[Abdul]

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the business. I only have 2 sets of NA spec left in stock. No more Euro Spec lights for another week or so. So any pending orders will be fulfilled then. I'm going to order a few hundred sets at he beginning of next year and stock them so we never have this issue again. I'm in talks with BMW Europe and hopefully they can give me a better deal and I can pass that along to all of you.

Look at how many boxes I had to open to inspect the lights and repackage in another box (You cannot believe how lousy BMW is protecting their products). The boxes are lined up to the roof.

Thanks again. Let's get all the Pre LCI cars set up with these gorgeous lights!

Abdul

[dhayek]

Originally Posted by euro*

In my guide I will be installing USA/Canadian spec Red Tail Lights on USA/Canadian spec car. North American spec cars have 4 pins on inner trunk lid tail lights, while the rest of the world has 5.

Due to North American cars operating on 4 pins, you will NOT need to run 2 extra wires to the passenger footwell BDC, as that's what you might have seen in other guides out of Europe, or Asia.
(Btw running to BDC is a proper OEM way, but you can just do a shortcut, by running a wire from the inner lights, and tapping to the outer lights).

[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Red"]Let's Begin:[/COLOR][/SIZE]

Parts that you will need:
I've bought all my parts from an eBay seller Euroactive. Shipping was fast and they replied to msgs almost instantly. Do recommend!

- Outer Left tail light: 63218493813
- Outer Right tail light: 63218493814
- Inner Left tail light on the trunk: 63218493819
- Inner Right tail light on the trunk: 63218493820

- Trim panel water channel Drip rail Left: 63218493821
- Trim panel water channel Drip rail Right: 63218493822
- Tail light finisher, trunk lid, Left: 51499448943
- Tail light finisher, trunk lid, Right: 51499448944



Attachment 2541774

Attachment 2541775

Tools that you will need:
- Tack Lifter screwdriver
- Plastic panel removal tool
- Ratchet with 10mm socket
- 1.2mm flat head screwdriver

Attachment 2541779

Lets begin on inner trunk lid tail lights:

With trunk open start by removing 8 Expanding rivets:

Attachment 2541780

Unlock the bracket for Warning Triangle. Remove the bracket by unlocking 2 clips:

Attachment 2541785

With the panel removal tool, unclip and then disconnect the trunk lid opening/closing controls:

Attachment 2541793

Attachment 2541794

Remove the 2 hinge covers, they are held by 1 hidden clip, 1 visible Expanding rivet, and 2 locks:

Attachment 2541801

Pull the Felt liner towards you, and then there will be 4 more hidden clips towards the edge of the trunk:

Attachment 2541802

Remove the 2 covers on the side of the trunk (they cover the side of the lights. Start from the bottom, and work your way up to the clip:

Attachment 2541803

Unplug the inner tail lights, and remove the 3 10mm Hex nuts on each. Carefully replace with LCI tail lights:

Attachment 2541804

Now we need to re-arrange the pins on the inner tail light connectors.

Unlock the clip on the side of the connector:

Attachment 2541805

To release each one of the wires from the connector, insert the small screwdriver into the smaller hole to release the pin lock:

Attachment 2541811

Here is the way the connectors should look like:

Original Left connector:
Pin 1: Blue/red stripe
Pin2: Empty
Pin3: Brown
Pin4: Yellow/Black stripe
Pin5: Empty
Pin6: Yellow/Brown Stripe

Original Right connector:
Pin1: Blue/White stripe
Pin2: Empty
Pin3: Brown
Pin4: Yellow
Pin5: Empty
Pin6: Blue/Black Stripe

[COLOR="Red"]Re-arranged Left connector for LCI tail lights: [/COLOR]

Pin 1: Empty
Pin2: Yellow/Brown Stripe
Pin3: Yellow/Black stripe
Pin4: Empty
Pin5: Blue/red stripe
Pin6: Brown

[COLOR="red"]Re-arranged Right connector for LCI tail lights: [/COLOR]

Pin1: Empty
Pin2: Blue/Black Stripe
Pin3: Yellow
Pin4: Empty
Pin5: Blue/White stripe
Pin6: Brown

Now let's get to the outer tail lights.

