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      07-11-2020, 12:57 AM   #1
ccmkE82
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Help with Xenon Headlight Brightness

As mentioned in a previous post, my 135 with xenon/adaptive headlights had a xenon bulb go out and it was a struggle to get it working again. My angel eyes still worked but my passenger side xenon bulb would not turn on. After changing both the bulb and ballast with no luck, I reset the short circuit counter and finally got the bulb turned on again.

Thinking that my troubles were over I took a look at the problem headlight that had finally turned on and noticed it was considerably more dim than my drivers side headlight that has given me no issues. I swapped bulbs from the drivers side thinking that may be the issue yet the passenger headlight remained about 1/4 as bright as the drivers side xenon bulb. Then I tried to adjust the angle of the bulb to see if maybe that was the issue but that did not help whatsoever. Additionally my adaptive headlight system is working and the headlights still move from side to side and auto-level.

Clearly something is not right here and I am wondering if anyone has input before I take the headlights out and try swapping ballasts. The only other issue I could think of that may be causing this is corrosion on the wiring harness connector to the headlight but I don't know a damn about how that shit works. Any input is welcome
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      07-16-2020, 10:45 PM   #2
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      07-18-2020, 10:20 PM   #3
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Well I finally got around to pulling my headlights out of the car and swapping some parts. Swapping ballasts had no effect on the dim headlight, as well as swapping to the other side of the car (rules out the wiring harness). After pulling out my xenon bulb in my dim headlight I took a peek inside the housing and noticed there is a reflective coating that is peeling off and cracking into small pieces. This reflective coating surrounds the xenon bulb within the housing and I am assuming this is the cause for the headlights dimness as there is less light that is being reflected and exiting the housing.

For now I am attributing the cracking/peeling coating to be the cause of my shitty headlight and leaving it at that. The coating does not look repairable so it looks like I am going to live with a dim headlight until I find the courage to drop half a grand on a new headlight. I hope this post finds anyone experiencing the same issue!
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      07-18-2020, 10:50 PM   #4
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I know that dealers are kinda not popular on our forum, but have you considered bringing it in for a look?
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      07-18-2020, 10:59 PM   #5
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Yea I was actually planning on taking the car into the dealership before buying a new assembly, just wanted to see if I could go the DIY route first. Unfortunately had the car rear ended yesterday so this issue has sunk to the bottom of my priority list.

Will post any info I get from the dealer when I do end up taking it in.
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      07-19-2020, 12:28 AM   #6
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Oh, I am very sorry to hear that!
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      08-04-2020, 07:50 AM   #7
ijustcametosay
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ccmkE82 View Post
As mentioned in a previous post, my 135 with xenon/adaptive headlights had a xenon bulb go out and it was a struggle to get it working again. My angel eyes still worked but my passenger side xenon bulb would not turn on. After changing both the bulb and ballast with no luck, I reset the short circuit counter and finally got the bulb turned on again.

Thinking that my troubles were over I took a look at the problem headlight that had finally turned on and noticed it was considerably more dim than my drivers side headlight that has given me no issues. I swapped bulbs from the drivers side thinking that may be the issue yet the passenger headlight remained about 1/4 as bright as the drivers side xenon bulb. Then I tried to adjust the angle of the bulb to see if maybe that was the issue but that did not help whatsoever. Additionally my adaptive headlight system is working and the headlights still move from side to side and auto-level.

Clearly something is not right here and I am wondering if anyone has input before I take the headlights out and try swapping ballasts. The only other issue I could think of that may be causing this is corrosion on the wiring harness connector to the headlight but I don't know a damn about how that shit works. Any input is welcome
Hey!

I'm currently experiencing the passenger side Low beam failure too, but strange thing is I'm not getting any error codes.. swapping to a new bulb got it running for maybe a few hours, but the next time I noticed it, it wasn't working again.
Before I spend unnecessary money on a ballast, anyone any idea what could the issue be?
Would appreciate if someone could point me to a place I could learn to reset the short circuit counter as well (: already have the kdcan cable.

Hopefully this solves the problem..

Did you manage to solve the issue? Did any dealer say anything?
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      08-07-2020, 09:39 PM   #8
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I unfortunately have not solved this issue yet, I've been caught up dealing with the accident my vehicle was in. As for your issue, what I would personally do is remove both headlights from the vehicle and swap the ballast from your working driver's side headlight to the passenger and see if that clears up your issue. It would probably be wise to hold off on resetting the short circuit counter until you rule out a bad ballast.

This might not apply to you if you have no adaptive headlight errors, but I also swapped the adaptive headlight modules between headlights to check if that was causing my issue in the past. The adaptive headlight module can be accessed by unscrewing the panel that the ballast screws into. I found plenty of evidence of water damage when I did this.

As for the resetting the short circuit counter, I used this guide from the Bimmerfest forum: https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=866044 . Good luck!
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      08-08-2020, 10:21 PM   #9
ijustcametosay
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I see. Thanks for the great advice, I think I will do what you suggested first. I did see some water damage on the cover of my faulty headlight, so water damage might be the issue..

All the best with your accident dealings!
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