My Z4 failed its MoT on the headlight alignment. The headlights have always given pretty poor forward vision, bit after reading past threads on here, I gathered this was normal for the car. The car has passed three earlier MoTs while I've owned it and nothing has happened to the lights since. The offside lens has always looked off-centre as per the picture.
In addition to the MoT failure, the car has an ugly deep scratch above the nearside headlight that wasn't there when I took it in. That's the second MoT now (different garages) this car has has come back damaged, and now I feel that the small independant garages in Reigate where I work just can't be trusted. I can't risk my car going back there so cancelled the follow up appointment (as no-one suitable could look at it on the test day). It was also just before my holiday, so Ieft it to deal with later.
Now I'm back home, I've had a closer look and the entire adjuster knob is missing:
I've had a good search on this forum and online in general, but haven't found much of the same problem. There seem to be a lot of E39 5 Series with broken plastic adjusters inside the headlight that the missing knob would control. There is plenty of talk ofadjuster replacement, but not replacement knobs to control them.
An entire new headlight would solve it, but the best price at over £800 in the UK or just over £700 if I buy one from Germany. None of exactly the same light have come up on eBay recently - this is the Z4M Xenon with the bright inner.
It seems that the 2001-2003 facelift E39 light has adjuster knobs that appear the same as the Z4, with the white plastic nut on top that engages with the teeth of the main black part to screw in and out of the internal plastic parts. All other BMWs, including the pre-facelift E39s, look different.
Has anyone had the same problem and found a not-too-expensive way to fix?
Alternatively, I will look for an E85 or suitable E39 facelift light that is cheap enough to buy and cannibalise for the adjuster knob. If anyone has a broken light still hanging around - but with the adjuster knob still present - I could be interested in buying it. Hopefully I can save money on the headlight fix that can go towards sorting the paintwork on the Z.
In addition to the MoT failure, the car has an ugly deep scratch above the nearside headlight that wasn't there when I took it in. That's the second MoT now (different garages) this car has has come back damaged, and now I feel that the small independant garages in Reigate where I work just can't be trusted. I can't risk my car going back there so cancelled the follow up appointment (as no-one suitable could look at it on the test day). It was also just before my holiday, so Ieft it to deal with later.
Now I'm back home, I've had a closer look and the entire adjuster knob is missing:
I've had a good search on this forum and online in general, but haven't found much of the same problem. There seem to be a lot of E39 5 Series with broken plastic adjusters inside the headlight that the missing knob would control. There is plenty of talk ofadjuster replacement, but not replacement knobs to control them.
An entire new headlight would solve it, but the best price at over £800 in the UK or just over £700 if I buy one from Germany. None of exactly the same light have come up on eBay recently - this is the Z4M Xenon with the bright inner.
It seems that the 2001-2003 facelift E39 light has adjuster knobs that appear the same as the Z4, with the white plastic nut on top that engages with the teeth of the main black part to screw in and out of the internal plastic parts. All other BMWs, including the pre-facelift E39s, look different.
Has anyone had the same problem and found a not-too-expensive way to fix?
Alternatively, I will look for an E85 or suitable E39 facelift light that is cheap enough to buy and cannibalise for the adjuster knob. If anyone has a broken light still hanging around - but with the adjuster knob still present - I could be interested in buying it. Hopefully I can save money on the headlight fix that can go towards sorting the paintwork on the Z.
