Does anyone know what this lamp is supposed to do? BMW 220

[livinginasia]

Dear all, bizarre question but here goes, after some help please:

2016 BMW 220i convertible, f2x series.
The lamp circled in blue has come on, same on both sides.
It’s on all the time, with or without brakes on.
If you turn the headlights on, they both turn off.

The brake light is next to it, circled red
Rear fog lamp is circled in yellow.

It’s brighter than the rear tail lights, same brightness as the brake light next to it.

Does anyone know what it is? Is it really a brake light but there is a problem?

Does anyone have the same rear lights on their BMW that could please check their brake lights and see if both lamps illuminate please?

I have searched on Mr Google and can’t find anything.

Car has just had nearly a week at BMW main dealer who said nothing wrong with it, but it’s clearly not correct.

Many thanks for any wisdom here

[Glenn63]

Parking lights?

[Sheepshanks]

Is it a UK car?

[livinginasia]

Yes UK car and just started doing this a few days ago.

It’s the same brightness as the brake light.

Thanks again

[John87]

They look like rear DRLs to me. They would be brighter than taillights to allow them to be seen in daylight and switching off with headlights on would also make sense.

There is probably a setting somewhere to toggle them but may need a laptop connected

[livinginasia]

John87 said:

They look like rear DRLs to me. They would be brighter than taillights to allow them to be seen in daylight and switching off with headlights on would also make sense.

There is probably a setting somewhere to toggle them but may need a laptop connected

Thank you - yes I did wonder about that. I have an autel OBD so will see if I can find a setting using that.

[ScoobyChris]

Manual suggests it’s one of 3 “lower brake lights” which would explain why it’s the same brightness as the brake light next to it but not why it’s on all the time!

Chris

[essayer]

Yeah, it’s one of the brake lights isn’t it. Faulty FRM?

[livinginasia]

ScoobyChris said:

Manual suggests it’s one of 3 “lower brake lights” which would explain why it’s the same brightness as the brake light next to it but not why it’s on all the time!

Chris

Thanks so much - I couldn’t find it anywhere in the manual

[livinginasia]

essayer said:

Yeah, it’s one of the brake lights isn’t it. Faulty FRM?

Thank you, I will look at that tomorrow.

Strangely the rear windows aren’t working either, nothing showing on the autel scanner about either issue. Front windows working fine but rears - nothing at all.

I have a horrible feeling we may have had a furry visitor related to Mickey Mouse over the winter that could be the cause of both issues. Seems odd for both rear windows to have packed up at the same time as weird rear light issues on both lights at the same time. All a bit of a coincidence

Thanks again

[essayer]

FRM is lights and windows so very likely. Water ingress a possibility too.

[livinginasia]

essayer said:

FRM is lights and windows so very likely. Water ingress a possibility too.

Thank you so much, I had no idea. I will check it out.

Piston heads to the rescue again! The community here is amazing. Can’t thank you enough.

[Liamjrhodes]

I have no direct experience of this model of BMW, but I know some of the older models had a feature where if a bulb failed it turned on a different bulb to replace it, maybe it has sensed a fault and has put this on to cover.

But as said previously could just be the DRLs

[E-bmw]

livinginasia said:

Strangely the rear windows aren’t working either, nothing showing on the autel scanner about either issue. Front windows working fine but rears - nothing at all.

Is there a switch on the window/mirror control panel that "locks" the rear windows to prevent child usage?

If so, it could have been touched inadvertently.

[twokcc]

Good video here for water in rear sills in 4 series convertible.
Usually this that kills the FRM watch from 8 minutes to see water in other sill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERd_pRjs6Uw

From this thread here

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Good chance similar on 2 series convertibles

[livinginasia]

essayer said:

FRM is lights and windows so very likely. Water ingress a possibility too.

Thank you so much, I had no idea. I will check it out.

Piston heads to the rescue again! The community here is amazing. Can’t thank you enough.

[livinginasia]

Quick update: thank you all fir your suggestions, much appreciated.

After BMW suggested about £3k of work that wouldn’t have helped, a fabulous specialist called Cedar Garage German Car diagnosed the REM module’s software had corrupted. A £200 software update fixed everything.

Amazing service from them. Absolutely brilliant.

[jimmyjimjim]

Thank you for updating with a resolution!