[2fast4]

Hey guys, recently out of the blue right rear tail light stopped working.
2008 335i pre-lci manufactured 9/2007. It's been raining a lot lately.
Turn signal blinks fast when light is not working.
So far it's not the bulbs. I tested with left side tail light bulbs.
I swapped the bulbs with left and right side and left side works fine, but not the right side.
Filament is intact. It's the 2-bulbs on bottom outer housing.
You know the 2 dimly lit bulbs that comes on when the headlight comes on.
Also the "brake" light bulb(1 of same 2 bulbs)works on the problem side.

I hooked up INPA laptop and cleared error codes on footwell module but still not working.
I physically looked at the wiring and looks normal to me.
One problem is "where is the fuse?"
I need to confirm the fuse is OK but placard with bunch of icons is useless, so is the manual.
It's like finding a needle in a haystack
Is there no fuse for external lights?
Is it controlled by FRM module and I need to take it out?
It leads me to think that either fuse is bad or wiring, but where the f* is the fuse?
Picture of the housing.
TIA

[sae.ekiicii]

Normally to my knowledge, radio, headlights, windows, and blinkers are all controlled by frm but Idk if your frm might be bad considering the only faulty one is the right one.

[2fast4]

Originally Posted by sae.ekiicii

Normally to my knowledge, radio, headlights, windows, and blinkers are all controlled by frm but Idk if your frm might be bad considering the only faulty one is the right one.

Good point. Does it have fuses for external lights, or it doesn't have fuse and is controlled by FRM? BMW is weird.

[2fast4]

Bump

[Serf27]

No fuses, the frm controls the lights.
Reset the FRM counters with ISTA.
If still not working, then you need to check wiring with a volt/ohmeter.

Did you swap the bulb housings from one side to another? Those sometimes go bad too.

[2fast4]

Originally Posted by Serf27

No fuses, the frm controls the lights.
Reset the FRM counters with ISTA.
If still not working, then you need to check wiring with a volt/ohmeter.

Did you swap the bulb housings from one side to another? Those sometimes go bad too.

What INPA can't do that? I don't have ISTA, yet. INPA did most of it so far OK.
Good idea about swapping bulb housing itself. I'll try next...
Do I still need ISTA laptop to reset FRM code?
tia

[Serf27]

I’m not sure which one if them can do it. I use the protools app.
The option to reset FRM counters will be in the FRM module when you view it.

[2fast4]

Originally Posted by Serf27

Did you swap the bulb housings from one side to another? Those sometimes go bad too.

I swapped the bulb housing from left to right. It did not work at all.
The wiring is such that when harness connector is plugged into opposite housing, the wiring is now opposite as well and does not match the correct wiring.

On a different angle, I tested with INPA laptop turning on the brake/tail light on. The bright light of brake light works(inner bulb), and headlight bright(outer bulb) comes on. It's the tail light(both bulbs dimmed) portion does not work.
This indicates that the wiring is not faulty. It seems FRM module.

I reset FRM counters with INPA but every time I reset and check again, it keeps on coming up with 2 errors A8B0, 9CB7.
Both logs stored 64 times. It does not reset the counter to 0. It keeps on going higher. Below 2 logs does not indicate the "tail light" issues(sometimes it throws up the code). I know that the front turn signal light do work, but left side is bit dimmer than pass side.

I'm concerned if the Headlight beam height driver(9CB7) is not working. It works OK that way I see it.

* A8B0 - FRM: Direction indicator, front left, faulty frm_70 Driver's side footwell module.

* 9CB7 - FRM: Headlight beam height control driver fault frm_70 Driver's side footwell module.

This is closest code to pass side error. I'm not sure left side is driver or pass side on this code.
*A8B9 - FRM: Taillight, left 1, faulty frm_70 Driver's side footwell module.