How (not) to replace a failed BMW F22 2-Series taillamp assembly
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- Опубліковано 25 січ 2023
- The bad news:
If you're an owner of a 2-Series F22 BMW built between 2014 and 2016, you either have already experienced a taillamp failure, or you have it to look forward to. It was a design flaw that BMW remediated some time in late 2016. To their credit, they repaired it under warranty, and even extended the warranty by a year for US buyers. But if it fails on you now? Sorry, but you're out of luck. I tried calling the local BMW service department to find out if it was still covered, and they wouldn't even call me back to give me an answer.
The good news:
The repair isn't that expensive, or difficult to do at home, provided you know what you're doing and you have the right tools.
The bad news:
I don't know what I'm doing, and don't have the right tools. And the other UA-cam videos I found don't cover the full details of the repair.
The good news:
I'm going to clearly show you, in detail, everything I did to fix it.
The bad news:
Including all of my mistakes. So take everything I say or do with a grain of salt.
Spoiler:
In the end, even though I did fix the problem, my wiring work is not correct, and this is going to bother me until I go back and do it again. When I do, I will either invest in a proper crimping tool, or follow some advice from the Bimmer forums and solder the contact pins.
Discussions on the fix:
www.2addicts.com/forums/showt...
www.2addicts.com/forums/showp...
Discussions on the pin crimper:
www.bimmerfest.com/threads/wh...
www.bimmerfest.com/threads/el...
Parts:
F22 Taillight Bulb Holder - Left: Mfg# 63217370291
F22 Taillight Bulb Holder - Right: Mfg# 63217370292
Tail Light Repair Cable: Mfg# 61122448168 - Розваги
Thanks for posting. This is a very good detailed video. I was completely lost on the groudn wire config until I saw this. Saved me a bunch of time and headaches.
Cool, I'm glad it helped - thanks!
So fortunate I came across your post. This just happened to my son's 2016 228i on the driver side. Thanks for the very complete and informative repair!
Glad to be of assistance! Despite my frustrations with the repair, we've had no further taillight issues since I've replaced both taillamp assemblies.
@@CHChris no worries! Can you please provide a link for the company you ordered the parts from? Thanks again!
@@keithp115 Sure, for my 2016 228i, I ordered these parts from ECS tuning (since I ended up replacing both sides, I bought two of the repair cable kit, and one each of the bulb holder assemblies):
www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/repair-cable-tail-li/61122448168/
www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/bulb-socket-right/63217370292/
www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/bulb-socket-left/63217370291/
@@CHChris thank you. Actually ordered and received it last week. Now time to install it ASAP
I’m not surprised you got some wires mixed up. I can’t imagine why a taillight assembly could possibly need that many wires. If the Internet says it’s a thirty minute job, I always figure it’ll take at least two hours.
Bummer about your Hero8 having a mind of its own. Both of my crappy Chinese action cams have screwed me by shutting off in the middle of filming.
…but they are crappy. And not GoPros.
That's the thing about technology. There are going to be great aspects to any design, and some failings. In some regards, these tools are incredibly engineered, and sometimes overengineered. Then, sometimes, they just drop the ball entirely. That taillamp assembly falls into all three categories. So does the GoPro.
Technically all u gotta so is drill a hole shove a wire through the plastic solder it to the silver board and connect it to the brown wire... same thing
Thank you for this detailed video! I'm glad I found it because the others on UA-cam did not show how to connect the new kit's 2 ground wires. I am about to replace my right tail light assembly (2015 M235i) and am wondering if it would make sense to add a touch of solder to strengthen the wired pins after crimping. Also, rather than PULLing the pins out of the old socket, what about PUSHing them out with a punch? I like the idea of reusing the old (good) pinned wires since the crimps came from the factory. This was never mentioned in any of the other videos. Taking a picture of the socket hook up is a great idea if you are going to reuse the old wires. Most videos show the wires cut from the socket, and then matching up the new and the old sockets when reassembling. Thanks again!
Hi Philip - thanks for commenting! I'm glad you're finding the video helpful.
Yes, I agree that adding some solder is a good way to solidify the crimp without buying a special tool. This is exactly what I'm going to do when I get around to taking the taillamp assemblies apart. Fortunately, I have not had any problems in the months since I replaced the assemblies, but I will be more confident in my work knowing that those crimps really are secure.
And yes: I think it is a good idea to use a narrow punch of some kind to push the pins out. That may prevent any damage to the wires from occurring, and may make it so that you can save and reuse all of the original pins (other than the problem ground connection, of course). Very good suggestion - I wish I'd thought of it first, it would have saved me some time :)
I am confident that you will have success with your repair! Good luck!
Can you link where you got the part? I can’t find it for the right side
Hey, really informative video - thank you for this. Just wish I'd seen it before I attempted to repair mine today...
I did everything as all the other videos have shown, however I fell at the final stage. For some reason it was impossible for some of my pins to fit into the connector. Two of them slid right in with ease, but the others just wouldn't go in, no matter what force I used!! Interestingly enough, this included the BMW crimp from the factory, so I don't think it was my crimping that was the issue.
The only thing I can think of right now is that maybe the pins weren't going in at the perfect orientation? If you know, would you please tell me exactly what direction the pins are meant to go into the connector (i.e. is the wire on the underside, top, left, right) as you push it in? I didn't think that I had done the two that worked any differently to the ones that didn't fit, but perhaps I did...
Also, did you find a perfect tool for the crimping? I have the same sort of tool as you, but I'm not a fan of it. I'd much prefer something better that is perfect for the job!
One more big thank you from me - thanks for showing us how to open the connector! I've been searching on UA-cam for the past couple hours to find a video showing this exact style connector and how to de-pin, but you're the ONLY person who has shown me. The two pins that actually managed to fit into the connector are stuck in there now, so I'd like to try to get them out and retry the process tomorrow (hopefully after finding out that the pins need to go in at a specific direction).
Thanks again!!
Thank you for the detailed video. Ended up getting the crimping tool and it was a breeze. I am still curious what that wire bundle clip on the new ground wire attaches to. I am wondering if the double sided crimper goes in there.
This is what I did with the two side of the double sided crimper: one side was the same as yours. The other side was the ground wire from the chassis and the second ground wire. Crimped both sides and then used Tessa tape underneath and above the shrink wrap. But at that point it was too big to sit on the clip. Maybe if the tessa tape is not used and just shrink wrap is used, the shrink wrapped junction might sit on that clip to avoid moving around.
Nice! What crimper did you end up getting? My repair has held up so far, but I still want to go back in and properly re-crimp everything. This time, with the right tools :)
Glad you found the video useful!
So, in the case of the extra modified ground plug and wires..basically, all of the wires are connected together and then connected to the one ground wire coming from the car?
Can u pls post a video for third tail light replacement as this one in on the back wind shield on F22
As soon as it fails I will
@@CHChris I am cleaning mine as insects entered it have openness the cover will remove the light today. Afraid of clips
@@CHChris I just cleaned mine. It was a good experience. F22
There should be a class action lawsuit