After many BMWs, finally snagged my first X

[JesterMX6]

That's what I told her haha.

Of course since its been raining for 2 days now, I'm getting random tail/brake light warnings on my dash. Seems like a good excuse to disable the hot/cold monitoring and force braking and pick up some LED tails. Had the same warning in the rain on our E46 and replacing the tails was the solution there as well.

[wpoll]

Good luck finding LED tails that are designed for the facelift X5.... most are for the earlier car, which has very different wiring. You'll have to hack something up...

[BigBody]

Why not just use some led bulbs?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by BigBody

Why not just use some led bulbs?

The whole point of changing the tails lights to LED is to ditch the unreliable bulb sockets and holders on the OEM fittings. Just changing to LED bulbs gives you all the grief of LED without eliminating the crappy sockets.

I've "fixed" the OEM sockets and fittings, which is one way to eliminate the near-constant tail/brake bulb warnings. Others have fitted aftermarket LED tail light assemblies to the facelift cars; depending on the exact LED chosen, the wiring and programming changes are not too bad. But it's not plug-and-play.

[bcredliner]

Welcome. Sounds like you are having fun getting it in shape

[itsbrokeagain]

Originally Posted by wpoll

The whole point of changing the tails lights to LED is to ditch the unreliable bulb sockets and holders on the OEM fittings. Just changing to LED bulbs gives you all the grief of LED without eliminating the crappy sockets.

I've "fixed" the OEM sockets and fittings, which is one way to eliminate the near-constant tail/brake bulb warnings. Others have fitted aftermarket LED tail light assemblies to the facelift cars; depending on the exact LED chosen, the wiring and programming changes are not too bad. But it's not plug-and-play.

I took mine out, used some scotchbrite to clean up the corroded areas on the taillight and bought some new bulb holders. Everything works as new now.

Why not go that route? The ebay LED lights look like garbage on them.

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by itsbrokeagain

I took mine out, used some scotchbrite to clean up the corroded areas on the taillight and bought some new bulb holders. Everything works as new now.

Why not go that route? The ebay LED lights look like garbage on them.

Your "fix" won't last. You need to add a dab of solder under where the tabs for the bulb holders rest. I think the tabs on the bulb holder get soft from heat and then the contact becomes loose. When the contact gets loose it starts to arc. When it arcs it gradually burns away the tab on the bulb holder. The dab of solder keeps the tabs solidly in contact with the metal of the tail light. Well known defect and well known fix.

[lezmtaylor]

I always fit bulbs with a smear of ''Vaseline'' around the metal pieces and contact areas, will stop any corrosion.
Always works for me.

Lez

[JesterMX6]

I'll have to try some of these suggestions. The LED tails i found (dont have the bookmark on this computer) indicate they are for 2004 - 2006 only.

[Ricky Bobby]

The LED tails can be used on pre-facelift and facelift X5's - you may need to swap some pins in the wiring harness (I had to on my 2003) -