Headlight Condensation

[sickbutalive]

So yesterday after a car wash I saw condensation in my passenger side headlight and hopped on the forum boards to read up on it because I remember this being potentially a really bad situation... quickly found out that it can cause total headlight failure. I opened up the cap on the back and dried out the condensation by leaving the car in the sun and luckily the engine bay was warmed up as well so it actually dried rather quickly, but come night I had to turn the lights on and unfortunately as soon as I switched the lights on I got the light warning failure and the whole headlight, sans cornering light, was out.

So my question is do I have to replace the whole headlight assembly or just the bulbs and modules?
I read through five threads on here and the e90 forums but I can't seem to find out what exactly needs to be replaced, aside from just doing the whole thing. I'm inclined to do this as a used headlight is relatively cheap (if 300 to 400 could be called cheap) and I could even do the euro clear corners, but if I can save some money and just do bulbs plus modules I would rather go that way.

The oddest thing about this is that I've been driving around for a year with no problems, through both the rain and car washes, and the car even went through three days of rain two weeks ago with no issues, and then one short car wash and I've got a headlight out...

Anyway I'd be grateful for any help that can be thrown my way, even if it's to a topic thread I might have missed.

Cheers!

[Overpar56]

The dealer had to replace my entire headlight assembly. Corrosion got to the connectors.

[hawkm3]

Are you still under warranty? If so take it up to the dealer

[TUN3D]

sickbutalive > More times than not, the control unit gets fried: http://www.partsbase.org/bmw/1-e82-1...mw-63117180050

Brand new, these are pretty pricey. If you're still under warranty, get the headlight replaced altogether. If not, I'd start by trying to find one on ebay. You can get them rather cheap. If you're not familiar with this part, it's not to be confused with the ballast -- it's where the ballast goes connected into. Sits at the very bottom of the assembly. You need to take out the light in order to replace it -- plug-n-play.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-1-Series...a0c61a&vxp=mtr

I'm thinking that the car wash probably had one of those floor jets (they shoot water underneath as you pull in), and water seeped in from the bottom of the headlight unit. These lights aren't exactly waterproof.

Here's an old thread I started a while back and the error code I got from condensation. It burnt out the module which caused my adaptive functions to fail. Note that the headlight would light up perfectly -- angels and all. But I had that annoying code in dash at all times.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=732757

Not saying this is the end-all-be-all solution, but I would start there. Good luck man.

[Overpar56]

Those underbody washes are like a jet blast. The place I use from time to time (when it's too friggin cold out) has it, but I think they have a delay so it's not hitting the front end right away.

[sickbutalive]

Thanks for the info everyone. As expected with my luck, I'm out of warranty and will have to cover this myself. I haven't had a chance to pull the light yet and check the modules, but I think I fried the whole thing as everything is dead in the light. I'll have to get the exact warning symbol that comes up but it's not the same one that you had tun3d.

I didn't notice it right away either when it first happened, but the halo rings are as dead as everything else. Odd that they worked just fine until I had to turn the lights on at night, then something must have shorted and caused it all to fail at once.

I'm tempted to just get a whole light, as I've seen a few floating around the bay area for around 300 bucks (not sure I could buy just one though), and occasionally you find them with all the lights and modules for under 600 on eBay.
Would it be possible to swap out the existing bulbs into a new enclosure or do they fry along with everything else?

I can't believe they're designed this way, seems like a total failure by BMW. Bad design IMO.

Anyway, thanks again for all your help.

[Andrewcoja]

Keep in mind that replacing the whole headlight involves removing the front bumper.

[Yeineken]

Originally Posted by Andrewcoja

Keep in mind that replacing the whole headlight involves removing the front bumper.

A helpful note. Be careful removing the headlight bracket. The screws on them can strip pretty easy and the lower screw can be a pain to get to with the bumper carrier on.

[Rotorhead]

I've had to remove my headlight assembly 4 times for condensation on the passenger side and dry out the ballast to get it working again.

My theory on why the pax side headlamp continues to fail for everyone is the oil cooler placement. It is only a few inches below the headlamp housing and the constant heat cycling over the course of a few years drys out the seals that keep moisture out.

When I recently had to drop off my car to BMW for a battery cable recall, I specifically told them multiple times not to wash the car, what did they do? They washed the car in the machine, which put the final nail in the headlamp coffin.

