E53 Unique Brake Issue

[Golfknar]

Well at least from what I’ve found. It’s not the bulbs, sockets, or board it seems. I’m getting 10-11 volts on the brake wires on a multimeter but the one not working doesn’t seem to be getting the signal voltage. When I check the voltage on the signal wire on the working side it shows a few hundred milliamperes when the pedal is pressed other side nothing.

Is there a reset I need to do in the computer to start sending the signal again? It seems only one will work at a single time, first was passenger now driver. I’m lost to what to check next.

Any ideas?

I’ve searched through forums for answers but only find the socket issues.

[Purplefade]

If it’s random, one day driver side other day passenger, you might disconnect the battery for 15/30 minutes to let everything power down and reset. I’ve also seen a number of guys hold the positive and negative terminals together for a few seconds to clear any “static” from the cables.

Note - (obviously) make sure the batter is DISCONNECTED when you do this


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[Golfknar]

Excellent that worked! Thank you very much!

New to the E53 club, been a car I’ve wanted for years. Working to fix mine up and retrofit. Appreciate a place like this.

[Purplefade]

Very glad that got you all sorted out . And yes, I joined xoutpost years ago and have learned bucket loads from the brain power on here.

On those tail lights, keep an eye out for other errors, the system is smart enough to know there may be a problem and it will “drop” a circuit to protect the overall system. If that continues to happen to you, you may have a taillight failing, pushing up the resistance on that circuit and causing it to error out. BUNCH of ways to fix it, if that’s the case, again, just keep an eye on it to be sure

And yes, for all the years the E53 has on it, I completely agree that they are still amazing vehicles - I absolutely love mine (problems and all).


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