Tail/Brake Bulb Error Message?

[diversion74]

Hmm.
I was going to buy a spare indicator and stop/tail bulb for my trip to Germany this Friday.
Do I take it that I should buy them from my dealer and if yes any idea how much?
I am glad I've read this as I was just going to buy them and just take them with me.

Might not bother taking any spares at all if they are this much hassle.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Andy

 

[BTBR]

Hmm.
I was going to buy a spare indicator and stop/tail bulb for my trip to Germany this Friday.
Do I take it that I should buy them from my dealer and if yes any idea how much?
I am glad I've read this as I was just going to buy them and just take them with me.

Might not bother taking any spares at all if they are this much hassle.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Andy

The stop/tail bulbs are £2.50 each from your friendly, here to help you BMW dealer..

 

[KevinC]

more help needed!

I've read the posts here and I have a similar problem that I cant seem to find an answer to. Got back from a trip around the Baltic (I mention this as others I was with would have noticed if the light wasn't working) get home with very dirty bike, after a rest - (few days!) I wash said bike. Come to start it up and get a warning on the rear light - check and find tail light ok but braking light not working. Change bulb (admittedly cheapo from Halfords but to spec) - still not working. I've taken off the assembly (pile of cr@p) and cleaned and tested the connections - whilst a get a reading from the tail light connections - there's nothing on the meter for the brake light. I assume that this means something else other than the bulb/connections to the bulb. Both front and back brakes do not illuminate the bulb.

Any ideas what I could look at next? - thanks!

 

[MIKE-SA]

pneumatic maintenance works every time...
well not every time - but when all else fails...

 

[Pukmeister]

Kevin, the rear bulb is possibly CANBUS operated eg under the control of the microchip computer that runs the bikes systems.

I know that in the event of a rear tail lamp filament failure, the computer runs the brake lamp filament albeit at a lower power to keep the rear illuminated (a clever pseudo tail lamp mode), hence my suspicion of the CANBUS turning the brake lamp on and off via electronic switching rather than the control switches on the handlebar/footbrake.

I think the bikes brake switches trigger the CANBUS ECU to switch on and off the brake lamp, and the system also knows the integrity of the rear lamp filaments by measuring the lamps resistance during self-check at power up.

If you use the non-approved lamps with a different internal resistance, the bike probably won't bother powering the lamp on and off when asked to by the brake switches as it (falsely) believes them to be blown.

 

[The Bede]

The stop/tail bulbs are £2.50 each from your friendly, here to help you BMW dealer..

... Or 99p anywhere else!

 

[KevinC]

Kevin, the rear bulb is possibly CANBUS operated eg under the control of the microchip computer that runs the bikes systems.

I know that in the event of a rear tail lamp filament failure, the computer runs the brake lamp filament albeit at a lower power to keep the rear illuminated (a clever pseudo tail lamp mode), hence my suspicion of the CANBUS turning the brake lamp on and off via electronic switching rather than the control switches on the handlebar/footbrake.

I think the bikes brake switches trigger the CANBUS ECU to switch on and off the brake lamp, and the system also knows the integrity of the rear lamp filaments by measuring the lamps resistance during self-check at power up.

If you use the non-approved lamps with a different internal resistance, the bike probably won't bother powering the lamp on and off when asked to by the brake switches as it (falsely) believes them to be blown.

Thanks - its worth a shot - so I'll invest in an OE bulb and see !

 

[BTBR]

Thanks - its worth a shot - so I'll invest in an OE bulb and see !

Its worth a big shot to be honest, I tried several good quality automotive bulbs, all of which worked but I had the error message saying that they did'nt.

Paid my nice friendly dealer the tidy sum of £2.50 just for a friggin stop/tail bulb and everything was fine...

Its down to the fact that BMW fit "long life" bulbs, more resistance coz the element is thicker. A normal bulb will throw up an error message, coz the CanBus "thinks" that it is not working.

More ideas in action from BMW.

 

[KevinC]

Ok so - I pay my £2.50 for a tail bulb

And......................

..........Still doesn't work

Even the supposed cleaver bit where the canbus thingy knows its not there and dims the tail light to feign the brake light doesnt work

Anyone have any other ideas? please!!

 

[Pukmeister]

Dealer diagnostic check on GT1. Probably a faulty CANBUS controller module or a high resistance wiring contact.

 

[KevinC]

Dealer diagnostic check on GT1. Probably a faulty CANBUS controller module or a high resistance wiring contact.

that doesn't sound good, does it

I'll give that a go then - thanks

 

[Greg Masters]

On the bulbs front, I believe they are:

Osram Longlife

You don't have to pay fifty-bob each as you can get them elsewhere for less. As many cars also now have CANBUS systems (and would need a consistent bulb characteristic), try a car dealer.

Greg

 

[BTBR]

You don't have to pay fifty-bob each

fifty-bob........

I remember my Grandad telling me all about that funny money.....

 

[KevinC]

ZFE

I'd done all the normal stuff - tested the circuit, cleaned it up (really a stupid design) and replacing bulb with OE variety - but still same issue.

Took it along to Roy Gardner (all round good bloke) and he put it on to the computer diagnostic thing - went through a process of clearing the errors (as sometimes they can get themselves confused - poor things) and restart - still same error

So begins a search back from the light through the loom to the ZFE (whatever that is!) and that's where the problem is. New part on order - doesn't sound like its going to be too expensive (just over £100) plus labour of course. Almost impossible for a gifted amateur (and I'm certainly not!) without said computer equipment to find the fault.

Apparently, so Roy informs me, this part is on its ninth version since release - maybe BWM have realised there's a problem eh!!

Anyway - I'm hoping I can get back on the road soon as I'm supposed to be heading to Skye in August - and I need to give Roy his 125 scoot back, it really doesnt fit!

 

[deaninkl]

that'll teach you a lesson for playing with things that weren't broken..silly boy

 

[KevinC]

that'll teach you a lesson for playing with things that weren't broken..silly boy

I think one of is missing the point! It was broken that's why it needs fixing!