Lights/loom issue PT3 strange stepper behaviour

bigwinn

bigwinn

Elite
 Lincoln UK
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Managed to get a little time on the car last night and today

A new issue I’m looking to resolve is the headlight levellers

To date:

Car (e86) had a loom issue so I replaced the loom
The only difference in spec between the old and new cars looms was that this car has xenons and the donor loom was halogen lighting

I’ve wired the lights in ok and have functioning sides, main and high beam xenons

In the dark last night I was better able to check the light pattern- it looked wrong and high

I also wired in (from the unit to the LCM) 3 wires for each load sensor (one front one rear) as that was missing from the halogen loom

Now- only the passenger side auto levels on ignition. I will check the wiring and feed on that- it may be a red herring

But the bigger issue is that the front leveller (easier to test) now makes no input to the light beam throw.

To rule that out I put a new load leveller in place and tested again- nothing

So any ideas?

Should I pop a different (halogen) lcm in to see if the beam throw works by the wheel? Do I need to code or wire something else in?

@smorris_12 your views are always helpful

Cheers

Stuart
 
I wired these in for the sensors to the LCM
IMG_9820.jpeg

I will check I have these pins at the LCM and at the lights
IMG_9819.jpeg
 
Confirmed that I have all the right pins and coloured wires at the lcm to feed the supply in pic 2

IMG_9822.jpeg
 
The plot thickens

I put an lcm in from a halogen car- the lights adjust up and down from the input wheel on the passenger side but not the drivers side

With that side also not adjusting when the car has ignition on sequence is that likely to be a headlight adjuster issue in the light itself?
 
Three things spring to mind:

- can you hear the motor in the driver's side headlight?
-- if yes, they can pop off their adjuster/arm, so hopefully just that...
-- if not, I'd open the headlight cover to have a look/check the motor's plugged in etc
- I think the level sensors will need to be moved in tandem - if you raise/lower one without the other, it'll be an implausible signal to the LCM (unless your chassis has split, both will move by a roughly equal amount at the same time), so it wouldn't surprise me that just moving one isn't doing anything. Can you fit them both, mark the beam pattern on a wall, and then jack the front of the car up and check in the beam remains in the same place?
 
No noise at all

I’ll get the back popped off for a look at the adjuster and replace if needed

Thank you
 
It sounds like the headlight itself to me. If the bumper's off, try swapping the headlights over to eliminate the wiring.

Re the levelling senders, the front one won't do a lot on its own, the rear is more important as there's the bit that gets loaded up while the front axle is the pivot point for the headlights.

If the front compresses (ie with the rear normally loaded) then the headlight would need to adjust up beyond its topmost position - which it can't do.

With the rear loaded, the headlight would adjust down. If the front then gets loaded up, it'll adjust the light back up as the car levels out.
 
smorris_12 said:
It sounds like the headlight itself to me. If the bumper's off, try swapping the headlights over to eliminate the wiring.

Re the levelling senders, the front one won't do a lot on its own, the rear is more important as there's the bit that gets loaded up while the front axle is the pivot point for the headlights.

If the front compresses (ie with the rear normally loaded) then the headlight would need to adjust up beyond its topmost position - which it can't do.

With the rear loaded, the headlight would adjust down. If the front then gets loaded up, it'll adjust the light back up as the car levels out.
Click to expand...
Agreed (now)

I’ll pop the back off the light next and check the adjuster I don’t think they are hard to swap over

I’m glad I was able to manipulate the adjustment on the working one with the different lcm

Good point on the front adjuster- I did disconnect the arm fully and took it full travel
 
TriggerFish said:
- I think the level sensors will need to be moved in tandem - if you raise/lower one without the other, it'll be an implausible signal to the LCM (unless your chassis has split, both will move by a roughly equal amount at the same time),
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% convinced by this? I thought the idea of the self-levelling was to keep the beam horizontal to the road. Therefore, if both front and rear move together the beam would remain horizontal and not require any levelling. If however you put a heavy weight in the boot then the rear sensor will move much more than the front (though I accept this may move up a little). The self-levelling would then need to dip the beam down to compensate.
 
Some daylight yielded an hour or so on tinkering

Weird…

Old adjuster out no probs. No movement so it’s dead
New one in- quick test and yep it works lovely

Plumbed new one in- some movement then it dies

😬

Took it out and… it works back and forth no issues

Put it back in- nothing

So I now have to assume there is a wiring fault inside the lamp itself- which means I will have to pop the light out for a proper look around

Annoying but that’s life
 
Also the old unit wasn’t genuine to the car- had a global parts warranty sticker and ‘e60’ markings…

Im not the first person to try to sort this issue

The warranty sticker was from 2021
 
You sure it’s electrical? Couldn’t it be the mechanical bits seizing up and killing the electric motor?
 
Movement of the mech is free and moving

Plus I put it in place without connecting the ball socket and it didn’t work, making me think more of wiring/connection issue
 
Could be the wiring inside the headlight is shorted. The insulation has a bad habit of deteriorating leaving bare copper.
 
Don't forget, the levelling motor is on a separate plug on the bixenons on the E86 (and I assume the e85s too). Maybe just that plug is loose?

Although unlikely if it worked once and then stopped, but always good to rule out check the simple things
 
Let’s see if the collective can figure this out

Headlight out

Can’t see any issues with wires

Reconnect the stepper motor but don’t seat it or attach it- video one shows it cycling back and forth merrily no problems



Connect it and seat it- screwed in place. It will cycle once or twice then stop…? Video 2



No obvious issues with the internal mechanism or anything that would prevent movement

Stepper motor is new

Thoughts?
 
When you start up a car with Xenons the lights do an up and down check before they settle. Is it that you are only seeing that?
Does the other side move around as much as you like?
Perhaps the initial check signal is getting to it, but the levelling signal from the suspension is not getting through?
 
Passenger side full movement when ign on. Beam pattern moves up and down as you’d expect

Drivers nothing once it’s done as you see in video 2

I’m wondering if the mech is blocked or stiff and the motor stops to prevent burn out

But I can move it with fingers- however I have nothing to compare it to
 
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