Hi everyone. I'm having a problem with my brake lights not coming on. My upper light thankfully works, but the 2 on the sides do not. I've replaced the bulbs and they still don't work. The tail lights and blinkers are fine. Is this a common problem? Is there a cheap and easy fix? Thanks for any help.

Did you buy the correct bulbs for it? Have you checked the brake sensor behind the brake pedal?

It is probably not the brake light switch if the high brake light still works at full brightness.

how about corrosion on the board and where the lights plug into the harness? I would start with unplugging the harness and taking a good hard look at the connections. For such a beefy piece if plate metal, it seems to corrode easily.

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to have the car looked at on Saturday. I think it's the panels that the bulbs go into.

It could also be a short in the boot which covers the hatch wires. It looks similar to the boot for the trunk on other e36's. There is a write-up in the regular e36 section. I have not heard of this on ti's but it sounds like a possibility. Of course I'm assuming you checked fuses already. Anyway, if you got it fixed already, let us in on what it was.