Turn Signal- unreliable
 

My left turn signal has become very unreliable.

The "Check Tail Lights" comes up on my dash say 70% of the time I start my X5.

The turn signal clicking gets very quick (left only).

• 60% of the time, neither the front or back turn signal works
  
• 30% of the time, the back turn signal stops.
  
• 10% of the time they all work.
  
• 100% of the time ths side turn signal light works.

I tried replacing the bulb (front) and just touching/moving the bulb slightly got it working temporarily. Then next time I started the car, it stopped

Is this a known issue with the E53? What steps can be taken to fix it?


FWIW, I have a left hand side (Right hand driver side car).

This sounds like the stalk switch assembly to me


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Pull the bulbs and inspect them and the housings. Sounds like a bad connection.

I missed the 100% side. This does sound like bad connection: the tail lights are notorious for a bad contact design that self destructs


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I had the same problem with the rear bulb holder. Arcing had pitted the contact area so I built it up with a layer of solder. This cured the issue no further problem to date (6 months).

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Had to do this as well.

Also have to make sure the contact tabs are bent out (inside the housing) so that they make reliable contact with the bulbs. And BMW's like having the bulbs with the oblong contacts, not the circular ones. :dunno:

As the guys above said:

Pull out the offending light and clean the contact pads very well with alcohol or other good cleaner, run solder in to any grooved or low areas and then hit it with a little emery cloth to knock off any solder "burn". Then drop a drop of solder on each contact on the socket itself and re-install. Had the same issue about 18 months ago, did this process and hasn't been back since.


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Remove the entire tail lamp housing and check the contacts where the holders fit when they are locked into place. I was getting a "tail lamp out" error and found that one of the holders had arced enough to make a pit where the connection was supposed to happen. I polished the area and soldered in the pit mark. All is well now.

Post #7 hit his head squarely on the nail.

The contact burning that is very common on brake and tail lamps is not so common on turn signal lamps. They rarely get hot enough to cause this issues, due to the intermittent nature of their operation.

But yeah, it's the first thing I'd check too! ;)

They don't need to heat/melt to corrode and open circuit.
Steel is not a contact material F+ BMW for breaking that rule


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