked the main ones, headlights, indicators, I'll have to back it up against a wall to check the brake lights

Hmmm, will have to keep an eye on it

 

[Confused®]

Read this m8, it may help.

 

[biojo]

usually alls i do is

turn side light on wait 10 secs, if defect light comes on u know its one of side lights
then try head lights , if it comes on now its a head light,
try brakes
indicators

should give you some indication to which bulbs to look for

if there all on, check connections for water / corrosion short circuiting it

 

[ninjahamster]

Cheers, will have a look, what confuses me is that the warning light goes off after a couple of minutes

 

[Confused®]

mine did at first, then came on and stayed on. lots of threads about this fault.

 

[ianwill90]

My car has just started doing exactly the same thing, I can't see what is wrong either. I will wait for a more permanent fail. It could well be a poor connection at one of the bulbs, as I assume the system monitors the current in each light circuit and if there is anomaly with this current it may flag as faulty. Obviously as the lights are all working at the moment they are all drawing current, it just might be outside the expected range? :?

 

[mac27040]

the car checks certain bulbs at cold them at warm, you may have a bulb which is failing but looks ok. if you have access to diagnostic software then this will tell you which bulb it is.

 

[biojo]

mie used to come on and off just before the the ballast blew

had water inside, so when u accelerated light went off, but on braking and steady speed, warning light on

 

[ninjahamster]

Looks like it is one of my side lights on its way out, switched them on today and the indicator bulb lit up instead of the side light bulb, guess it does that so you have some lights.

After a few minutes the side light bulb came on, but it's probably worth just swapping it out.

Are these blue 'white light' bulbs worth getting? Or should I just go for the standard? I was thinking of getting a hid kit, but I've heard they're dodgy putting into a standard halogen setup

Cheers

 

[ben g]

What year is your z4? I have a defective side light bulb (led failing) and it doesn't throw up any warning lights.

I believe the side lights and rear number plate lights are not part of the canbus system, so I was told.

 

[Scooba_Steve]

Sidelights are, number plate lights not - you should be able to confirm by taking the sidelight out though, indicator will come on.

 

[NathanZ4C]

Ive had mine come on twice in the last 2-3 days as soon as ive put the ignition on and there are no lights turned on at the time :|

If i turn the engine off and back on again it goes off and seems to stay off. Cant see any lights out

 

[ninjahamster]

It's a 57 plate z4.

Yeah the warning light comes on when I start the engine, no lights switched on, but if I switch my lights on it used to go off, I assume as it warmed up - going to swap them out today which should hopefully fix the issue

 

[ben g]

Sidelights are, number plate lights not - you should be able to confirm by taking the sidelight out though, indicator will come on.

Is that the same for all z4's? I definitely have a defective led sidelight bulb which isn't working properly and there has been no warning lights.

 

[Scooba_Steve]

Perhaps not for pre-facelift?

 

[NathanZ4C]

Took some time but one of my main beam lights gave up a day or so ago. Everything appeared to be fine but them i worked out that it was only working intermitantly before finally dieing.

Ill get it swaped over tonight and hope its nothing else!