electrical question,and poll

[Paul in NZ]

Had reason to replace the lh brakelight(DING.....1 BRAKE LIGHT) When I stood behind the car while the guy at the station pumped the brake pedal I noticed my tail lights are not equal in intensity......I often notice Euro cars suffer from this....what gives

[Phil Sanderson]

If they are of unequal brightness it would usually mean that you have light bulbs of unequal wattage. My '89 525i is supposed to have 5 watt bulbs but these can be hard to find so people put in 10 watt bulbs.

Doing this can melt the crappy plastic BMW uses for the tail lights as the 10 watt bulbs get hotter than the 5 watt bulbs. This is what happened to my tail lights.

Phil