When I approached my car after their fine workmanship. The first thing I noticed was strangely only the passenger side angel eye was lite with the car powered off, and an extreme amount of visible moisture behind the lens, also the xenon lamp was out. I queried as to why they didn't follow my instructions on the car wash and expected them to cover me for a fix, they refused.

Ultimately I ended up paying $1000 out of pocket for a fix, I ordered a new Valeo headlamp on ebay for $650 and had to replace the $300 footwell module as it was fried do to the car wash. I paid a local shop $100 bucks to code the footwell module to make it all work.

Definitely a PITA, hope no one ever has to go to these length like I did, still love the car but BMW service is absolutely hideous. This is a known problem by BMW but their not stepping up to the plate to fix it.

[TUN3D]

sickbutalive > When you take out the bad headlight, you can use the module from the GOOD headlight to test That way, you can start the process of elimination. You can also use the bulbs, ballast, etc. It's all interchangeable.

If the lights are out (halos, etc). Try swapping the ballast first. Then go from there.

[TwinTurboXI]

Wow, yet another thread regarding the headlights on these cars. BMW has replaced both headlights on my car twice now. Over $10,000 in parts alone, luckily all covered under warranty. My factory warranty has since expired. I think it goes without saying at this point, but I ONLY hand wash my car now.

It seems like only xenons have been experiencing these failures, has anyone had halogens fail in the same manner?

[mr.fabulous]

I replaced an E36 that couldn't be taken through a car wash (potential for a flooded DME) with my (new to me) E82... which I apparently can't take through a car wash either (I have twice recently, no problems but sheeeeesh). Eee gad, BMW.

[6MT_Addict]

It probably wouldn't hurt to pull the bulb cover at the rear and lube the seal with some silicone spray lube on a cloth, wiped on the seals to re-moisturize them. I have the same issue with the brake lines on my winter vehicle (I know right!). Without visual checks and lubrication they will fail causing a brake failure if left for years. Granted, technically my location is a desert by definition with how dry it gets... Anyway... We take care of our beauties in other ways, just looks like they need one more thing to keep going.

I would be curious to see if this issue exists in climates with high moisture, like California or the Mediterranean.

Best of luck OP, I found a website last night with ridiculously cheap headlights, 75% off retail. (only had the left headlight in LCI though) but I can dig it up again if this would help. You could buy a pre-LCI assembly and swap the ballasts and such.

[Gray_Panther]

Originally Posted by 1AddictsAnonymous

It probably wouldn't hurt to pull the bulb cover at the rear and lube the seal with some silicone spray lube on a cloth, wiped on the seals to re-moisturize them. I have the same issue with the brake lines on my winter vehicle (I know right!). Without visual checks and lubrication they will fail causing a brake failure if left for years. Granted, technically my location is a desert by definition with how dry it gets... Anyway... We take care of our beauties in other ways, just looks like they need one more thing to keep going.

I would be curious to see if this issue exists in climates with high moisture, like California or the Mediterranean.

Best of luck OP, I found a website last night with ridiculously cheap headlights, 75% off retail. (only had the left headlight in LCI though) but I can dig it up again if this would help. You could buy a pre-LCI assembly and swap the ballasts and such.

Can I have the link also?
I have halogens that I took apart for a HID retrofit and mine have never condensed even after a week outside of heavy rain.

[sickbutalive]

Originally Posted by TUN3D

sickbutalive > When you take out the bad headlight, you can use the module from the GOOD headlight to test That way, you can start the process of elimination. You can also use the bulbs, ballast, etc. It's all interchangeable.

If the lights are out (halos, etc). Try swapping the ballast first. Then go from there.

All really good advice, thank you

I'm resigned to removing the bumper most likely, as I would like to get it touched up anyway, I could leave it at a shop and keep the car to work on the headlight.
I'll test out the modules and ballast first, then go from there. I did find a headlight with bulbs and modules for under 500 which might end up being a wash when it comes to going piece by piece.
I would be interested in any site that has them listed super cheap ().

An interesting question to me is has anyone with an after market oil cooler (specifically the er racewerks model) ever had a problem with their headlight in any fashion? I got one installed last summer and am wondering if perhaps this led to a premature failure of the lens housing or perhaps the headlight got dinged during the install (the shop did a somewhat bang-up job not installing the bumper back right and probably forced it against the headlight).

In other news I should have one awesome headlight for sale in the near future! Works fantastic if it's never turned on!

[shah269]

These lights aren't exactly waterproof......
Ok tell me why I’m not allowed to kill engineers now?

