[fysntian]

Originally Posted by Bustedstuff210

Hey guys…. I have a 2020 X3M competition that I purchased new and bought these taillights. When I went to install them last night, I noticed my stock harness for the outer taillights only has 3 wires and not 4 (missing the blue). Also I tried all wiring combinations and cannot get the lights to work properly. What's happening is that the turn signals which are amber are coming on as the brake lights. Anyone who has done the retrofit have any ideas?

Negative, taillight, brake, turn signal, 4 wires.
3 wires may be US spec? Brake and turn signal?

[Bestle]

Sounds like a similar issue those with 5 series were having. From memory, your options are to run another wire from the BDC or make a jumper wire from the inner to outer taillight,

[MarinoB]

Originally Posted by Bustedstuff210

Hey guys…. I have a 2020 X3M competition that I purchased new and bought these taillights. When I went to install them last night, I noticed my stock harness for the outer taillights only has 3 wires and not 4 (missing the blue). Also I tried all wiring combinations and cannot get the lights to work properly. What's happening is that the turn signals which are amber are coming on as the brake lights. Anyone who has done the retrofit have any ideas?

Same issue here.
Going to play around with jumping wires from the inner light. Hopefully can figure this out.

[MarinoB]

So jumping the turn signal indicator wire from the inner light to the outer light works...sort of.
As Bustedstuff210 said the amber indicator lights come on also as brake lights.
Don't see a way around this without coding (if that is even possible) since the original lights worked in that fashion, indicator lights also coming on as brake lights.
If anyone has any insight would be appreciated.
As of now everything works but turn signals come on along with the outer brake light when braking.

[itsmeitsb]

I'm all on board for snagging these once we get this all sorted out.

Thanks for all that are contributing to figuring it out.

Is it a case where a single line is looking for different resistance to trigger different lights, rather than independent lines for each light? Just thinking on ideas back to the little bit of auto electrical I learned (~20 years ago)

[MarinoB]

Originally Posted by itsmeitsb

I'm all on board for snagging these once we get this all sorted out.

Thanks for all that are contributing to figuring it out.

Is it a case where a single line is looking for different resistance to trigger different lights, rather than independent lines for each light? Just thinking on ideas back to the little bit of auto electrical I learned (~20 years ago)

Yes a single line triggers both the turn signals and brake light.

This is how I believe the signals are in my car, a 2020 X3M.

Outer Light (3 Wires): Ground, Running Light, Turn/Brake Light
Inner Light (4 Wires): Ground, Running Light, Turn/Brake Light, Reverse Light

Pre LCI outer light has the turn signal also serve as brake light, LCI lights have a dedicated brake light and separate turn signal.

Either finding the source of brake & signal lights individually or perhaps some coding should be the answer. Anyone know if there are individual fuses in the BDC for brake & turn signal lights?

[Bustedstuff210]

As a temporary fix, I just bought some red taillight tint from metrostyling to cover the amber lights so that they are red when braking. It looks ok but definitely dims the lights a bit. I just don't really want to get pulled over for amber brake lights.

[Chevyguy2021]

Originally Posted by Bustedstuff210

As a temporary fix, I just bought some red taillight tint from metrostyling to cover the amber lights so that they are red when braking. It looks ok but definitely dims the lights a bit. I just don't really want to get pulled over for amber brake lights.

Have any pics?

[MarinoB]

For those with a 2020 US spec that have LCI Euro spec lights and have the signal/brake light issue...
I looked up the wiring diagrams on BMW TIS and now have a game plan.
Located the wires in the BDC that control the signal lights in the side view mirrors. Going to piggy back off those wires and run them to the tail lights. My only worry is when I leave the actual signal/brake wire to the tail lights disconnected it will throw a fault. At least I now have a place to start.

Will report back after I try it out.

For those interested below is a link to BDC wiring info and other info related to this that I downloaded from BMW TIS.

https://app.box.com/s/izq74y2qyak5xysmcvp8cg5plpegibhk

[MarinoB]

The plan worked. Tail light turn signals working independent from brake signals, piggy backing off the side mirror turn signals.
Don't have to worry about getting pulled over anymore 😎
Anyone who wants Euro LCIs on your US spec go for it.

