BMW Announces E46 tail light recall -- finally

Originally Posted by ac_2007

prefacelift ftw

did i see a front lip from ebay for $38????????????

Originally Posted by TiAgXi

Yeah right. Cuz prefacelift haven't had this issue, right? The reality is you've been left out.

Uh well mine hasn't

Originally Posted by bobhood

Glad to be here and to participate n the E46 fanatic / antics. I had seen some of the Q.&A's and was pleasantly surprised at the concern of the "fanatics" as to resolving problems.

I'm in the Northern 'lower' Michigan area; Traverse City,MI and am still driving my first BMW; a 1995 325iS with 216,000 miles. Body is great (always touch it up in the early spring and NEVER let those mini-bumps go anywhere. The engine and drive train are excellent and I follow a religious maintenance schedule.

Just finished a carnuba wax (Meguires) job and an interior detail.
BTW: Anyone know where I can get a front seat (back portion, black leather)? Everything else is fine except the left arm-back side which is worn.
I'll take the whole seat providing the price is....well.....y'know.

Anxious to see and hear from other 'fanatics' regarding parts, upgrades, where-to-buy items for the Bimmer.

Thanks to Tim Jones for getting me started.

You should start a new thread for this

...off to check to see if my wires are melted as well.

I wonder if this "common issue" is giving me an problem with some of the LED's on my tails turn signals to go out. This has inspired me to try splicing another wire into the ground.

May cause accidents? wth is this BS. These cars are 7+ years old...wow gotta take in my moms e46 soon

Originally Posted by ihsnshaik

May cause accidents? wth is this BS. These cars are 7+ years old...wow gotta take in my moms e46 soon

And the wiring has been problematic for most of the life of the E46 and BMW knows this and already has an updated part for the facelift cars. As far as the pre-facelift cars I know my 323 has wrecked a few bulb carriers already…

It's one of those things, they tried too hard to cheapen their cars and ended up with the E36. Sure, the E46 is better built in a number of ways, but there was still some wacky cost cutting going on.

Every once in a while it cuts out and I have to move around the harness (which is somewhat melted and burned) to get it to work. I wonder if the fix with the recall will replace my melted harness...

Coupe FTW

It's totally F* ridiculous that they have not had a recall for the window regulators, just because they don't see it fitting into any sort of "safety" issue.

What if I drive off a bridge, and my only chance to survive is to put the window down, and it won't work because of a bad regulator!

Total to this day spent on window regulators: Approx $350, driver's side, passenger's side, passenger's rear. I am sure my driver's side rear is going to go soon.

If i went to the dealer for these repairs, it would easily have been over a grand by now!

If you've gone to aftermarket tail lights, does anyone know if this will void you from the recall?

freaking finally....
My dashboard has been showing tail light problem light forEVER.......
time to call Bimmer LOL

their fix sucks. better fix it yourself. My fix was 10 times better than the cheap **** they sell you.

Originally Posted by wenlyone

their fix sucks. better fix it yourself. My fix was 10 times better than the cheap **** they sell you.

is your fix adding the additional ground wire?

what is their fix?

I was gonna post this a while back when they released an early bulletin about it but I didn't wanna get in trouble

I believe their fix would be a new connector and harness if its melted, or they will probably just do what everyone else is doing and run a ground along with the brown wire to the chassis somewhere. But if you DIY, you know its going to be quality. Anytime the dealership does a free service, no one wants to do it, and the person that ends up doing it wont get paid for it. Therefore, its probably a hack job depending on the technician and his love for cars.

I'm waiting for a idiot to say he got hit due to a tail light.

No I did not read the other 3 pages

Originally Posted by Loaded325i

Anytime the dealership does a free service, no one wants to do it, and the person that ends up doing it wont get paid for it. Therefore, its probably a hack job depending on the technician and his love for cars.

You sir, are retarded. All recalls and similar work do pay the techs. Why do you think car companies lose money when they recalls? Because they have to pay the techs for the fix and pay for any parts needed. Might want to check your info before you post crap like that.

Can someone post the link of the existing fix?

why is there a wrong headlight pic on the main post?



this suits the recall better

I have a coupe & my tails have been acting weird & I have had to replace a burnt out bulb about 2 times a month. But I replaced my tail lights w/ LED, so I'm good.