Christ on a cracker...so i guess you’re only option is to wait for a nice warm day in the summer remove what you need to remove to get to the back of the head lights...pop them off and lubricate the seals with some silicone and reinstall them because BMW saved $0.0000001 and went for the cheap rubber? I guess that’s the only way to prevent the issue or replace the seal every what….3 years? And where the hell would you find that seal for sale?

Lord hold me back...I'm going to grab one of these skinny engineers by their ankles and i'm going to use him to kill all of his other engineering friends and then i'm going to cut them up sew their skins together to make a car cover so….oh yeah the lights don’t get wet!

*has no anger issues with dumb engineers at all.

[mr.fabulous]

management decision

[shah269]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

management decision

Don't promote engineers in to management....sigh....

Well OP this sucks! But i guess it's just another thing we all have to do now isn't it?

Every year or so pull apart the headlights and lubricate the connections with DI grease and silicone the rubber so it doesn't dry out.

Sigh......cars deigned for lease...

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by shah269

These lights aren't exactly waterproof......
Ok tell me why I’m not allowed to kill engineers now?

Christ on a cracker...so i guess you’re only option is to wait for a nice warm day in the summer remove what you need to remove to get to the back of the head lights...pop them off and lubricate the seals with some silicone and reinstall them because BMW saved $0.0000001 and went for the cheap rubber? I guess that’s the only way to prevent the issue or replace the seal every what….3 years? And where the hell would you find that seal for sale?

Lord hold me back...I'm going to grab one of these skinny engineers by their ankles and i'm going to use him to kill all of his other engineering friends and then i'm going to cut them up sew their skins together to make a car cover so….oh yeah the lights don’t get wet!

*has no anger issues with dumb engineers at all.

I agree with you, but seals dry eventually by nature of the material. There could be other factors as well as to why they chose the specific material they did, such as dust or heat. I'm no automotive engineer so I wouldn't know.

An alternate would be to make your own new seal with gasket maker or something similar, and beef up the sides so there is a much deeper contact pocket on the housing. Say 1/4" instead of 3/32" or whatever it is. I've seen this done to replace O-Rings in medium pressure compressed gas applications with great success.

[sickbutalive]

Originally Posted by 1AddictsAnonymous

I agree with you, but seals dry eventually by nature of the material. There could be other factors as well as to why they chose the specific material they did, such as dust or heat. I'm no automotive engineer so I wouldn't know.

What makes me feel like this is a failure on the side of BMW (or at the very least weighs heavily against them) is that these particular headlights are prone to completely frying if they get a little water in there. I even got mine to dry out within an hour because the engine bay was so hot and I was somehow in one of SF's sunny districts when it happened. Even so it still fried something without giving two rats butts.

Preventive measures are a great thing and I'm all for it, but even my last two bimmers didn't have issues like this and I had xenons in my e46... even had condensation in the headlights for a bit before it went away on its own.

Anyway, it seems common enough that at least I don't feel like a total idiot for not lubing up my headlight seals every few years.

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by sickbutalive

What makes me feel like this is a failure on the side of BMW (or at the very least weighs heavily against them) is that these particular headlights are prone to completely frying if they get a little water in there. I even got mine to dry out within an hour because the engine bay was so hot and I was somehow in one of SF's sunny districts when it happened. Even so it still fried something without giving two rats butts.

Preventive measures are a great thing and I'm all for it, but even my last two bimmers didn't have issues like this and I had xenons in my e46... even had condensation in the headlights for a bit before it went away on its own.

Anyway, it seems common enough that at least I don't feel like a total idiot for not lubing up my headlight seals every few years.

I agree, I was just trying to rationalize their decision for some reason other than cost savings lol. I know it's a business but it would be nice if recalls were issued instead of TSBs. We could contact the law firm that sued for HPFP failures haha and force them to recall!

Something else that may work for preventative maintenance is silica gel packs - like the ones they use in packing material. Some research may be required but from what I understand of silica gel is that it will remove moisture from it's environment. Tape a couple to the back of the headlight cover for added protection maybe?

[sickbutalive]

It would be so nice if BMW would own up to what you call some shoddy design... but seems it's hard enough to get companies to admit that their cars blow up when it's obvious they do by the ones burning on the road.

I like the idea of the gel packs. Some sort of moisture absorption device adhered to the back of the cover would probably be a great cheap way to prevent this problem in the future.