Flashing lights in footwell!
 

Hi to all,

Really could do with some help on this as I don think it warrants a BMW service which would be costly.

Basically I recently bought a 318ti (3d Auto yr 2000) and whilst driving as normal the footwell lights underneath the driver's and front passenger feet begin to come on and off randomly. Sometimes the light stays on for longer and other times just bliknks quickly. The problem is this only happens at certain times during a route hence I thought this was a warning of some kind about my driving or the road condition.

For example two days after I purchased it I was driving down a pitch black coutry road which had windy roads and man made speed bumps. The footwell lights began to flas on and off sporadically (in that there was no repeatable pattern evident). The unusual thing is that this stopped once I was driving on city roads again and actually occured again when I drove down that stretch of coutry road a few hours later! It appeared as though it had something to do with the road but now I'm not sure as this has been happening on normal roads on random occasions.

Please help...i need to know if this a telltale warning or light or more simply just an electrical fault. Im sure someone has experienced this. Many thanks to all.

Regards,

Gambit

P.S.

Also on one occasion the interior light kept fading on and off as well!

I have checked the manual and there is nof info on this. Please help

My guess is that there has been some mechanical drift in one of your door switches or a door, and that the switch is now at the verge of going to the open/on position.

Hey put only one thread please, i think you have 3 thread with the same question

sorry about that was an accident as page kept refreshing.

ok, no problem :),about your problem with the ligths check or clean the door swith.

Please do not post threads in the Knowledge Base. This section is for posting if you know how to install something on your car like say shocks/springs,headlights etc. I have moved this to the interior/ice section. I understand your new so not a big deal.

Most likely your problem is the switch in your door or trunk that engages the interior lights when the doors are open. I had the same problem on my ti and bought a new switch in the trunk and it corrected my problem.

hey man, thanks for the reply

sorry about posting in wrong place...im a newb

Being a newbie is no excuse! just kidding, Hey I had a similar prob on one of my e36's but it only happened once. I was driving my euro spec e36 320 in Sicily one night and hit a pothole. This wan't any ordinary pothole, it was a canyon! I swear I seen a Fiat down in there. Anyway, I hit the dang thing so hard that the dome light came on and stayed on! I continued to drive in the hopes it would turn off which It finally did when I opened and shut my door. It never did it again after that but I did have to replace a wheel. I was running B&G Autobahn Springs on Sachs sport shocks/struts and 17" style 42's with 40 series Michelins.
If it was a fuse, they wouldn't come on at all and you would notice other features not functioning like a cigarette lighter or central doorlocks or whatever else shared that fuse. And since your dome light was also having issues I would rule out the bulbs and check your switches in the door jams. It's more than likely going bad and I would guess it's the driver's side since it gets more use. There's no way to check it while it's installed since the lights will come on if you open the door, so I'd just change it since it's probably a cheap part. If you want to fix it later you could just switch your dome light off and remove the bulbs from the floor lights. I wouldn't remove the fuse since you'll lose any other features on that circuit.

I just thought of a way to check it in the car. Open your door and verify that the light is on. Then from the outside, slowly close the door but not all of the way. Once you feel the latching mechanism touch the striker pin in the doorjam, gently press the door all the way closed with the palms of your hands until it barely engages. Look inside and see if the light is still on. You should to do this with the car running because the light will stay on anyway for a while until you start the car or the timer switches it off. Repeat on passenger side if this doesn't work.

LEAVE YOUR WINDOW DOWN if you do this with the car running!!!
-Paul

Thanks for the info guys. I will definitely try out the suggestions mentioned.

Gambit

My hatch sometimes closes latches but doesn't "lock" and on bumps it'll open a enough for the light to be on...probably not your problem...but just throwing it out there...

I have exactly the same problem with my 2000 Dakar 318ti. This forum is so helpful! I know what to do now and can rest peacefully knowing it's nothing major. :)