No parking lights when headlights are on

[BigBody]

Originally Posted by wpoll

What exactly was coded out?

On many vehicles, the front parking lamp is a low wattage lamp fitted off-centre in the main headlight reflector.

As I mentioned above, I don't think the LCI E53 X5 actually has "parking lamps" in the headlight units - just low beam, high beam, signal and halo (AEs)...

Also, on later Euro-spec cars at least, if a halo (AE) lamp fails the LKM will power up the same-side signal lamp as a temporary replacement until the halo (AE) lamp is replaced.

Perhaps this is a case of "lost in translation"? In this part of the world, parking lights are the first position on the light switch, between off and normal headlights. Parking lighting is normal tail lights and a low wattage front light on each front corner, in the case of a LCI E53 X5, that's the AEs.

Perhaps your definition of "parking lights" is different?

Definitely a lot of confusion in the wording as I initially said side markers referring to the signal lights (not the fender indicators), he said cluster referring to the actually headlight cluster & not the dash cluster etc etc etc. I think he said parking lights because when the car is off & the stalk is flipped the indicators do act as parking lights. Nonetheless, I suspected this was coding related as no errors were present & the lights still functioned as turn signals, as reported by OP. I’m curious why OP turned the feature on though, I guess everyone has their preferences. I prefer mine off..

[omodos]

Originally Posted by wpoll

What exactly was coded out?

On many vehicles, the front parking lamp is a low wattage lamp fitted off-centre in the main headlight reflector.

As I mentioned above, I don't think the LCI E53 X5 actually has "parking lamps" in the headlight units - just low beam, high beam, signal and halo (AEs)...

Also, on later Euro-spec cars at least, if a halo (AE) lamp fails the LKM will power up the same-side signal lamp as a temporary replacement until the halo (AE) lamp is replaced.

Perhaps this is a case of "lost in translation"? In this part of the world, parking lights are the first position on the light switch, between off and normal headlights. Parking lighting is normal tail lights and a low wattage front light on each front corner, in the case of a LCI E53 X5, that's the AEs.

Perhaps your definition of "parking lights" is different?

@Wpoll, long time no speak and apologies to hijack post, I started to get the "check parking lights" error a couple of days ago on my late 2004 e53 3.0d euro, indeed when I switch to the first light position between off and 'normal headlights' I get the halos come on on one side and on the other side the halos off but the turn signal on...soooo basically need to the halo light on that side eh? what is your opinion on the led ones? do you reckon the ones with the Al heatsink suffer from overheating? seen so many dunno which to go for 5w 10w 20w?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by omodos

@Wpoll, long time no speak and apologies to hijack post, I started to get the "check parking lights" error a couple of days ago on my late 2004 e53 3.0d euro, indeed when I switch to the first light position between off and 'normal headlights' I get the halos come on on one side and on the other side the halos off but the turn signal on...soooo basically need to the halo light on that side eh? what is your opinion on the led ones? do you reckon the ones with the Al heatsink suffer from overheating? seen so many dunno which to go for 5w 10w 20w?

Yep - failed bulb in the halo fitting. Rather a common issue (at least on my car...). As I'm a fan of OEM lighting on these cars I've been replacing just the lamp in the OEM fitting (after making a tiny modification to allow this) - any 12v 10W BA9s halogen lamp will do, such as the Osram 64113, Philips 12082 or Flosser 4010.



Make sure you clean the halogen lamp after fitting it or use gloves - your skin oil can damage a halogen lamp once it heats up.

Many folk have used the LED units available from many vendors with success. The higher wattage units are intended to increase the halo brightness (obviously) but there is a limit to how bright these halos can get and yeah, I figure and 80W LED in the housing is asking for trouble... both for the housing and the LCM.

If you go down the path of replacing the OEM halogens with LED, I recommend coding out the hot and cold monitoring on the halos and NOT using the resistors often included with the LED units. This may require a small rewire job on the LEDs to arrange the connectors so they fit the car but it's worth taking the time to eliminate the resistors, which offer no real benefit and can also cause heat issues.

I have been looking for a suitable LED replacement for the 12v 10W BA9s bulb - no joy so far so I just keep buying the halogens (about 2-3 per year). Just fitted a higher quality Flosser 4010 bulb - let's see how long these last.

