[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by old grey steve

Never seen something that severe actually displayed for all to see. At a guess and its a wild stab in the dark it might be a power/instrutment cluster fault.

Other thing to look at is the condition of the cars battery being an AGM battery they are good for around 3-4 years then being to slowly show signs of weakness(though the car wil start/stop as required)if they start to play up they can create communication power related faults.

With lights being switched off would suggest a power/K-CAN type issue though I could be wrong this is something that to be honest you need to get looked at. Perhaps to at least help it would be worth checking the battery (should be a black battery, check the battery condition indicator) Might be worth if you know what to do doing a hard battery re set.

Originally Posted by Hulla the Hulla

Battery - lights off, lower drain on the system. Lights on, higher drain. Sounds like the battery is on it's way out.

Possible but anything electrical can lead you a merry dance

Originally Posted by Russ.C

Seems to me it could be a short circuit, have a look at the cluster control unit, or maybe even the footwell module as that controls the lighting?

You could try removing the instrument cluster and trying again, if the radio keeps flashing you then know the possible short circuit is not in the instrument cluster if that makes sense? Iif it stops you have found the location of the issue?

Cluster K CAN communication are all possible main junction box wiring all I'd say is these things really can tax you when confronted.

Originally Posted by XLNC

Got new JBE module fitted and guess what, 2 days later problem returns, car now gone back for further investigation, it seems it's gonna be one of those problems you hate.

Sometimes happens, who diagnosed the Junction Box out of interest and how conclusive was the theory that this was the answer?

Originally Posted by Russbmw

Every time I've had BMW electrics going batshit crazy it's been because the battery was dying.

I'm sure you've already had that checked out, but just sayin'

Youd of hoped the battery was checked, when carrying bout a diagnosis apart from anything you'd ideally wish to look at power management which you can do observing over say a 7 to say 21 day period what's going on it'll help in so much as pinpointing the state of the battery performance, the alternators charge rate plus the general state of the whole system along with the diagnosis carried out a plan can be formulated.

If there was a Junction Box related fault there are various tests/checks they can be done to assist but to change this at a pure guess someone must have been "pretty sure" this was the culprit but I'd say sometimes you can be sure a particular component is the answer to all the problems only to find behind the recently replaced component lies another issue. Sadly I've seen it its part of the beast that we all drive