Pull back the weather stripping, and remove the drip rails on both sides. Start from the windshield and work your way down. The drip rails are held on 2 clips:

Attachment 2541812

Lift up the carpet and remove from the car:

Attachment 2541813

Remove 4 Expandable rivet clips from the Loading Sill cover:

Attachment 2541814

Pull back the weather stripping around the Sill cover and lift it up. It has another 4 hidden metal clips holding it:

Attachment 2541815

On each side of the trunk, remove 3 Expandable rivet clips:

Attachment 2541816

On each side, release the round clip around the hinges and lift it up and away:

Attachment 2541817

Attachment 2541818

Now you can carefully move the trunk trim to the side on both sides, to get to the outer tail light 10mm Hex nut and the connector. Remove the nut and unplug the connector:

Attachment 2541819

Remove 2 more 10mm Hex nuts on both outer tail lights:

Attachment 2541820

Now you can install LCI outer tail lights instead, and secure them with the same 10mm Hex nuts.

On outer tail lights, you do not need to do any rearrangements of the pins. They are plug-and-play.

[COLOR="Red"]CODING:[/COLOR]

I didn't do coding myself. I used Vick from fb.com/bimmercoder or www.bimmercoder.com . His whatsup: +60 12-396 9654 I highly recommend him.

From my understanding nobody has reported on getting these USA red lights to work properly on USA cars before me. We spent hours and hours with different variations. My lights finally work 100% function wise, and no errors: Turn signals, brakes, running lights, hazards, LED reverse lights, all work.

What is NOT working, are the Welcome Lights (the lights that go ON for the first 15 seconds when you unlock your car). Those i had to turn off in my iDrive settings, otherwise they can cause issues if you start your car before they go off.

Hopefully somebody will figure out the Welcome Lights, and I will update this guide. So far from what I've seen, installers/coders in USA are all struggling to get those to work.

Here are the final results:

Attachment 2541825

Attachment 2541826

Here is also a video of how they are functioning:

I hope this guide will be helpful to others! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by euro*

In my guide I will be installing USA/Canadian spec Red Tail Lights on USA/Canadian spec car. North American spec cars have 4 pins on inner trunk lid tail lights, while the rest of the world has 5.

Due to North American cars operating on 4 pins, you will NOT need to run 2 extra wires to the passenger footwell BDC, as that's what you might have seen in other guides out of Europe, or Asia.
(Btw running to BDC is a proper OEM way, but you can just do a shortcut, by running a wire from the inner lights, and tapping to the outer lights).

[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Red"]Let's Begin:[/COLOR][/SIZE]

Parts that you will need:
I've bought all my parts from an eBay seller Euroactive. Shipping was fast and they replied to msgs almost instantly. Do recommend!

- Outer Left tail light: 63218493813
- Outer Right tail light: 63218493814
- Inner Left tail light on the trunk: 63218493819
- Inner Right tail light on the trunk: 63218493820

- Trim panel water channel Drip rail Left: 63218493821
- Trim panel water channel Drip rail Right: 63218493822
- Tail light finisher, trunk lid, Left: 51499448943
- Tail light finisher, trunk lid, Right: 51499448944



Attachment 2541774

Attachment 2541775

Tools that you will need:
- Tack Lifter screwdriver
- Plastic panel removal tool
- Ratchet with 10mm socket
- 1.2mm flat head screwdriver

Attachment 2541779

Lets begin on inner trunk lid tail lights:

With trunk open start by removing 8 Expanding rivets:

Attachment 2541780

Unlock the bracket for Warning Triangle. Remove the bracket by unlocking 2 clips:

Attachment 2541785

With the panel removal tool, unclip and then disconnect the trunk lid opening/closing controls:

Attachment 2541793

Attachment 2541794

Remove the 2 hinge covers, they are held by 1 hidden clip, 1 visible Expanding rivet, and 2 locks:

Attachment 2541801

Pull the Felt liner towards you, and then there will be 4 more hidden clips towards the edge of the trunk:

Attachment 2541802

Remove the 2 covers on the side of the trunk (they cover the side of the lights. Start from the bottom, and work your way up to the clip:

Attachment 2541803

Unplug the inner tail lights, and remove the 3 10mm Hex nuts on each. Carefully replace with LCI tail lights:

Attachment 2541804

Now we need to re-arrange the pins on the inner tail light connectors.

