Two bmw newbie questions... Park lights, and pathway lighting

[Christiaan]

Hi guys, finally received the BMW, really nice, i now know why people say that the handling of the BMW is superior to Merc... (comming from 5 mercs)...

i have some quiestions if you guys dont mind!

1) I dont know how to put on the park light, like when your parked and want to leave one of the sides on, so that incomming traffic can see your car....

2) Cant get this Pathway Lighting thingy to work!.. my merc E class, when i turned off the engine, the foglights turned on for 20-30 seconds so that i could walk with some light... cant get this thing to work on the 4.8x5...!

any thoughts would be appreciated!

[rh71]

1) From what I understand, you won't get the amber side lights if you are on auto and using DRLs during daytime. Try switching to the middle mode, which is just before the regular-low-beam switch.

A --> 0 --> 1 --> 2

2) are you sure you set the pathway lighting within idrive to a certain number of seconds? I don't recall if you have to open your door also, before pulling on the stalk.

[Roadster]

park light: switch off engine, remove key, hit turn signal all the way to the side you want your park light to be on
path lights: in the idrive settings menu : set the time you want your path lights to remain on (once is enough); then switch off engine, remove key, pull signal lever towards steering wheel, leave car and close normally
HTH

[GSmith]

Roadster- does the park light work the same way if you have comfort access and don't have the key in the ignition?

What you described worked perfectly on my 650 (no comfort access), but I haven't been able to make it work on the new X5 (with comfort access).

[x5rod]

With comfort access, make sure you turn everything off first. Either press the stop button twice, or hold it down a few seconds.

[GSmith]

Thanks x5rod. That may explain another issue I've had. When I get out of the car, radio is still on. If I hit the stop/start button twice, I imagine it will shut everything down.

What I've been doing is when I get out of the car, I close the door, turn around and touch the door handle to shut everything off.

[x5rod]

I had a similar issue, but now I just press the start/stop button longer to turn everything off (I used to press twice).

[GSmith]

Did I (we) somehow miss this in the owner's manual?

[AzNMpower32]

1. I am not sure this feature is retained in the newer BMWs. I know in the older BMWs and even my mom's 2006 325i, you simply hit the turn signal in the direction you want to light up. However, this feature seems to have disappeared from many of the new BMWs, so try yours. For example, the 2008 3er doesnt have this feature anymore.

2. I mentioned this in another thread: Make sure feature is activated in iDrive. To make sure, open the door first, then pull the headlamp flasher.

[x5rod]

Originally Posted by GSmith

Did I (we) somehow miss this in the owner's manual?

I missed it too, found out from another forum post.