dome light not working after LED interior installation...

[WhiteTgr135i]

I just installed LED lighting throughout my entire interior. Everything was working spot on. All 3 of my map lights (I.E. dome lights) were working perfectly. I looked at the instruction manual that the LED company sent me to see if every light i installed were in there proper sockets and the "dome light" had a "map" light bulb in it so i removed the map LED light and installed the Dome light, and nothing happened.

So i removed the Dome LED light again, turned it around, and put it back into the socket, turned the light on, and again, nothing. So i removed the dome LED, and inserted the map LED interior bulb, turned it on....nothing. So i got the OEM bulb that was originally in the dome socket, inserted it in, and again, nothing.

So i am assuming something went wrong, and now my dome light is broken? The 2 map lights on the side work just fine, and the rear dome light works too, just the middle dome light isn't working. Any idea's on how to fix this? Since i installed aftermarket LED's, the dealership won't do sh*t for me....Any solutions, quick fixes, advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

-Tycho

[New21er]

Check to see if the little tabs in the socket arn't bent or broken. I bent mine and the light did not work. I had to straighten/spread the tabs some. Worked for me.

[Pig Farmer]

Tycho,
Because the LEDs draw virtually no current, the car thinks the bulbs are burnt out. They will run for a bit, but typically shut off as soon as the computer senses the low current. I seem to recall that if you lock the door, wait 30 seconds and open the car, the dome lights are rest. I had to keep flipping the LEDs around until they all worked at the same time. It almost seemed like the positive and negative poles of the LEDs had to be daisy chained in the right sequence in order for them all to work. Good luck.

[WhiteTgr135i]

Hm, well that doesn't explain why the OEM bulbs won't light up in that socket...?

[WhiteTgr135i]

Hm, just plugged in the LED bulb again in the Dome light and now it works...go figure. Thanks for the help everyone, much appreciated.

[mathys]

Think you got busted by the timer on the lights? After a while all the lights switch off, when you're leaving the doors open/closed for a certain time. You need to push the start button once or close and open a door again to get the power back to the lights.

[dorkdog]

How do you work around the timer issue? I want to be able to leave my lights on longer than 10 seconds. I have also upgraded to LEDs (red) all around, and like the OP they stay on a few seconds then turn off for good.

[135ibatblack]

Hey whats up guys! I recently bought my baby girl. She is a beautiful, n54 135i(with the m sport package of course.) This is my first bimmer and I already love it dearly lol. So I installed some leds myself after watching a YouTube video, seeing that it was simple enough, but came across a problem. When I unlock my car the lights all come on including the map lights which I also switched to leds. But when I drive the car, the lights turn on for about 10 seconds then shut off, until I turn my car off and remove the key is when they all light up again. I'm not sure what I did wrong or if I should I take it to a mechanic that knows about electric work...I thought I run it thru here first and see if you guys could help me out. Thank you bros.

(Here's my beautiful 08 135i)

[Jorgensen54]

You need to be more specific which lights. If it's just your interiors, it sounds like regular and normal operation. They're not meant to stay on, unless you physically press the button(s) to turn them on.

But she sure is a beaut.