they say fight fire with fire, so why not fix german with german? heres a cheap fix that uses a MB part.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...light-fix.html

I have a 2002 X5 3.0 diesel (I live in Europe) and have had the same tail light issues as X5's around the world. MANY do have a corrosion problem for the brake light bulbs, usually at the contact point (bulb holder) or the circuit "board" metal (more likely).

Removing the corrosion with a Dremel grinder and (even better) tinning this with solder will resolve this, for a while. Read one.

The TRUE origin of the problem is heat from the circuit that will (over time) melt the plastic stand-off's that hold the circuit metal holder. The circuit metal will then shift or modestly warp, causing intermittent and then (later) permanent poor contacts and the brake light error.

This mostly happens to the brake light (bottom bulb) rather than reverse or running lights.

THE fix is covered in BMW SI B 63 08 07, which supercedes BMW SI B 63 08 08. It involves repair to support / glue the circuit board with a BMW plastic repair kit. The glue / filler itself is a Henkel product called Terokal 9225. Easy to do. I did the grind, clean and solder on one tail light - it gave me a year. I just applied the BMW type repair myself on both sides, MUCH better and more permanent fix. I had epoxy putty in my "glue collection" (Milliput) instead of Terokal.

Removal and repair is a 30 minute job per side, then wait for your glue to cure.

Do it and your E53 will entirely cease to give you spurious warnings. Next time it'll really be for burnt out bulb :thumbup:

I believe it been 5 or six years since I had the initial problem. Recently I replaced two sockets and we're good to go.

Again thanks to all for the instructions on how to remedy the Brake light problem.
Had a "Check Brake Lights" indication. Replaced bulb socket, which had small amount of corrosion, $14. Also cleaned and soldered corrosion spot on board.
Working well.

On my second X5 and I'm having this issue again, but I don't remember how I fixed it :D I'm sure it's something like a single filament bulb or something lower wattage...anyone remember?

Great little DIY repair. I first tried the dielectric grease alone but the problem returned. Then I ran across this thread and 2 hours later (did both rear lights) no more warning lights on the dash.

Thanks guys :thumbup:

No, because even the tail lights on my 04 e53 had this issue.

I fixed it, again...but naturally I don't remember the bulb number at the moment. Take the stock dual filament bulb in, match up the bulb w/ the same bottom connection and two pins on the side that have the same clocking. The bulb body itself is much smaller and the bulb overall has a lower wattage.

X5 Tail Light Alteration and fix.
 

What's broken on your E53 today!
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/top...ink_source=app

Proper fix. Drill out the melted plastic rivets. Shim out to original height and use self tapping screws to attach the metal frame.

Design defect the 21w high filament gets hot enough to melt the plastic and the spring pressure pushes the contact away from the bulb adding resistance that causes more heat and faster melting.

It doesn't hurt to put some silver solder on the contact points but that doesn't eliminate the root cause.

Not sure why the thread revival, but I 100% agree with all that, both the cause and the best solution. :thumbup:

BTW, here's a direct link to post #65
https://xoutpost.com/1047563-post65.html

On my repair journey, I first effed around with other repair attempts such as sanding, soldering, shimming, bending, cleaning, adding foil, etc. that all turned out to be temporary.

Then I did the screw repair (although the screws I used were much smaller and lower profile than the ones in that post - you need to make sure there is clearance from the bulb sockets) and that has been permanent. :cool: