Replacing center/rear brake light

[JaDwa]

I can't for the life of me figure out how to change the bulb in the center brake light of my '98 528i (I did do a couple forums searches and came up empty handed). Apologies if there is a sticky or guide here

[quacktoduck]

look in the trunk... now not on the door but inside the trunk on the ceiling you will see a black cover in the center... open the cover voila the center brake light bulb...

[Qsilver7]

Do you hae an owners manual? If yes, turn the section on LAMPS and BULBS. You'll find instructions there.

If you don't have an owners manual...you can download one to your CPU in PDF format (makes it searchable) from www.e38.org/e39 and if your model year isn't listed, download the one closest to it. There isn't anything you can't extrapolate from another model year that you won't be able to apply to your car with a reasonable amount of intelligence.

The owners manual is the first step towards "enlightenment".

[JaDwa]

Do you hae an owners manual? If yes, turn the section on LAMPS and BULBS. You'll find instructions there.

If you don't have an owners manual...you can download one to your CPU in PDF format (makes it searchable) from www.e38.org/e39 and if your model year isn't listed, download the one closest to it. There isn't anything you can't extrapolate from another model year that you won't be able to apply to your car with a reasonable amount of intelligence.

The owners manual is the first step towards "enlightenment".

Thanks a bunch for the help, I do have an owners manual and had looked at that before but I guess I just wasn't pulling hard enough. The setup was REALLY lodged in there, I had to put a lot of weight in just to turn the screw, was really worried I would break something.

[hv528i]

I'm having difficulty removing the bulb housing as well -- can you describe how you know when to stop turning and start pulling it out? Or does it not really matter and you just need to push/pull really really hard? I'm also afraid of breaking it.... Clearly this is a common problem as I've seen posts on other boards about this same issue!

[Qsilver7]

if its anything like the 3rd brake light bulb holders in all of my other BMWs (e32. e34. e38) give the bulb holder about a 1/4 turn.

(turn item #4 about 1/4 of a turn...lefty loosey, righty tighty...counter-clockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten)

[hv528i]

That did the trick -- that's a great diagram (confirmed that I was turning the right thing). After reading your instructions, I gave it an easy turn left/counter-clockwise and the housing unit snapped right out. Many thanks.

[jamesdc4]

This information is available to all. It's just a mouse click away.

E39 DIY Instructions

E39 FAQs/ Links/ Autoparts/ 528i links

www.e38.org/e39

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do

Of course, it is more fun having Qsilver show up like Superman and make everything right!

[ViolinARC]

This information is available to all. It's just a mouse click away.

E39 DIY Instructions

E39 FAQs/ Links/ Autoparts/ 528i links

www.e38.org/e39

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do

Of course, it is more fun having Qsilver show up like Superman and make everything right!

I'm surprised you didn't mention the trouble you had trying to get into the license plate bulb housing. I STILL haven't been able to remove that damn cover. It's just lucky that the light is still working but I'd like to be able to remove the cover successfully BEFORE the bulb fails. Did you have any luck getting the cover off??

+1 on the "enlightenment" comment and for the Confuscious reference Q...