[jonsteele]

Apart from the annoying creaking from my A pillars my car had been behaving perfectly well until yesterday after it'd been parked up for 3 hours! When starting up I recieved an amber fault light - the one with the car on a raised ramp. The manual says its either brake lights failed (they weren't), trailer lights failed (I don't have a tow bar) or a fuel system fault. In addition, the time, but not date, and the OBC had reset! I wasn't best impressed as I was in Ambleside and didn't fancy a limp home or calling out breakdown! I shut the car down and restarted and the fault light went out - so I reset the time and went home! Since then I've had no further issues.

I'm speaking to the stealer today about the A pillar issue, so will mention this, but has anyone seen anything similar?

[mhb]

i too got a amber fault light warning that pops up everytime i start the car up. I've checked my brake lights and they are operating properly. I'll be taking my car in for a CA issue and will ask about that too.

[meruyailir]

I exactly had the same thing, twice in the last 2 weeks with my X5 e70. I haven't brought it to the dealer. What did they tell you?

Originally Posted by jonsteele

Apart from the annoying creaking from my A pillars my car had been behaving perfectly well until yesterday after it'd been parked up for 3 hours! When starting up I recieved an amber fault light - the one with the car on a raised ramp. The manual says its either brake lights failed (they weren't), trailer lights failed (I don't have a tow bar) or a fuel system fault. In addition, the time, but not date, and the OBC had reset! I wasn't best impressed as I was in Ambleside and didn't fancy a limp home or calling out breakdown! I shut the car down and restarted and the fault light went out - so I reset the time and went home! Since then I've had no further issues.

I'm speaking to the stealer today about the A pillar issue, so will mention this, but has anyone seen anything similar?

[Dr Dave]

I'd start by replacing both stop lamp bulbs.

They might well be working but the bulb itself might be a little tired/black or the connectors to the bulb could be a little dirty. For a quid or so it's worth a shot.

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

I'd start by replacing both stop lamp bulbs.

They might well be working but the bulb itself might be a little tired/black or the connectors to the bulb could be a little dirty. For a quid or so it's worth a shot.

No, don't change the bulbs and waste your money. There are well-documented cases in which the footwell module that controls certain parts of the car's system, like the rear lights for example, goes on the blink and develops erratic behaviour. Similarly, there's a well-documented issue with faulty rear light clusters that often return error signals when no error is present.

In both instances, BMW replace the offending items under warranty, as they are known problem areas. So don't bother changing any of the bulbs yourself, as the dealer will take care of that for you when replacing the clusters.

Just as an aside, it is next to impossible to buy replacement bulbs, unless you go to BMW themselves or if you're lucky one of the very big Halfords stores. The bulbs are 'capless' dual contact bulbs which push into a letterbox-type slot, as opposed to bayonet cap-mounted bulbs that other cars normally use.

[big pimp]

i just got the same problem today myself. there are no problems with any of my bulbs - have checked every single one!

re the control module in the footwell, i had the exact same problem but it caused my hazard lights to flash constantly.... BMW replaced it for me very quickly.

i'll keep an eye on things, and see what the outcome is.
how have any of the original posters sorted out their problems?