Adaptive headlight not panning laterally while driving

[EndOfAnEra]

Okay guys, I need some help here.



When I start the car, the headlights level vertically correctly without issue, and there are no adaptive error warnings on the cluster.

The lateral projector position always looks like it does in the photo, like I have the wheel turned all the way. This is always its position. Is there some connection in the headlight that I can look for to see if it's broken?

Does anyone know how the mechanism inside the headlight works that turns the projector when the steering wheel is turned?

[EndOfAnEra]

Has anyone ever taken apart a headlight and noticed how its put together? Does anyone have a picture of the light disassembled?

[Dackelone]

Looks like you need a new AHL headlight. People change the AE bulbs or put HID ballast in there... then the motor that moves the headlight side to side burns out.

You do know that the AHL function only works when the headlight switch is in the AUTO position. Double check that. But in looking at your photo... it looks to me that the headlight motor is broken.

[EndOfAnEra]

Yes, my headlight switch is always on auto. The driver's side headlight works perfect as it should. It's only the passenger's headlight that is giving me issues. I was thinking something could have just came undone causing the lateral pan function to not work.

I wish someone had a picture close-up of the inside of the headlight with it taken apart. It's worth fixing this headlight rather than buying new ones because this is a Euro LCI. It would be cheaper for me to buy a donor light and use the parts from that to fix this one, even if it is just a motor.

[brytom]

I've seen it on E90 where the rod comes out of the ball socket.
I would say the motor is working cause the thing moves up and down.
I'd remove the back cover and see for yourself. I assume only one is having the issue? If so, take both apart and compare.
BTW, it normally only works in one direction horizontally. It shouldn't work towards the right as that would blind oncoming traffic and that would be a safety hazard.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by brytom

I've seen it on E90 where the rod comes out of the ball socket.
I would say the motor is working cause the thing moves up and down.
I'd remove the back cover and see for yourself. I assume only one is having the issue? If so, take both apart and compare.
BTW, it normally only works in one direction horizontally. It shouldn't work towards the right as that would blind oncoming traffic and that would be a safety hazard.

As long as the headlight switch is in AUTO... both headlights will move left/right when driving - the SAME amount. I think you need to be going over 30 kph for them to do so - though.

Also... when the car is not moving... the driver's light won't move the same amount of arch/sweep as the passenger side light. I'd say its like 15' degrees of movement for the driver side headlight vs 30' degrees of movement for the passenger side. But once your moving... both headlights will move the same amount of "sweep"(degrees) in a turn.


Here is my 135i lights that are coded to the European AHL mode. The drivers headlight will dip down and swing more to the left at lower speeds... but after 80 kph that headlight will center itself. Also the highbeams put out more light(LUX) than the US coding/DOT allows.

brytom has a good point about the internal linkage coming apart. Other than that... I'm afraid your looking at a new headlight.

Dackel

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by brytom

I've seen it on E90 where the rod comes out of the ball socket.
I would say the motor is working cause the thing moves up and down.
I'd remove the back cover and see for yourself. I assume only one is having the issue? If so, take both apart and compare.
BTW, it normally only works in one direction horizontally. It shouldn't work towards the right as that would blind oncoming traffic and that would be a safety hazard.

There are two motors, one for up down, and one for left right. Looks like the socket for the left right motor has become detached. Might be able to push it back in. Pull out the headlight and look.

[EndOfAnEra]

I will take the passenger headlight out again and have a look inside. I did look for the linkage, but it was hard to see which linkage was for the left/right motion. I will take a closer look and hopefully I can snap it back into place.

Would anyone have pictures of the exact linkage for the left/right motion of the headlight?

[Rikx1M]

do you have aftermarket bulbs? if so, maybe the ballast and wires have caused the motors to hang up or catch on the wires.

[EndOfAnEra]

No sir, the light and all bulbs are all OEM.

[135i_George]

Was there a solution to this? I have the same issue but on both of my headlights. I even changed both of my AHL leveling sensors, but no luck.

[Duff Man]

Same here now.

I actually just installed 2 brand new Euro LCI units from previously Non-LCI units and I can't get things to work properly.

when the lights turn on, they'll both move up/down, then throw up the error.

when setting codes on the AHL modules (using Bimmergeeks ProTool), I can see the Left headlight move left then back to center, but the right headlight doesn't move at all and I don't hear anything trying to do anything... When I check for errors ProTool is telling me that there is a connection problem with BOTH SMCs (servo motor control). I was told to reset the VIN on the left/right lights...but that didn't seem to help either.

the internet says the servos are burnt out based on the error codes. My rebuttle is that in my case they are brand new factory units; I'm having a REAL hard time believing that i'd get 2 bad SMCs from the factory...

one other internet article said I need to change the VO in the coding to make it think it now has LCI options as "the modules were different", even though when I bought an AHL module for my last lights it never cared about pre-LCI or LCI... but I'm worried about what else that might affect incorrectly.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Duff Man

Same here now.

I actually just installed 2 brand new Euro LCI units from previously Non-LCI units and I can't get things to work properly.

when the lights turn on, they'll both move up/down, then throw up the error.

when setting codes on the AHL modules (using Bimmergeeks ProTool), I can see the Left headlight move left then back to center, but the right headlight doesn't move at all and I don't hear anything trying to do anything... When I check for errors ProTool is telling me that there is a connection problem with BOTH SMCs (servo motor control). I was told to reset the VIN on the left/right lights...but that didn't seem to help either.

the internet says the servos are burnt out based on the error codes. My rebuttle is that in my case they are brand new factory units; I'm having a REAL hard time believing that i'd get 2 bad SMCs from the factory...

one other internet article said I need to change the VO in the coding to make it think it now has LCI options as "the modules were different", even though when I bought an AHL module for my last lights it never cared about pre-LCI or LCI... but I'm worried about what else that might affect incorrectly.

Might be your FR3 light module. These modules fail a lot. So much so that for US cars they have extended the warranty. I think for ten years. Have a US dealer run your VIN. Otherwise I would try coding your module to the newer headlights.

Dackel

[Duff Man]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Might be your FR3 light module. These modules fail a lot. So much so that for US cars they have extended the warranty. I think for ten years. Have a US dealer run your VIN. Otherwise I would try coding your module to the newer headlights.

Dackel

yeah, I literally just stumbled across that yesterday and will look into it when all this Covid-19 stuff calms down.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Duff Man

yeah, I literally just stumbled across that yesterday and will look into it when all this Covid-19 stuff calms down.

Btw... the Adaptive headlights only turn left/right when the headlight switch in in the AUTO mode. ie: turned counter clockwise(Left!).



When you turn the headlights on manually(clockwise).. the headlights will not turn/swivel as you turn the steering wheel. This only happens when you are in AUTO mode.

Dack

[Duff Man]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Btw... the Adaptive headlights only turn left/right when the headlight switch in in the AUTO mode. ie: turned counter clockwise(Left!).

(image)

When you turn the headlights on manually(clockwise).. the headlights will not turn/swivel as you turn the steering wheel. This only happens when you are in AUTO mode.

Dack

Yeah, my switch is almost always in Auto mode, but what's peculiar about this error is even if you take the switch out of Auto mode it will still do it's checks and throw the error code up. Only way around the light is either fix the problem or code them off...I've got the AHL inactive right now until I can get to the dealer and talk to them about things.