Unlock the clip on the side of the connector:

Attachment 2541805

To release each one of the wires from the connector, insert the small screwdriver into the smaller hole to release the pin lock:

Attachment 2541811

Here is the way the connectors should look like:

Original Left connector:
Pin 1: Blue/red stripe
Pin2: Empty
Pin3: Brown
Pin4: Yellow/Black stripe
Pin5: Empty
Pin6: Yellow/Brown Stripe

Original Right connector:
Pin1: Blue/White stripe
Pin2: Empty
Pin3: Brown
Pin4: Yellow
Pin5: Empty
Pin6: Blue/Black Stripe

[COLOR="Red"]Re-arranged Left connector for LCI tail lights: [/COLOR]

Pin 1: Empty
Pin2: Yellow/Brown Stripe
Pin3: Yellow/Black stripe
Pin4: Empty
Pin5: Blue/red stripe
Pin6: Brown

[COLOR="red"]Re-arranged Right connector for LCI tail lights: [/COLOR]

Pin1: Empty
Pin2: Blue/Black Stripe
Pin3: Yellow
Pin4: Empty
Pin5: Blue/White stripe
Pin6: Brown

Now let's get to the outer tail lights.

Pull back the weather stripping, and remove the drip rails on both sides. Start from the windshield and work your way down. The drip rails are held on 2 clips:

Attachment 2541812

Lift up the carpet and remove from the car:

Attachment 2541813

Remove 4 Expandable rivet clips from the Loading Sill cover:

Attachment 2541814

Pull back the weather stripping around the Sill cover and lift it up. It has another 4 hidden metal clips holding it:

Attachment 2541815

On each side of the trunk, remove 3 Expandable rivet clips:

Attachment 2541816

On each side, release the round clip around the hinges and lift it up and away:

Attachment 2541817

Attachment 2541818

Now you can carefully move the trunk trim to the side on both sides, to get to the outer tail light 10mm Hex nut and the connector. Remove the nut and unplug the connector:

Attachment 2541819

Remove 2 more 10mm Hex nuts on both outer tail lights:

Attachment 2541820

Now you can install LCI outer tail lights instead, and secure them with the same 10mm Hex nuts.

On outer tail lights, you do not need to do any rearrangements of the pins. They are plug-and-play.

[COLOR="Red"]CODING:[/COLOR]

I didn't do coding myself. I used Vick from fb.com/bimmercoder or www.bimmercoder.com . His whatsup: +60 12-396 9654 I highly recommend him.

From my understanding nobody has reported on getting these USA red lights to work properly on USA cars before me. We spent hours and hours with different variations. My lights finally work 100% function wise, and no errors: Turn signals, brakes, running lights, hazards, LED reverse lights, all work.

What is NOT working, are the Welcome Lights (the lights that go ON for the first 15 seconds when you unlock your car). Those i had to turn off in my iDrive settings, otherwise they can cause issues if you start your car before they go off.

Hopefully somebody will figure out the Welcome Lights, and I will update this guide. So far from what I've seen, installers/coders in USA are all struggling to get those to work.

Here are the final results:

Attachment 2541825

Attachment 2541826

Here is also a video of how they are functioning:

I hope this guide will be helpful to others! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you for the amazing write up. I live in europe, i have a canadian specs 2020 M5, i have purchased european lci tail lights. I have arranged the wires as per your procedure. At this point i have to contact vick to code them? They are lighting but not correctly now, and i have a "rear light fault" in the car.

[euro*]

Originally Posted by dhayek

Thank you for the amazing write up. I live in europe, i have a canadian specs 2020 M5, i have purchased european lci tail lights. I have arranged the wires as per your procedure. At this point i have to contact vick to code them? There are lighting but not correctly now, and i have a "rear light fault" in the car.

