Found a small flashlight under my passenger seat that appears to belong to a slot in the glove compartment. I inserted it in the slot and let it sit for a few days to see if it would light up, Nothing! Does this flashlight have a rechargeable battery? Is the slot supposed to provide DC power for recharge? If it has a replaceable battery, how do you open it up? There is nothing in the owners manual discribing it. Is it supposed to light up when you open the glove compartment? Do your headlights have to be on for it to work?

It only lights up when you take it off the charger and turn it on. Mine suddenly stopped working a few months ago. Anyhow, the 'other' glove compartment light should turn on when you've got the car lights on.

I just tapped mine and it started working

The flashlight is supposed to recharge itself, but if you still have the original unit, chances are it has given up the fight. Be careful, mine just recently ( 3 days ago) started to look funny. It turns out the batteries inside are expanding (probably from being on the charger) and it actually popped the cover off. This is what it looks like in there:

P.S. The batterries are NOT replaceable, buy a new flashlight from GAULT if you need one.

This is a rechargable flashlight but if it's 'old' the 'recharge' part is about gone. Depending on the year of your car these flashlights are either white (older models) or black (newer models). You can buy a new one from the dealer and it should work for many years.
Hope this helps.
P. Ford

http://www.bavauto.com/shop.asp

Bavarian Autosport has replacement glove box flashlight lists for $23.95... found it listed for a 97 840 ci.

Woa, I better get a new one. I bet my battery has swelled up with age & fury.

It would be nice to get a black one to match my interior.

Cheers

black ones don't fit - I tried a black one from my 740iL (E38) and it doesn't fit.

Ahh, that's good to know, thanks for the head's up. White it shall be then.

Re: Glovebox Flashlight,
I also found the flashlight in the glovebox of the 97 850 I'm working on.
I removed it and found that it didn't work, also opened it up.
The batteries were starting to swell, so to me that indicates death.....most likely Ni cads....
In the aapst i ave had had occasions to remove old ni cads from my rechargeable shavers, repleced them with new ni cads and was good to go again. Done it twice.
The flashlight is current resting on my nech apart, and batteries are on my list of things to look for the next trip to my electronics shop.
They appear to be spot welded to the power strap, but with a little determination, you should be able to remove the strap from each battery and hopefully re-solder them back together......?
Or at least I'm going to try.......it's not like I'm trying to skirt the cost of a new one, just like to see if it's do-able.
I'll let you know how it turn out in the next few weeks.....
Headlight project now underway, complete left housing/actuator out of car on bench waiting for parts.

Left Rear axle boot project, next on the agenda

The flashlight is supposed to recharge itself, but if you still have the original unit, chances are it has given up the fight. Be careful, mine just recently ( 3 days ago) started to look funny. It turns out the batteries inside are expanding (probably from being on the charger) and it actually popped the cover off. This is what it looks like in there:

P.S. The batterries are NOT replaceable, buy a new flashlight from GAULT if you need one.

Batteries are replaceable if you don't mind a little light soldering. They use 2 Varta CP300H batteries that you can purchase for about $10 including shipping.

Don't know if ya'll know this....but you can take the "old" flashlight (if you get a new one because your old one doesn't work) and open it up take the battery out, 're-wire' the two male plugs and put a (not sure what the real name is but it look like the your cigarette lighter but isn't stationary) plug/with extra wire and use it as an extra 12 Volt plug for "stuff". You will use the flashlight body and female plugs and plug it into it's charging station and the other end is what you plug into.
Don't know if I explained right but I use this plug for my wife to plug her lap top computer into when we go on trips so I can keep my cover closed on my cigarette lighter plug.
Hope this helps,
P. Ford

That's a great idea. Can you take a picture of your set up and post it? G

I have a cord that plugs into the flashlight receptacle and has a "lighter" socket at the other end. I use it to plug the nav into.

http://www.bavauto.com/fland.asp?part=82%2011%200%20004%20075&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googlebase&utm_source=82%2011%200%20004%20075

No affiliation...

Hope this helps...

Yes. that's it....uh, but a lot better then mine. But mine still works just fine. I've been told about these but never seen one.
Thanks,
P. Ford