tail light problems on E36

I am having a tail light problem. I got the old "Tail light failure" message on the OBC, so I took a look. Sure enough, the bulb was broken. I replaced it with the correct bulb, a 21 / 4 watt, dual filament "euro tail light" bulb from Kragen. Problem is, the error message still shows up on the OBC whenever I turn the lights on.

Is it possible that the OBC retains the error message until I reset it somehow? Or is it possible that, even though I have used the same - and correct - bulb, a micro-difference in resistance between the new one and the one on the other side might be causing the system to read a fault? I have read five pages of old posts on the subject of tail light failure without finding anything that seems useful. if anyone has any clues, now's the time to roll them out. Thanks for listening.

Dan

Not sure. Try replacing the other lamp as well.

Or perhaps the replacement bublb has a problem.

I know that when my bulb burned out I simply replaced it with the proper bulb and the error code went away.

This is a very common problem on E36's. I struggled for a few days when I bought my car. Usually the bulb holder metal contacts get corroded after a while. I filed them a bit with a small file and sprayed themm with WD40. I havent had a failure message in 12 months. Oh, I never did replace the light bulbs!!