Yes, you will also need to run 1 extra wire to outer tail lights. Vick will give you those instructions. I'm planing to update my thread with those instructions for European lights on USA/Canadian car soon.

And yes because you haven't got them coded yet, they will not light up properly and give an error. That will go away after coding.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by euro*

Yes, you will also need to run 1 extra wire to outer tail lights. Vick will give you those instructions. I'm planing to update my thread with those instructions for European lights on USA/Canadian car soon.

And yes because you haven't got them coded yet, they will not light up properly and give an error. That will go away after coding.

I did a little DIY doc that covers both, but focuses on the Euro (5th wire and methods to accomplish this). Pretty much all the stuff at the back end of this thread. I've been asked and have sent it to many people.

Let me know if you want a copy to help update your opening. Should be cut and paste.

[dhayek]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I did a little DIY doc that covers both, but focuses on the Euro (5th wire and methods to accomplish this). Pretty much all the stuff at the back end of this thread. I've been asked and have sent it to many people.

Let me know if you want a copy to help update your opening. Should be cut and paste.

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I did a little DIY doc that covers both, but focuses on the Euro (5th wire and methods to accomplish this). Pretty much all the stuff at the back end of this thread. I've been asked and have sent it to many people.

Let me know if you want a copy to help update your opening. Should be cut and paste.

Thank you for your reply! Yes please shall i send you my email?

[dhayek]

Originally Posted by euro*

Yes, you will also need to run 1 extra wire to outer tail lights. Vick will give you those instructions. I'm planing to update my thread with those instructions for European lights on USA/Canadian car soon.

And yes because you haven't got them coded yet, they will not light up properly and give an error. That will go away after coding.

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I did a little DIY doc that covers both, but focuses on the Euro (5th wire and methods to accomplish this). Pretty much all the stuff at the back end of this thread. I've been asked and have sent it to many people.

Let me know if you want a copy to help update your opening. Should be cut and paste.

Originally Posted by euro*

Yes, you will also need to run 1 extra wire to outer tail lights. Vick will give you those instructions. I'm planing to update my thread with those instructions for European lights on USA/Canadian car soon.

And yes because you haven't got them coded yet, they will not light up properly and give an error. That will go away after coding.

Thank you!

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by dhayek

Thank you for your reply! Yes please shall i send you my email?

Just emailed you some helpful docs.

[MarkSCD]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

Understood. I'll roll the dice on that. I like the way the lights look and they look the same US or Euro with the exception of the blinker, and my welcome lights work. Do you think someone is going to rear end you with your blinker on if they were the thin amber? With your foot most likely on the brake with them lit up?

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I did a little DIY doc that covers both, but focuses on the Euro (5th wire and methods to accomplish this). Pretty much all the stuff at the back end of this thread. I've been asked and have sent it to many people.

Let me know if you want a copy to help update your opening. Should be cut and paste.

Whenever it's convenient for you, would you please send it my way. Thanks in advance

[patrickkc]

contemplating this mod as well. I have a early 2019 production NA, so hopefully I'll have a 5pin connector and be able to use the euro tails without any errors.

[euro*]

Originally Posted by patrickkc

contemplating this mod as well. I have a early 2019 production NA, so hopefully I'll have a 5pin connector and be able to use the euro tails without any errors.

If you have the 5th wire, it won't make a difference. Still need to run an extra wire either to each outer tail light or to bdc module in passenger footwell. But it's not too difficult.

[Ptoscano911]

Patiently awaiting lights …

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by euro*

If you have the 5th wire, it won't make a difference. Still need to run an extra wire either to each outer tail light or to bdc module in passenger footwell. But it's not too difficult.

If you have the 5th wire, it's for rear fogs and you can use this as the 5th wire needed for Euros, so this is a third option. You just need to move it to pin 4 and move it at the BDC. Of course you would not have rear fogs, but we really don't anyway in the US.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by patrickkc

contemplating this mod as well. I have a early 2019 production NA, so hopefully I'll have a 5pin connector and be able to use the euro tails without any errors.

See my reply to Euro above. If your car has an early 2018 build date there is a good chance you will have the fog wire.

[EZname]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

See my reply to Euro above. If your car has an early 2018 build date there is a good chance you will have the fog wire.

