E36 Amber running light issue

[stinkinrich]

Having a major head scratch here...

Just removed an homemade running light loom from Natedoggs E46 on here.

Fitted it to my E36, but not working properly. The + and - is soldered in behind the 4-pin plug on the back of the headlight assembly, picking up on the brown and grey that powers the sidelight.

The + then goes into a resistor to drop the voltage so the amber indicator glows dimmer rather than full brightness. Out of the resistor and both wires wired into the indicator bulb.

Now when i turn on my sidelights, the rears, side repeaters and fronts glow, even the green arrows on the dash! Ive wired it exactly as i took it off the E46 but having issues on mine.

I thought it was a dead short happening as all my indicators are glowing, so i switched the wires around coming from the sidelight but this just popped the fuse

Any help would be appreciated!
Rich

[stinkinrich]

Sorted. Needed a diode to stop the back feed to other lights.

[Average_Jerk]

haha, a diode will certainly help you out. either that or use a relay to isolate them (thats what i would do)

[hill9]

I don’t think a diode will do the job. You should better try separate connections for all your lightings, sure it’s hell difficult. But you could use at least a separate connection for headlights. A good motor worker who is pro in motor electric work could help you. Diode naturally increases the current drop.

[flemcadiddlehopper]

Back feeding through the circuit is usually caused by a bad ground in one of the lighting units, Not sure in your case but on most german cars brown is ground. Use a wiring diagram and check the wires have what they are supposed to at their sources.
good luck I know it is a pain but it is usually something very simple.


Gordo.