Need your help! Disappointed..

[SSR-125]

So I picked up my 135i recently and have been enjoying every second of it! Love this car however today when I was driving home from work, a headlight malfunction appeared on my cluster. I figured it was a light bulb for the projector ect. because I just swapped out the halo lights with the LUX 160s Pure white ones 2 weeks ago. Long story short, the drivers side inner and outer halo were burnt out but the other side was still lit up as it should be. Found it a bit confusing when they are brand new.. Did some testing and took the drivers side LUX halo light (The one that is supposedly burnt out) and installed it in the passenger side and it worked. The drivers side halo rings wouldn't even work with the brand new LUX bulbs nor the stock OEM bulbs. Did some research obviously before making a post, and many where saying take it to the dealer and have it reset because chances are there was a short in the FRM.. So I followed those steps and paid $40 to have it reset which didn't even fix the problem.... After all of this, the passenger one is also not lighting... Could both FRM's be bad? Im extremely disappointed and unsure of what step to take next.. Any input would be appreciated.. I will keep them the way they are before I would consider bringing it to the dealer and having them fix it. Note: This is the halo rings only, not the headlight xenon itself. Thanks

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by SSR-125

So I picked up my 135i recently and have been enjoying every second of it! Love this car however today when I was driving home from work, a headlight malfunction appeared on my cluster. I figured it was a light bulb for the projector ect. because I just swapped out the halo lights with the LUX 160s Pure white ones 2 weeks ago. Long story short, the drivers side inner and outer halo were burnt out but the other side was still lit up as it should be. Found it a bit confusing when they are brand new.. Did some testing and took the drivers side LUX halo light (The one that is supposedly burnt out) and installed it in the passenger side and it worked. The drivers side halo rings wouldn't even work with the brand new LUX bulbs nor the stock OEM bulbs. Did some research obviously before making a post, and many where saying take it to the dealer and have it reset because chances are there was a short in the FRM.. So I followed those steps and paid $40 to have it reset which didn't even fix the problem.... After all of this, the passenger one is also not lighting... Could both FRM's be bad? Im extremely disappointed and unsure of what step to take next.. Any input would be appreciated.. I will keep them the way they are before I would consider bringing it to the dealer and having them fix it. Note: This is the halo rings only, not the headlight xenon itself. Thanks

You'll need to start isolating components to track down the issue if there's nothing stored in the computer (assuming no since you took it to BMW?)

Start with a test light or multimeter and check for current at different locations starting with the H8 harness in the headlight assembly. Work back testing the assembly to assembly harness next, and then junction points until you reach the computer.

Or try testing at the computer first, but the headlight is pretty accessible.

It's possible there is a break in the wire within the headlight, that would be my hope/assumption since nothing else was touched (since you swapped the units to lux)

But off the top of my head I would guess either an issue within the headlight itself, a problem with the computer/FRM, or a damaged wire somewhere between the two.

As with any electrical issue check your fuses. I would imagine this is not a fuse related issue since the other side is working but there always s chance, it's a simple check at least. Fuse box is located behind the glove box, reach to the left and right and pull the tabs that keep the glove box from falling open farther and it will release the glove box allowing it to hang vertical giving you access.

WORST case scenario you could tap into the other harness at the AE wire, run it across (pull the bumper, run it across the frame similar to how the headlight washer lines are run - bumper is super easy to remove there's a DIY here) and then cut the AE wire about 4" back from the harness. Solder your jumper to this wire and heat shrink the other end so it doesn't cause issues down the road. This would be the quick and dirty fix assuming there's a break somewhere between the computer and your headlight. BUT test everything first. Doing this won't fix jack of the issue is in your headlight or at the headlight assembly harness.

Also do a quick visual check of your harnesses. Look for any scorching, rust, or other contamination/buildup. It's unlikely but maybe a foreign object somehow found its way in there or the harness itself is damaged and worked its way loose. There are so many possible causes you really need to start testing and documenting the voltage you see at specific points, or don't see.

The pin you want is pin #1. Have a look at this thread, see my first post (post 2 I think) for details: LCI Headlamp Retrofit http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1138660

[SSR-125]

Thank you for the thorough response and all the tips. I was tinkering with it yesterday and my headlight wiring on both sides seems to be like corroded under the heat shrink style material that they put from the factory maybe due to heat. It more so looks chewed up. My guess is that it cause a short circuit and blew out my FRM. My question is I haven't removed the headlights on one of these cars which is straight forward but I was wondering if the headlight harness is replaceable, where it would come down to me just buying a new headlight harness that would be plug and play? Was it built into the body harness? Regardless looking to replace the wires for the headlights.. Just bummed out because the halos looked excellent! Thanks

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by SSR-125

Thank you for the thorough response and all the tips. I was tinkering with it yesterday and my headlight wiring on both sides seems to be like corroded under the heat shrink style material that they put from the factory maybe due to heat. It more so looks chewed up. My guess is that it cause a short circuit and blew out my FRM. My question is I haven't removed the headlights on one of these cars which is straight forward but I was wondering if the headlight harness is replaceable, where it would come down to me just buying a new headlight harness that would be plug and play? Was it built into the body harness? Regardless looking to replace the wires for the headlights.. Just bummed out because the halos looked excellent! Thanks

Not sure on the harness (I'm sure BMW will sell you one though if they have em) but check www.realoem.com - enter the last 7 digits of your VIN and it'll pull up your specific vehicles build date/ equipment. You can go to the electrical and check wiring bundle layouts.

Can you post a pic? Sounds like you somehow had a short which didn't trip a fuse... If that's the case the wire may be good farther down the line but it would have heated the wire enough to actually melt the conductor if this happened (had this happen with super small guage wire on an old Chev I used to have, added some LEDs and didn't fuse them lol, then they shorted) it could be anywhere, and you'll have to cut into the bundle at various points to check the wire and track down the break.

If it's your FRM (assuming the wire is fine between the module and headlight) try one of the part out threads, or eBay for a new one.

Your best bet for a new harness would be a part out on here, there are several in the for sale section. If only the AE wire is damaged I would opt for just jumping to the other side like I described previously but adding an in line fuse to prevent the sane thing from happening again and destroying both sides wiring

[e36addict]

I had a similar issue when I first installed LED halos on my mother's 135i. Turned out that I somehow shorted the AHL module inside the headlight. But of course, warranty covered it