[omodos]

Originally Posted by wpoll

Yep - failed bulb in the halo fitting. Rather a common issue (at least on my car...). As I'm a fan of OEM lighting on these cars I've been replacing just the lamp in the OEM fitting (after making a tiny modification to allow this) - any 12v 10W BA9s halogen lamp will do, such as the Osram 64113, Philips 12082 or Flosser 4010.



Make sure you clean the halogen lamp after fitting it or use gloves - your skin oil can damage a halogen lamp once it heats up.

Many folk have used the LED units available from many vendors with success. The higher wattage units are intended to increase the halo brightness (obviously) but there is a limit to how bright these halos can get and yeah, I figure and 80W LED in the housing is asking for trouble... both for the housing and the LCM.

If you go down the path of replacing the OEM halogens with LED, I recommend coding out the hot and cold monitoring on the halos and NOT using the resistors often included with the LED units. This may require a small rewire job on the LEDs to arrange the connectors so they fit the car but it's worth taking the time to eliminate the resistors, which offer no real benefit and can also cause heat issues.

I have been looking for a suitable LED replacement for the 12v 10W BA9s bulb - no joy so far so I just keep buying the halogens (about 2-3 per year). Just fitted a higher quality Flosser 4010 bulb - let's see how long these last.

Wpoll you are the man, even included a video how to, cheers will give it a spin after I get hold of a couple of the 12v 10w bau 9's you refer too...either way re the LEDS, if i get hold of a set that are 10w rated each and have no 'extra' cable which i gather is some sort of resistor to trick X into thing correct bulb is fitted reckon still get overheat issues? I want a pair to have on the side in case I botch up dismantling the cover of the OEM case ...on checking video again not sure is there a clear lens on the housing above bulb or is it my imagination?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by omodos

Wpoll you are the man, even included a video how to, cheers will give it a spin after I get hold of a couple of the 12v 10w bau 9's you refer too...either way re the LEDS, if i get hold of a set that are 10w rated each and have no 'extra' cable which i gather is some sort of resistor to trick X into thing correct bulb is fitted reckon still get overheat issues? I want a pair to have on the side in case I botch up dismantling the cover of the OEM case ...on checking video again not sure is there a clear lens on the housing above bulb or is it my imagination?

I have no (or very little) experience with LED AEs but I'm sure the 10W LED units aren't going to get any hotter than the 10W halogen bulb (physics being what it is...).

There's no dismantling of the OEM AE unit - just remove the dust cover, unplug the connector, rotate and remove it from the car, make the two small indents to allow changing of the bulb, then refit to the car. Near-zero risk of any issues.

Unless your headlight wiring is perishing... but that's another thread.

[omodos]

Thanks wpoll, did some searching locally for 10w ba9 but zilch...could only find 5w....i guess will order off web and even a set of non oem leds with housing as a test...thanks again for reply

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by omodos

Thanks wpoll, did some searching locally for 10w ba9 but zilch...could only find 5w....i guess will order off web and even a set of non oem leds with housing as a test...thanks again for reply

Make sure you order one of the names/brands I've mentioned - some of the no-name bulbs are poor quality... and sometimes 5W bulbs are sold as 10W (DAMHIK..)

Other name/brands in addition to the ones I've already mentioned above are Hella YL1210, Narva 17833 and Barthelme 01641130.

[omodos]

Originally Posted by wpoll

Make sure you order one of the names/brands I've mentioned - some of the no-name bulbs are poor quality... and sometimes 5W bulbs are sold as 10W (DAMHIK..)

Other name/brands in addition to the ones I've already mentioned above are Hella YL1210, Narva 17833 and Barthelme 01641130.

After searching hi and low chanced by an auto electrician garage and he had the narva 17833 10w, at 3euros each was fine with me...online I found osrams and the like including shipping came to 5euros odd per bulb . BTW i had to do the hack-tweak and drilled the housing with a 3mm bit on one side of lens to be able to twiggle out the bulb....thanks again

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by omodos

After searching hi and low chanced by an auto electrician garage and he had the narva 17833 10w, at 3euros each was fine with me...online I found osrams and the like including shipping came to 5euros odd per bulb . BTW i had to do the hack-tweak and drilled the housing with a 3mm bit on one side of lens to be able to twiggle out the bulb....thanks again

Good work - glad you got it sorted.