Tail light & Front parking light snafu

[jeycat1989]

Last friday, while driving home to MD from OH, a vehicle in front of me threw a rather large piece of truck tire tread at me. There was no way to avoid it. Bent license plate, knocked the hood roundel loose, and made its' way under my car and out the back. No other initial problems noted, except for a non-working passenger front parking light/turn signal. Got home, replaced the bulb. Expected everything to work fine. BUT...now when the front parking light is lit, so is the passenger REAR turn signal. And, when I use the signal for a right turn, BOTH the turn signal AND the tail light flash. Unplug the connector from the front parking light, and voila, the rear returns to normal operation, albeit with a fast flashing turn signal, due to the missing connection up front. Car in question is an 88 325i 'vert. Just curious as to where exactly I should start my examination, and whether anyone else has had a similar problem.

[Das Delfin]

the problem is your bulb socket is shorting to ground or you have the wrong bulb. Should be an 1157 for the front turn signal

[JasonC]

Agreed with above. But if you need a hand, I'm local. Is this car the white convertible with blue interior?

[jeycat1989]

White with the blue top would be mine.

[JasonC]

Recently buy it? I remember it was for sale over the summer.

[jeycat1989]

Bought it in August of 2016. It was in sad shape. So far, I've replaced all the steering components except for the rack and the pump. Replaced too many bulbs to count, since nothing inside the car lit up. Third brake light was inop, works now. New tires(old ones were nearly bald). New Bosch plugs(instead of the fouled double platinums that were in there). New wires with harness. New distributor cap and rotor. Of course air filter, oil change, etc. Numerous fuses replaced. New exhaust behind the cat. As soon as I can get a decently warm day outside on the weekend, I've got 4 new Mahle rotors, Pagid pads, and stainless lines to go on. Runs very smoothly. When I do the timing belt this spring, I'll be replacing the radiator, cooling system, alternator, etc. You know, all the while-you're-in-there stuff. And then there's new rubber for the top.

[JasonC]

Cool, nice to hear it's getting taken care of.