Thank you for this video. I was able to retrofit rear fog lights on my US 2001 E38 740iL to make it road legal in Germany. Especially sharing the part numbers was a great help but also the wiring of cables.
Thank you for this video, it helped in an unexpected way. Took my 540 in for safety inspection and they failed it due to part of the brake lights not working. Come to find out it was just a rear fog light that US cars didn’t come with and problem solved
Hmmm I think it's a little bit foggy this morning. I know, I'll put on my super new fog lights just in case. All those drivers are now looking at my new fog lights. Oh I'm so satisfied 😁 Nice video guys 👍
I bought some lights off eBay years ago and they came with them. I cant get both of them to work together . I wateched this video out of curiosity . Now i know what it is and i just might need to get the lcm programed properly . 😪 wow thanks . I have a 2000 E39 i have to check the production date as well as the pins . Amazing video didn’t know i need to watch it .
HEY Great video. I did this about six years ago on my 2002 M5. I did do all L.E.D. on brake/backup/turn and rear fog lights Oh and third brake light. No bulb out on dash warning . Used 10 ohm 50 watt heat sink wire wound resistor per bulb. car will do a police wig wag on first key up then will only do a flash of each bulb once every 30 seconds. makes a great second safety feature. Had no problems. Both M5's look very good.
Nice vid. As someone whose cars have rear fog lights (I'm in Sweden), I've never seen a car with rear fog lights on *both* sides. In fact, the very powerful foglight is always asymmetric so it isn't confused with the symmetric brake light. So you guys did all that work to plug in the rear foglight on both sides when you could have done just one :)
I have that functionality on my e36 here in Spain, I dont understand why us-spec cars dont have rear fogs, front ones are useless in my opinion but rears are key when the visibility is slow, although usually there is only one rear fog light because if there are two people think you are constantly braking and when you truly brake sometimes people dont notice but old cars like my e36 have two, new cars have only one.
I did this retrofit in my e34 and my bulb out warning works in the display, but I also used a Euro lkm rather than the original one. I did this retrofit years ago in my old e38 which was identical to this and don't believe I had a bulb out warning. Interesting for sure!
Some members use this fog light feature as another brake light instead, by just bridging an extra wire to your current brake lights for extra safety as well when braking.
Another great video - thanks for this one guys. I'm not planning on doing this any time soon, but it was super helpful to see how the fog light switch works. My fog lights do not work. In fact, the switch does not light up at all when I turn the cabin and headlights on. I'm not getting any error messages or "check bulb" messages, so I'm wondering if perhaps it just came unplugged at the switch somehow? Now I know how to take it apart and check at least. Any other ideas?
I would start at the switch. Make sure it's plugged in. Then try a replacement/known good switch in it's place. Then check LCM for error codes and/or make sure it's not disabled somewhere.
True that. I was thinking of other things as well, like the dash and other stupid stuff that US enthusiasts have to live with. Btw is there still some stupid electronic speed limiter in either of your M5:s?
Hey there! Nice work, really appreciate it. I might have a stupid question, what model of LED can replace high beam halogen "pps gf40" to fit in place. Can anyone help?
Hi lads, great video! I'm in Belgium and I got myself a 1997 520i (yeah yeah basic package etc unfortunately) but low mileage, that's why I got it. I've got only rear fog lights and none on the front. Is it the same principle to install front fog lights please?
I've never seen an E39 without front fog lights! I assume the job is about the same, but the pins on the LCM will be different. Reference the LCM pin-out we have at www.e39source.com/downloads/ to determine which ones you'll need to add.
E39Source Like I said, mine's the basic bog standard 520 cause all the other ones with big engines usually have the crap beaten out of them by now. I'm thinking of swapping out some of the equipment bit by bit. While we're at it, what about the indicator stalk? Mine's without the BC button, so it only shows OAT. Is it a matter of getting a stalk with the button and activating the feature or does it need a new instrument panel? Thanks for the tips as always
It depends on the way you want to route the wiring. Full removal of the rear seats and parcel shelf in addition to the sill covers and such will take about half a day, though it could be done quicker if you're willing to integrate the wiring in a more temporary fashion.
Ah gotcha. Also in regards to the rear fog light, couldn't you get away with putting an led version of that bulb in there since the car doesn't do the check control for it, then you'd have a super bright rear fog?
Yes, I would imagine that one could do that quite easily. But the stock ones are actually super bright and visually match the rest of the rear lights quite well. I have also coded the check control for that circuit on in my car already.
Fog is much less of an issue in US overall than Europe. It is a constant problem throughout Europe, especially in winter. Also, US drivers don’t know how to use fog lights. Especially the rear fog lights. In Germany you are only allowed to turn on any fog lights on when visibility is less than 50 yards. You WILL get a ticket, they have serious police here who don’t take any BS. This is because fog lights are very annoying and perhaps dangerous, especially to the following driver. You’ll notice this when you see the Audi or Volvo drivers who don’t know that their rear fog lights are on (tell them to set fog lights halfway so only front fog lights are on). The way the lenses focus is a problem without the fog.
Wow. I can appreciate all the work, but I would never attempt this retrofit. I'd much rather spend the day detailing the car. Most US drivers will just assume these are brake lights lol.
Is he considering an engine rebuild, or does it run just fine? What's the mileage compared to haha amg? Btw does the O2 phone work? What kind of SIM does it take? lol
