Re: city lights (archive)

Brad -just read and re-read your post - whew! your city lights should come on when you turn the headlight switch to the halfway position - just like all the other parking lights. on one car, i had a connection that had +12v when the parking lights were on - similar to Tims situation. i connected both 4w bulbs to this one power source and it worked fine. the other car didn't have that luxury. i used power from the parking lights on the r/l sides of each bumper. 3 wires 1 ground (brown i think) and 1 for the turn signal and 1 for the parking light (both white). i found the correct white wire and spliced into the wiring harness where it runs just below the headlight buckets for each city light. on one set i did have problems getting them both to light at first. check your grounds on the headlights and connectors - this was my only problem w/ the city lights. hope this helps a little - jeff h

Tim,

You say you've got the city lights on both e28s? Here's the deal with mine. . .

This might get confusing, but just re-read it until it makes sense. When I installed the lights, the passenger's side 4w bulb would light up when I threw the high beams, but the driver's side never lit up. I changed the bulb, and it started doing it, too. So then I had both 4w bulbs lighting up when I threw my high beams (remember, I have the Euro harness, so the low beam cuts off when I turn on the high beam). . .

I tried to figure out what I needed to plug into what to get the city light to work, but I couldn't figure out a good situation. So, I snipped one of my parking light wires that goes to the front light and wrapped it around the 4w bulb (yes, I know, VERY ghetto). It actually worked for the passenger's side! But, for some reason, it never worked for the driver's side. Remember, the driver's side has a NEW bulb in it. Here's where it gets really weird. . .

When I had my ghetto wiring for the city light, the 4w bulb wouldn't light up when I threw the high beams. That's perfectly fine with me if both city lights would work! But, they didn't. So, I pulled the wires on the ghetto city light and put them back where they belonged. Then, the 4w bulb would cut on when I threw the high beam, just as before. Here's what I'm trying to figure out. . .

Why is it that I can get the passenger's side to work both ways (4w bulb on with high beams with regular wiring and city light on with ghetto wiring) but the driver's side to work only one way (4w bulb on with high beams, but no city light with ghetto wiring). Remember, the driver's side has a new bulb in it. I even put a new bulb in the passenger's side to see if maybe the bulb was the problem, but it still works fine.

Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?

Thanks,

Brad Couvillon
'87 528e

Follow Ups:

It's okay to call me stupid for this one. . . Brad Couvillon 23:54 8/20/2001 (0)

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