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No brake lights

3K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  verEYEzon 
#1 ·
So I just bought this 1988 528e, in immaculate condition. On my way home from buying it the check brake light came on. Quickly found I had no brake lights at all. Checked the fuse and switch to no avail. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
I don't want to mis-lead you with this info so keep this in mind when I suggest this.....check to see if your 'load reduction relay' is the problem???

I'm dealing with a 'short' in the electrical system and several things are affected.....no brake lights is one of them (see my post 'load reduction relay').

I've been doing some searches online about this relay and found that there are problems with the electrical system after an 'after-market' stereo system was added (original radio system replaced).

I can't find a replacement relay to see if it helps.......at least until Monday when the local BMW dealership opens. Hopefully they should have an replacement....no one else in town has this specific type relay. Good luck, I hope this info will be helpful in finding your problem.

BTW- the other problems that exist may have been caused by the long term 'shorting' (melted fuses) of this after-market stereo??
 
#4 ·
That's what the system is supposed to do! It was telling you that you had a non-working bulb. Unfortunately they can be "moody" and that's why you have to make sure that the bulbs have SILVER not copper bases and that all the connections are clean. The system actually works by measuring the resistance in the different circuits that it monitors and when one of them is out of the specification it triggers the led.
Now, Gold86Bimmer, make sure that your problem is in fact the relay. If you do have an aftermarket radio, I would suggest that you re-connect the main power feed to the spare accesory fuse by the main fuse box. There are two fuses in it, one is switched power and the other one is continuous. By doing this you remove the load from the newer (and most probably higher powered) head unit from fuse 5 which was already kind of maxxed out. The only difficult part is getting the wire into the car from the engine compartment. In mycar, since it is manual, I pushed it besides the clutch master cylinder supply hose. Also, check the brake switch on the pedal since they have been known to die and were even upgraded (I don't know the date though).

Good Luck!
 
#5 ·
I had the same problem and everytime I started my car I hit the brake and the brake light would come on then I hit the button by the idiot lights by the sunroof then they would start working again also I checked the metal panel were the lights are and make sure that all the lights are touching it. BMW made a mistake when they made that thing.
 
#7 ·
Got back in the car tonight and now no running lights either....Hopefully discount has some OE bulbs and oxidate stuff I've heard about.

The 4 ways work front and rear and the right side brake light works. So I can only assume either bad buld or the contact from the bulb housing to the metal bracket isn't up to snuff?
 
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