E92 M3 Brake light replacement?

[woptang22]

So Ive been receiving a "left brake light malfunction" message and CCID 136 code in my E92 M3. I couldnt figure out what was wrong until I realized there were two brake light bulbs on each side. It seems the inner brake bulb on the drivers side is bad or going bad. But I cant find a DIY to fix the issue. I pulled the carpet hatch off to take a look, but have no idea what to do after that.. lol. does anyone have a DIY video for E92 M3 brake light bulb replacement? Any advice would help. Thanks everyone.

[Shazz]

Mine's just started giving me this warning too so I've been looking into this. I managed to unclip the wiring harness by the small black tab on the harness itself. You should then see a tab on the black bulb holder that you push up according to the user manual to remove the bulb holder. I'm going to give this a go tomorrow but it doesn't sound too difficult. The instructions for getting to the boot/trunk lid lights are also in the user manual.
However, if all your bulbs are fine, there is a known fault with the older bulb holders - BMW TSB 63 02 08 - that the newer bulb holder (part # 63 217 174 407) fixes.

[woptang22]

Originally Posted by ShaunC

Mine's just started giving me this warning too so I've been looking into this. I managed to unclip the wiring harness by the small black tab on the harness itself. You should then see a tab on the black bulb holder that you push up according to the user manual to remove the bulb holder. I'm going to give this a go tomorrow but it doesn't sound too difficult. The instructions for getting to the boot/trunk lid lights are also in the user manual.
However, if all your bulbs are fine, there is a known fault with the older bulb holders - BMW TSB 63 02 08 - that the newer bulb holder (part # 63 217 174 407) fixes.

ShaunC thank you for your response. It seems each side has two bulbs. On my drivers side one bulb is out. So it seems as if the brake light is working, but after looking closer I can see one bulb is out. Now Im just trying to find the best place to buy the bulb lol

[woptang22]

Originally Posted by ShaunC

Mine's just started giving me this warning too so I've been looking into this. I managed to unclip the wiring harness by the small black tab on the harness itself. You should then see a tab on the black bulb holder that you push up according to the user manual to remove the bulb holder. I'm going to give this a go tomorrow but it doesn't sound too difficult. The instructions for getting to the boot/trunk lid lights are also in the user manual.
However, if all your bulbs are fine, there is a known fault with the older bulb holders - BMW TSB 63 02 08 - that the newer bulb holder (part # 63 217 174 407) fixes.

Any chance you have the brake light part number? When I went to Autozone they told me $50. But looking on pelicanparts.com I cant locate the bulb for an M3, but most other bulbs are $7.50-$11.00. Im thinking autozone tried to screw me lol

[woptang22]

Update. Ive went to my local pepboys and found the brake light bulb to replace my bad light. When I replaced the bulb everything seemed fine. The next morning when I started my car for work, the rear left brake light malfunction came on again. So on break at work I took the ballast out and saw the other(outer) break light bulb was coming on and off. But thats only when I tapped the back of the ballast behind that bulb. So Im not so sure whats going on. On the ride home everything was fine. So we will see what today brings lol

[Shazz]

Sorry I've only just seen this... Mine decided to fix itself so I just left it. I hope your problems are now sorted. I didn't know the rears have ballasts! I thought that's only for xenon lights. The rear bulbs are just normal H21s aren't they?

[woptang22]

Originally Posted by ShaunC

Sorry I've only just seen this... Mine decided to fix itself so I just left it. I hope your problems are now sorted. I didn't know the rears have ballasts! I thought that's only for xenon lights. The rear bulbs are just normal H21s aren't they?

I was only calling them ballasts because I dont know what else to call them.. lol The plastic piece that comes out holding all the bulbs is what Im referring to as "the ballast." As I found out the rear bulbs are only regular 921 bulbs that were $5 for two at pep boys lol.

[warlow]

Rejuvenating this thread. Just notified by a passer-by that my pass rear brake light was out. Indeed it was; was this supposed to be detected by the vehicle diagnostics? Didnt receive any warning codes/ notification on iDrive. Curious if anything is wrong.