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BMW X5 View topic - Check numplate light, check tail light, check brake light
Hi All,
A few months back I got the "Check NUMPLATE LIGHTS" error message on my X5 3.0d Sport (02).
The lights looked OK, but were very dim, so I changed them.
The dimness was actually due to dirt in the lenses, but I cleaned them and changed the bulbs anyway.
The error message disappeard for a while but soon came back, and still does, every so often (more often than not).
A few weeks ago, the error message was jhoined by 2 friends, "CHECK BRAKE LIGHTS" and "CHECK TAIL LIGHTS".
All the lights are fine, there are no bulbs that are not working.
It would appear that there's a sensor on the blink.
My question is, is there one sensor for monitoring all of the bulbs at the rear of the car?
And if so, does anyone know the official name for this sensor?
And finally where it's located and if it's easy to replace DIY, really don't want to get a dealer to do it if I can avoid it.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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I had a problem with 'check brake lights'...
The way i got round it was moving the bulb around in the socket.
It was basically causing some of the contacts to trip themselves out.
Failing that a good whack will do.
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"a good whack" hmmm sounds a bit technical to me!
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Happened to me with brake lights and tail lights message, bulbs were not sitting in the housing correctly and one of the contacts had started to corode, just had to clean it up and get rid of the rust so it made a clean contact again, worked fine after that!
hope this helps
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I think that must have been the same problem on mine.
Maybe moving the bulb around in the sockets get rid of the dirt etc...
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Even though the bulbs look OK and are working they are probably on their way out.
The car does a bulb check when the ignition is turned on and it checks the resistance through all the bulb filaments.
If the resistance is not correct it displays the message on the dash, so the bulb will probably fail in a few days/weeks.
If you change the bulbs use OEM ones as other makes may not have the correct resistance and the error message will still be displayed.
Graeme.
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Had the 'check brake lights, check tail lights' message: did a check and the passenger side brake light wasn't working.
Took the bulb out and checked it - no problem - put it back in and all now ok.
Will keep an eye on it in case it goes but for now all mesages cleared.
Peter T
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Quote: :
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I had the same message a couple of days ago.
When I checked the bulbs they all worked, but one of the brake bulbs was a bit discoloured inside so I changed it.
I still got the "chech tail lights" message so I replaced the bulbs in both sides and the messages have now cleared.
I couldn't drive around with my car giving me warning messages all the time
Graeme.
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Well I took out cleaned and replaced both side's brake light bulbs and tail light bulbs, but the message is still there!
I guess I could change the bulbs, seems silly though seeing as they're working.
However, the numplate light bulbs have been changed recently and so no point in changing those again.
I did notice that the contacts for the numplate light bulbs is quite corroded, could this explain at least the numplate light warning?
If so, what should I use to get rid of the corrosion?
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Have been perusing this a bit more of late.
When I took out one of the rear bulbs I noticed that there has been some spark erosion of one of the contacts on the bulb holder.
This was on the passenger side.
The drivers side wasn't as bad and when I changed the bulb holders over the passenger side was fine.
I then bought a new bulb holder and put that into the drivers side.
(I've also changed the bulbs - although they were working it was possible to tell that they were well used - internal corrosion on the filaments etc)
Anyway, with the new bulb holder in the rear light still didn't work.
A bit of fiddling with the bulb holder in the rear lamp cluster sorts it - I had to turn it back a bit from what seemed like the fully seated position - but that may leave the holder more probe to working loose.
It doesn't seem to be a great design, but with a combination of removing any corrosion, replacing eroded bulb holders and decent bulbs the error message can be kept at bay.
A new bulb holder is just under £5.
More hassle than reasonable on an expensive car but I'll put up with it...
Petert
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