I just picked up a 2011 135i m-sport (Prod. Date: 2011-01-06) knowing that there was an issue with the adaptive headlights (cost to fix was negotiated in).
I'm been reading a
ton of
threads here but they seem to deal mostly with aftermarket lights and bad seals. I believe I have stock lights (see below), but I'm getting the dreaded Adaptive Headlight warning and the actual headlight is out:
Here's the classic
moisture in headlight shot:
What I can't tell is if they are aftermarket units? I didn't think they would be since my VIN Decodes with:
522-Xenon-Light / Xenon-licht. I don't know if you guys are familiar enough just to tell by the harness. These two pieces were just laying loose in the cover, which seemed sloppy for OEM (and the pink hues are odd)? [EDIT: Definitely aftermarket]
There's no cracks or splits in the housing, the back cover was firmly in place. It would be nice to try to figure out how the moisture got in there before I start swapping in new parts — would hate to fix it and just have it happen all over again.
Where should I start?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: Summary of Solution from later in the thread (for future searches)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I dried out the headlight by removing the rear cover of the headlight and placing a box fan on the engine, pointed at the headlight to move air into the housing. From the front, I positioned a shop light about 18" away to cast some heat into the housing. I left this setup for a few hours and it eventually dried up all the moisture inside the headlight.
I removed the headlight from the car and discovered that the Control Module (that controls the Adaptive Headlights) and the Ballast (that powers the Xenon Headlight light), both located on the bottom of the headlight, were
full of water and corroded. I replaced the Control Module (part# 63117180829) and the Ballast (part# 63117180050) and both the errors are now gone, the Adaptive Headlight and the Headlight light now work properly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------