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      05-01-2011, 10:46 PM   #1
1speedbike
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Adaptive Headlight Warning Icon

Long story short, my adaptive headlights stopped working. I have the Alpine HID system and currently have stock D1S bulbs in.

There is no moisture whatsoever in the headlights, the only 2 times times the headlights were even open were when I was having my HID's reinstalled by an authorized BMW service and collision center months ago, and as far as I can tell the caps were put on 100% correct. And then again when I switched out some bulbs, completely dry sunny day, put the caps on 100% correct again (I feel like I've done this 50 times by now haha). That was months ago, and I have driven in the wet weather dozens of times, survived varying temperatures, etc. Now, all of a sudden, and seemingly out of nowhere, I keep getting a warning icon in the dash.

While both headlights turn on with no problem, they don't swivel left and right. The headlights also don't go up and down any more when I turn the car on. I don't think the H3's light up any more either, because they haven't turned on when I put my directionals on, but I've only checked this while in park (so I can get out and look), and I'm not sure they turned on in park to begin with. Everything else (H8, turn signals, and d1s other than the turning feature) work great.

Any ideas?

I don't want to bring it in for service for this because it's a pain, and they know I run aftermarket H8s and always give me grief, even though H8 bulb replacement is a simple procedure outlined in the freakin' MANUAL. If they don't want us to do it, why is it there?
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      05-01-2011, 11:39 PM   #2
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Switch back to stock and take it to the dealer... aftermarket H8 bulbs are not a problem unless they're not H8 55W (or is it 35W?) bulbs... I assume by Alpine HID you're referring to the angel eye system? If so... you might be SOL.
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      05-02-2011, 04:29 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamal View Post
Switch back to stock and take it to the dealer... aftermarket H8 bulbs are not a problem unless they're not H8 55W (or is it 35W?) bulbs... I assume by Alpine HID you're referring to the angel eye system? If so... you might be SOL.

+1. But... go to a different dealer that doesn't know you. You will most likely need new headlights $$$$ ($3K ?)
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      05-02-2011, 07:52 AM   #4
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You most likely have water in your headlight housing. Put everything back to stock and bring it to the dealer.
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      05-02-2011, 02:43 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marcus View Post
You most likely have water in your headlight housing.


Even a little condensation will throw these electronics off... and with the Alpine HID H8 kit you still need to be careful about the headlight back cover still being susceptible to allowing moisture in.
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      05-02-2011, 02:57 PM   #6
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These threads scare the crap out of me... because it seems like a fairly large percentage of guys who change out thier AE bulbs run into this problem.

Even though I am no fan of the yellow AE... I don't want to be shelling out $3K for new headlight housings either! Good luck OP. I would most def go to a different new dealer that doesn't know your car or mods!

Last edited by Dackelone; 05-03-2011 at 05:01 AM..
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      05-02-2011, 03:33 PM   #7
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This happened to me except I believe mine was caused by moisture. It ended up costing $1700!! They told me I needed to replace the whole entire headlight module all for one adaptive failure..
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      05-02-2011, 06:17 PM   #8
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Word to the wise and money conscious: If you're going to upgrade your angel eyes, just get bulbs so you can take them out with ease should this type of issue occur.
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      05-02-2011, 06:38 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dackelone View Post
These threads scar the crap out of me... because it seems like a fairly large percentage of guys who change out thier AE bulbs run into this problem.

Even though I am no fan of the yellow AE... I don't want to be shelling out $3K for new headlight housings either! Good luck OP. I would most def go to a different new dealer that doesn't know your car or mods!
Merely replacing the bulbs with the same type of bulb shouldn't be an issue as long as you make 110% sure that the back covers are on nice and tight (check after a few days of driving and make sure that they're still secure). If you're really that scared, buy some of the correct H8 bulbs and take it to your dealer to install... Now, some of these other bulbs where you have to modify the housing...
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      05-02-2011, 06:58 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamal View Post
Merely replacing the bulbs with the same type of bulb shouldn't be an issue as long as you make 110% sure that the back covers are on nice and tight (check after a few days of driving and make sure that they're still secure). If you're really that scared, buy some of the correct H8 bulbs and take it to your dealer to install... Now, some of these other bulbs where you have to modify the housing...

Naaaw.... I prefer to have my AE coded to run on higher voltage. That way I get the brighter look with zero hassles.
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      05-02-2011, 09:13 PM   #11
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I don't think it's moisture since I've had the AE's on for about 9 months now with no issues.. and more recently I've had them on for about 3-4 months since I last touched them in any way. It literally happened out of nowhere.

Also, I've had condensation before (enough to visibly see inside the housing) and while that has caused the headlight failure warning, they still turned on, I dried them out, and they worked great as ever since. This was on my old headlights before an accident, so it's not an issue of an old problem coming back, either. It does take a visibly apparent amount of moisture to affect the lights, since the lights are NOT vacuum sealed and there is inherent moisture in air anywhere.

This time, no condensation whatsoever, no touching the lights at all for months, no anything..

I guess take this as a warning if you mod your angels.. even if you do absolutely everything RIGHT, the headlight system seems to be able to crap out by itself anyway. And even though it's not your fault, BMW will try and say it is, as usual. I have heard of other people with completely stock lights who had the motors in the adaptive lights just go, and had them replaced under warranty..

I think I'm just gonna wait for a ridiculously dry day, take a hair drier, and dry the lights out extra (just to be sure), put everything stock and bring the car in. I think it's the motor that's the issue, since there's no way it can be moisture, unless a new hole or leak suddenly opened up somehow? I'll let people know how it goes, but this might not happen for a little while since it's been humid here. It's not a big problem since all the lights work perfectly fine.. that freakin' warning light is just annoying, I can never see what my cruise control is set to any more!
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