BMW Announces E46 tail light recall -- finally

After I had the fix done my dealer told me that I would get my credit card refunded for the amount when (if) I get the recall letter.

Has anyone sought reimbursement without the recall letter..?

Its been a week or so since I've booked my appointment and got the issue resolved, so far so good as that annoying shitty light indicator a no show.

I talked to my dealership today and they stated that the Recall is not in effect yet. I don't have any problems with my car, but if my car is in the recall I would like it taken care of. I bought the car private party so I'm guessing I won't be sent the letter. Anyone know how I can get the letter so I can show my dealership that the recall is in effect. They stated there is currently no recall in effect, although they did acknowledge hearing about it.

Originally Posted by jafo1701

I talked to my dealership today and they stated that the Recall is not in effect yet. I don't have any problems with my car, but if my car is in the recall I would like it taken care of. I bought the car private party so I'm guessing I won't be sent the letter. Anyone know how I can get the letter so I can show my dealership that the recall is in effect. They stated there is currently no recall in effect, although they did acknowledge hearing about it.

You can either call BMW directly and give them your information or the easiest thing to do is to take your car to BMW with the ownership and get them register your information. Simple as that.

Just updated my information as the current owner with BmwNA and they said they are still in the process of sending out letters and the recall was Vin# specific and that I pretty much had to wait for my letter to arrive if I was affected... That part of the process is DMV information specific and the lady I spoke to told me there was no way to find out whether my vehicle fell under the recall; and I just had to play the waiting game...

I know it's not listed but does it affect the '01 320i also?

Originally Posted by LA Prince

I know it's not listed but does it affect the '01 320i also?

Yes, they made a special exemption for your car, it's an easy conclusion to make, especially when all the years listed are 2002-2005.

This is a North American recall

Dah! About a month ago they charged me a ton tfix them... I'm going to call them up and give them the riot act if its true that they should have been fixed for free.

Originally Posted by andymilonkis453

of course id get mine fixed last week and pay 100 bux. wow bad timing up the ass

Keep your receipt and if you eventually get a recall letter, take that and the receipt in and the dealership will reimburse you, "given that they used the proper technique and parts." That's what bmwna said to me this morning...

Originally Posted by bmwm3smg2

You'd have to call bmwna directly. When I went to the dealer to have my subrame mount checked for cracks local dealer denied it stating it was out of the timeframe and made me look like an idiot. I told them they're idiots and called bmwna immediately. The next day, I got a call back from that dealer and blamed bmwna for giving them the wrong information, which i conveyed to bmwna of course. I just told them to suck my nuts and went to a different dealer instead. Seriously, this happened.

LIKE!

So... has anyone had the "Service Engine Soon" light come on in conjunction with this taillight issue? Just have a feeling it may be related since a friend was driving behind me the other day and said one of my taillights was out even though I had no dash indicator light. I replaced the bulb and it's fine now, but now I have the engine indicator light...

I'll be searching other posts for the recommended scan tool to buy so I don't blow $130 on the dealership simply telling me that everything is fine. Obviously if something is really wrong I'll either fix it or have the dealership do it. I typically try to stay away from too much electrical on German cars...funny how our e39 540i's second volume of the manual was ALL electrical!

I had the light too, but that was because I have other problems. As far as I know, you should only have the light indicator on and the SES should have nothing to do with it. I checked for a deal on a scan and got a free 20 point inspection as long as I came in with an SES light. I would check your local dealers website.

Originally Posted by ssm1991

Thanks for the compliment.

I did the right taillight before since it was the one giving me the problem. I saw your post so I did the left one today -- this time with pics.

All photos are for the left taillight. Process is the same for the right.

The only materials and tools you need are:
- a 0.25" blade receptacle (available in Radio Shack, Home Depot or any electronics shop)
- a 5" strip of size #18 or larger wire
- rubber or vinyl electrical tape
- utility knife
- pliers

1) Release the taillight housing and lay it on the trunk.

2) Release the connector by pressing on the sides then pulling. Take note of the circled tab. That's the point we'll connect to later.


3) Cut a 5" piece of wire and strip one end about a quarter of an inch.


4) Insert the stripped end into the blade receptacle and crimp using any pair of pliers. Try pulling out the wire afterwards to make sure it's tight.


5) At the connector, the ground wire is the brown one. It's noticably thicker than the other wires.


6) Using a utility knife, carefully strip half an inch of insulation on the brown/ground wire 2"-3" from the connector.


7) Strip half an inch of the other end of the new piece of wire and wrap neatly (mine wasn't too neat in the pic) around the exposed ground wire.


8) Wrap tightly with electrical tape.


9) Plug in the connector again and insert the blade receptacle into the tab.


10) YOU'RE DONE!! If you've been having that annoying intermittent bulb-out problems and all bulbs seem to be ok, this is I think a more permanent solution. Replacing just the connector like what's done at the dealer will just bring back that problem after a few years. The problem is that the connector pin for the ground is too thin to carry all that current to the bulbs reliably. So eventually the pin builds up electrical resistance and will melt in some cases. Running a parallel connection using a thicker connector will solve it. (I'm an electronics engineer by education btw)

THANK YOU
So easy and works perfect. Took the car a couple cycles to register it for me but done and done. Chose this over the recall because honestly, I just don't want to deal with it and feel like this is a quality install. Mine went pretty much identical to yours. All is well on the dash.

Was just cruising around the web and stumble across this article. So I decided to join the forum so I could post this. I literally just dropped of my car to have this issue fixed at the dealership, but they didn't say anything about the recall. I should definitely print this out and show it to them when I go to pick it up. If they still try to charge me, should I fight them on it? Has anyone actually gone and had the recall done yet?
thanks
jeff

Just called BMWNA and got the "watch your mailbox" response. 2004 325i.

haha after i did the fix on both sides of my tails i ended up ordering LED tails and they came with an all new back cover and board.
so i guess if i ever go back to oem mine are still fixed

FYI...

I just got off the phone with BMW NA to inquire as to the status of the tail lamp recall letters. The customer relations associate advised that while they intended to mail out the letters in November, there has been another delay and the letters are to be mailed out mid to late December.

Mirage2080

I received the recall letter today regarding this. However, my dealer fixed this issue on mine back in April '08 and charged me an hour labor + parts for it. Has anyone been able to get reimbursement after having it fixed prior to the recall at a dealership? I've read other posts in this thread saying that they'll only reimburse for the prior repairs if the dealer used the current procedure/parts. I'm wandering if the procedure/parts are the same now as they were back then with the service bulletin. Seems bogus to me that they would duck the reimbursement from back then. Fixed is fixed.

Sweet! Just got mine in the mail

Received my letter today about the "safety recall notice". Telling me that they don"t have sufficient parts to conduct the recall.........however, they will notify me again as soon as parts become available. I am hoping by end of the month.