Next is to wire the brake lights to the spoiler brake light so they become independent from turn signals as well. At least for now I'm road legal and don't have amber turn signals coming on as brake lights.

[Isawelvis]

keep us posted the the spoiler brake light. I do love the amber turn signals

Did you have to run wiring from where you piggy back on the BDC( wherever that is) back to the tail lights.

[ExJ]

Originally Posted by Shaun170

Funny how the LCI rear lights were on a lot of peoples hate list for the LCI when it was first announced and pictures started appearing, now people want to retro fit them

Yeah it is funny because I didn't like them at first too. Wanted to buy MY 21 but the price for a used one compared to a new one made no sense. Ended up with MY 22 and the rear lights have grown on me. In the the flesh, It looks clean, crisp, and stealthy.

[napeHbNYC]

Does anyone have the repinning instructions for the US spec lci retrofit?

[dinan5m3]

Originally Posted by napeHbNYC

Does anyone have the repinning instructions for the US spec lci retrofit?

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showp...0&postcount=36

[napeHbNYC]

Originally Posted by dinan5m3

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showp...0&postcount=36

Thank you 👍.

[MarinoB]

Haven't had time to finish wiring my Euro spec lights completely like I want them but the hardest part is done. I could live with it the way they are now but figured I went this far might was well go the extra mile.

Some videos of how they look now:

[jinetix]

Originally Posted by MarinoB

Haven't had time to finish wiring my Euro spec lights completely like I want them but the hardest part is done. I could live with it the way they are now but figured I went this far might was well go the extra mile.

Some videos of how they look now:

I see that your brake light is still turning on with the turn signals. Try this in Bimmercode to separate them.

In Bimmercode, go to BDC module and access expert mode.

Go to
- 3706 LicLogLamp2PhysLampIndex
Then chose
-G01_ECE_code1

[MarinoB]

Originally Posted by jinetix

I see that your brake light is still turning on with the turn signals. Try this in Bimmercode to separate them.

In Bimmercode, go to BDC module and access expert mode.

Go to
- 3706 LicLogLamp2PhysLampIndex
Then chose
-G01_ECE_code1

Thank you for the advice!
I tried but I do not have a 3706 option.
See screenshot below, there are 2 options which both give me choice to select G01_ECE_code.
Will one of those work? Do I need to select both? Thanks again.

[dinan5m3]

Originally Posted by jinetix

I see that your brake light is still turning on with the turn signals.

What's it supposed to do instead? The Pre-LCI tail lights behave like the video in terms of side lights (along with inner lights) coming on and blinking.

[MarinoB]

Originally Posted by dinan5m3

What's it supposed to do instead? The Pre-LCI tail lights behave like the video in terms of side lights (along with inner lights) coming on and blinking.

In the US the way mine are working now is exactly how it should work because the signals are also red so all light up like mine but in red. Brake light and turn signals operate off the same line.

Euro ones the brake light and turn signals are independent so only the orange portion comes on when signaling, not the red outer portion. The red outer portion only comes on while braking.

[dinan5m3]

Originally Posted by MarinoB

In the US the way mine are working now is exactly how it should work because the signals are also red so all light up like mine but in red. Brake light and turn signals operate off the same line.

You beat me to it, just came back from BMW of Southpoint to check this out myself (because i'm OCD... ), and what above said is how i'm seeing in the showroom as well (unless i'm on a crack) except the US spec ones don't have the orange'ish/amber lights, which looks like this car has.

[jinetix]

Originally Posted by MarinoB

In the US the way mine are working now is exactly how it should work because the signals are also red so all light up like mine but in red. Brake light and turn signals operate off the same line.

Euro ones the brake light and turn signals are independent so only the orange portion comes on when signaling, not the red outer portion. The red outer portion only comes on while braking.

Ah, you wanted the behavior to be similar to the US spec lights. Seeing that you have Euro-spec taillights, thought you would want the brake light separated from the turn signal. The coding bit I mentioned above sets it so that the system decouples the brake light and turn signal light like in Europe.