I need a copy please

[patrickkc]

Originally Posted by euro*

If you have the 5th wire, it won't make a difference. Still need to run an extra wire either to each outer tail light or to bdc module in passenger footwell. But it's not too difficult.

I read somewhere in the posts that if I have the 5th wire, I can use it to re-pin. Like what below poster stated. Not sure if I even have the 5th wire yet, need to find a day to check. Also noticed you're local! I don't see many F90s around

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

If you have the 5th wire, it's for rear fogs and you can use this as the 5th wire needed for Euros, so this is a third option. You just need to move it to pin 4 and move it at the BDC. Of course you would not have rear fogs, but we really don't anyway in the US.

Ah, yes. I remember reading a post about this. Now I need to check if I really have the 5th wire. If I do, then re-pinning the 5th wire for a fully functional Euro tail light seems to be best option.

[M5CLAW]

thank you

[M5CLAW]

this looks amazing

[Maverik259]

Lol please for the love of god stop replying to the super long DIY post. Especially if all you're saying is thank you.

On a side note. I've noticed with some really cold temps this weekend I got a "turn signal out" message that went away after a restart. Not sure why that would have happened

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Lol please for the love of god stop replying to the super long DIY post. Especially if all you're saying is thank you.

On a side note. I've noticed with some really cold temps this weekend I got a "turn signal out" message that went away after a restart. Not sure why that would have happened

Which lights do you have, US or Euro and did you source them from Abdul?

[Evil Derboy]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Lol please for the love of god stop replying to the super long DIY post. Especially if all you're saying is thank you.

On a side note. I've noticed with some really cold temps this weekend I got a "turn signal out" message that went away after a restart. Not sure why that would have happened

He's spamming to get his post count up.

[mfolife]

Hey community I'm having an issue with my retrofit and maybe someone else has had this.
I purchased the LCI lights from Abdul (after lengthy delays)for my 18 Base M5. My car had the whole 5th wire on the inners and I repinned as per this thread. I had Vic code the lights and they worked fine but then every once in a while the left, right and sometimes both outer upper lights would stop working as far as the brake and signal function. The parking light function as does the lower strips but signal and braking intermittent. (only affecting the large led portion not the thin strips at the bottom)
When I scan I'm getting fault codes for shorts in both left and right outer lights and another for "exceeded allowable short circuit resets" which I believe is the Body control unit. Ive checked the security of both plugs and wires to the outer lights.
Has anyone experienced this?
Is it possible the lights (NA spec on NA Car) are defective?
Should I run feed wires from the BDC/inner tail lights since I didn't
Think I needed to? Sorry if this was addressed before

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by mfolife

Hey community I'm having an issue with my retrofit and maybe someone else has had this.
I purchased the LCI lights from Abdul (after lengthy delays)for my 18 Base M5. My car had the whole 5th wire on the inners and I repinned as per this thread. I had Vic code the lights and they worked fine but then every once in a while the left, right and sometimes both outer upper lights would stop working as far as the brake and signal function. The parking light function as does the lower strips but signal and braking intermittent. (only affecting the large led portion not the thin strips at the bottom)
When I scan I'm getting fault codes for shorts in both left and right outer lights and another for "exceeded allowable short circuit resets" which I believe is the Body control unit. Ive checked the security of both plugs and wires to the outer lights.
Has anyone experienced this?
Is it possible the lights (NA spec on NA Car) are defective?
Should I run feed wires from the BDC/inner tail lights since I didn't
Think I needed to? Sorry if this was addressed before

It doesn't sound like faulty lights as it's highly unlikely that both sides would be malfunctioning the same way and both are faulty.

Let's talk about the fifth wire. Why did you need a 5th wire with US lights? The 5th wire is for Euro lights from the BDC or jump to the outer. US cars mid 2019 and older often have 5 wires but the 5th is for rear fogs and basically doing nothing for the pre LCI tails.

So tell me more about the 5th wire. Where is it now on your inner connector and did you do anything with it at the BDC. Have you tried just removing the 5th wire from the inner connector and just use 4 wires per page one of this thread?