SamuelL421
Member
Hello all, I've been lurking the forums for a bit now and finally pulled the trigger and bought a z4 2 weeks ago. I decided its time to join now that I've got a serious issue that I can't resolve without some expert help.
I picked up a one-owner 2003 3.0i Z4, all black and optioned out. The car is in very respectable shape all around but had a cracked headlight from an accident on the dealer's lot where another vehicle backed up and bumped the light (seems to be a true story too as no accidents or problems reported on the carfax report...).
Now on to my issue... I have xenon headlamps (I'm 100% sure of this) and just had the front drivers side one repaired. As everything worked on the light, I just had the cracked headlight housing replaced with a brand new OEM one - all of the old internals (bulb, ballast, electronics) were just switched over from the old housing. Unfortunately, once the light was plugged back in it no longer worked. The turn signal still functions but no headlight (high or low beams). Again, these are the same components that were on the car earlier, just in a new housing. Everything was simply unplugged and then reconnected. Now it doesn't function and I get a headlight fault indicator on the dash (little yellow symbol with an exclamation point I believe).
What needs done to correct this problem? I've heard somewhere that attaching a new ballast will trigger xenon headlights to function again when this issue occurs on 3 series cars, will the ballast fix work for me? I should also say that there isn't a bimmer dealership within hours of my location so getting the car to one would likely be an issue, is there any way to fix this without BMW service tech or reprogramming tools?
I'd appreciate any direction you guys can give me. In any case, I still don't regret my purchase at all - this z4 is the most fun-to-drive car I have ever owned
I picked up a one-owner 2003 3.0i Z4, all black and optioned out. The car is in very respectable shape all around but had a cracked headlight from an accident on the dealer's lot where another vehicle backed up and bumped the light (seems to be a true story too as no accidents or problems reported on the carfax report...).
Now on to my issue... I have xenon headlamps (I'm 100% sure of this) and just had the front drivers side one repaired. As everything worked on the light, I just had the cracked headlight housing replaced with a brand new OEM one - all of the old internals (bulb, ballast, electronics) were just switched over from the old housing. Unfortunately, once the light was plugged back in it no longer worked. The turn signal still functions but no headlight (high or low beams). Again, these are the same components that were on the car earlier, just in a new housing. Everything was simply unplugged and then reconnected. Now it doesn't function and I get a headlight fault indicator on the dash (little yellow symbol with an exclamation point I believe).
What needs done to correct this problem? I've heard somewhere that attaching a new ballast will trigger xenon headlights to function again when this issue occurs on 3 series cars, will the ballast fix work for me? I should also say that there isn't a bimmer dealership within hours of my location so getting the car to one would likely be an issue, is there any way to fix this without BMW service tech or reprogramming tools?
I'd appreciate any direction you guys can give me. In any case, I still don't regret my purchase at all - this z4 is the most fun-to-drive car I have ever owned
