E46 License Plate Lights Stays On

I have the strangest problem. When I got home from work this evening,
the license plate lights stayed on after I shut everything off (i.e.
shut off the lights, turned off the ignition, etc). It's a 2000 323Ci.
The only thing that makes the license plate lights go out is if I open
the trunk (but they come back on as soon as I close the trunk). What
the heck is going on?

The only thing I can think of is your headlight switch (used to turn on
your headlights from 0ff->park->on). I would try swapping that out. On
my E36, there's nothing else in between other than the check control
module which monitors whether a bulb is burnt out (passive device).

wrote:
> I have the strangest problem. When I got home from work this evening,
> the license plate lights stayed on after I shut everything off (i.e.
> shut off the lights, turned off the ignition, etc). It's a 2000 323Ci.
> The only thing that makes the license plate lights go out is if I open
> the trunk (but they come back on as soon as I close the trunk). What
> the heck is going on?
>