Lighting Issue

[allen_t]

Hi all,

There were similar threads about this issue but could not find any help online regarding my same issue so I'm looking for some help.

I have Smileys installed as well as fogs. My lowbeams only come on when my high beams are on. Right now I have my high beams unplugged so I can have low beam lights when I drive. My fog lights also stopped working and do not come on at all.

Some things I've done:

I've checked fuses as well as relays and replaced them as needed.

I looked underneath the fusebox and the wiring seems to be intact and clean.

It's not the interior switches since my high beams do turn on.

All of this happened after I had my cars fuel pump replaced. I only noticed a few weeks later since I do so little night driving.


Anyone had similar issues?

[613EDRTY]

I'm having similar issues but with my tail lights.

My headlights work fine, high beams are fine, fog lights are fine, signals are fine all around, brake lights are fine....everything is fine...except my rear running lights and no dash lights. So I haven't been driving my e30 at night. My fuel pump was also recently replaced...

I've replaced almost every fuse.
Replaced the running light bulbs.

Still no rear running lights.

I've been told to check every ground in the car...I think there is a total of 8 or 9 grounds?

[allen_t]

Super annoying!

Any idea where all the grounds are?

[allen_t]

Bump for any help

[allen_t]

Bump

[allen_t]

bumppp

[Mo Brighta]

Oh, this is weird!

So allen t- What headlights are coming on - inner or outer lights? Smileys are just low beams, right? Are they coming on with the switch to high, and NOT with the switch to low?

Send me an email, I will give you a series of tests to see where the fault may be...


613EDRTY - that is a real risk, no running lights.

If your brakes, turns etc. work, then the ground is fine, since they all share that same wire.

If you can, pull the left and right running light fuses, then test the fuse socket for 12V with the headlight is on, that will tell you if the switch is good.

Do your side markers work? I think they are on the same fuse as the left side running lights...

Do you have front running lights (parking lights)? They should be on the same two fuses, one for left side, one for right.

Try the above tests, send me an email - I can suggest more diagnostic stuff to track it down.

[allen_t]

Thanks, emailed

[straight6pwr]

did you retrofit smileys in place of sealed beams?

[allen_t]

Yes, but had the same issue with my sealed beams.

[straight6pwr]

test the low beam switch. depending on how you wired in the smileys, the lows coming on with the highs could be on a whole separate circuit, so the switch could still be bad.

i'd also say 'the fuel pump was replaced' is a red herring in all of this.

[Mo Brighta]

Headlight snafu - a solution?

... I have Smileys installed as well as fogs. My lowbeams only come on when my high beams are on. Right now I have my high beams unplugged so I can have low beam lights when I drive. My fog lights also stopped working ...

If you still have working relays, there may still be a bad connection in there somewhere. Various E30s have very strange wiring between the highs, lows and fogs. Power to the relay coils, grounded through the switch. Power to the hot side of lows and fogs, depending on other relays like the high beam... sometimes it's not powered so the lights are off.

I am working on a set of harnesses to reconfigure these exact relays. This will allow smileys (and other single filament lows like BiFocals, CSRs, other ellipsoids, even fog lights) to work independently of the high beam switch position. This will all be internal to the fuse box, on the low power (coil) side where possible, so use of existing leads from the relays to the lights is maintained. This also will maintain proper check panel monitoring of low beams.

More to come...

UPDATE 15 JULY -- Hurrah!
I have just gotten a sample of the terminals, they are the correct ones for fusebox relay sockets.

I'm off to the laboratory (dungeon) to build a set of harnesses to modify the low beam relay operation, and fog light relay as well for those who like both lows and fogs to work all the time.

I'm having similar issues but with my tail lights.

Hey, email me and lets solve this, unless you already have and didn't tell us. You must have another car to get around, right?

[allen_t]

Sorry havent updated the thread, the e30 was totaled and new one has no issues. Wish I had figured out the issue.