I have a 2001 X5 4.4 Sport, and ever since I've owned it various lights in the tail light assembly will stop working. They won't burn out, just stop making good contact. When it was in warranty I would get it repaired for free; Now that it's out of warranty they want to replace the entire light assembly every time for 300+ bucks. I'm left to remove all the bulbs/bulb holders, bend/clean contacts, reinsert, and repeat unit they work again. Problem is this happens every few months now, and it's getting old real fast. Does anyone have a more permanant fix that doesn't require me to change the entire light assembly? Looks like a pretty poor design...

next time you have to go in there, use the battery terminal gel on the contacts. works great. you DO have it on your battery terminals, don't u?

id suggest buying new tail lights. they are covered under parts warranty for 2 years...

I solder little wires to the socket and then to the contact area of the housing.

or

You can get some plastic weld and put it under the contact and let it harden. Push the contact area down and put some solder on top to cover any holes that has burned into the contacts of the lamp assy.

I have done many either way and never had one come back. It does take some time, but you save the money from buying new lights.

The new tail light lenses have been updated with heavier gauge contact metal to prevent this from happening. Every X5 we have put these new lenses on has not come back for a tail light problem. Plus if you buy the lenses from the dealer they should come with a 2yr 24K mile warranty.

bmw warranty is 2yr unlimited miles, unless they just changed and i have not heard about it

bmw warranty is 2yr unlimited miles, unless they just changed and i have not heard about it

Our local dealer told us 24K miles on parts. Maybe if the dealer installs the part they will give you an unlimited mileage warranty.

does not matter if the dealer installs or not. all have unlimited miles