WANTED: Z4M or 3.0si passenger headlight

J

jamiez

Senior member
 SW London
Does not have to have the ballast, bulb or ignitor - just looking for the headlight unit.

Mine has a bad condensation problem due to 2 cracks which i have tried to seal up but clearly am not doing a good job!!! Will continue but...

Looking down this route if anyone has one?

Cheers
Jamie
 
Sim_Simma said:
Have to tried sealing the rear cover aswell?
Click to expand...

Hi - thanks. Yes actually i discovered that the clip on one side of the rear cover was snaped so it was letting damp in from there. I have improvised for now and hopefully sealed it better.

I dried the light out and reassembled and its 95% better - there is just a light hue in the light from time to time. Im going to monitor before fitting the replacement ballast - as i dont want that getting corroded again due to water getting in again!

Still on the loop out for a replacement if i can get one - dont want to pay BMW over £700 for a replacement housing!
 
Id suggest sealing the ballast plugs on both headlights too. I've used silicone on mine and also have ordered some silica gel bags to help with the moisture absorption.
 
Any reason why you've ruled out 2.5 or 2.0 xenon units? They're the same and could give you a wider market to search ? :thumbsup:


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Sim_Simma said:
Id suggest sealing the ballast plugs on both headlights too. I've used silicone on mine and also have ordered some silica gel bags to help with the moisture absorption.
Click to expand...

From the outside you mean - where the red red collar is?
 
Adamski said:
Any reason why you've ruled out 2.5 or 2.0 xenon units? They're the same and could give you a wider market to search ? :thumbsup:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

pre facelift headlight units are different - the inners are not like the M and also they have the orange part on show for the indicator :driving:
 
jamiez said:
Sim_Simma said:
Id suggest sealing the ballast plugs on both headlights too. I've used silicone on mine and also have ordered some silica gel bags to help with the moisture absorption.
Click to expand...

From the outside you mean - where the red red collar is?
Click to expand...
On both. Remove the ballast, put the nozzle over each pin and half a squirt of silicone per pin should do it. Then the ballast plug on the headlight is clipped in from the inside. So if you look in the plug you'll see where its clipped in. Put a bead of silicone around where the plug is clipped in. Your ballast will never let in moisture again. Crap design tbh.
and any facelift bixenon headlight will be the same if needed.
 
Sim_Simma said:
jamiez said:
Sim_Simma said:
Id suggest sealing the ballast plugs on both headlights too. I've used silicone on mine and also have ordered some silica gel bags to help with the moisture absorption.
Click to expand...

From the outside you mean - where the red red collar is?
Click to expand...
On both. Remove the ballast, put the nozzle over each pin and half a squirt of silicone per pin should do it. Then the ballast plug on the headlight is clipped in from the inside. So if you look in the plug you'll see where its clipped in. Put a bead of silicone around where the plug is clipped in. Your ballast will never let in moisture again. Crap design tbh.
and any facelift bixenon headlight will be the same if needed.
Click to expand...

Ok so literally it will be glued in place with silicone after that

As for doing the inside - it looked pretty sight when I dried it out before. Did you use a normal silicone nozzle to get in there? Know where you mean as I unclipped it to dry out!!
 
you can't seal the plug from the inside without splitting the headlight I don't think. Just put some on both the ballast plug itself and the ballast plug on the bottom of the headlight around where it's clipped in. The normal nozzle works perfectly. And it does make the ballast a bit difficult to remove but you'll have no problems if you need to remove it again.
 
jamiez said:
Adamski said:
Any reason why you've ruled out 2.5 or 2.0 xenon units? They're the same and could give you a wider market to search ? :thumbsup:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

pre facelift headlight units are different - the inners are not like the M and also they have the orange part on show for the indicator :driving:
Click to expand...

Facelift 2.0 and 2.5 xenon units are exactly the same :thumbsup:
 
20140213_180718_zps0439dbe8.jpg20140213_180445_zpsf559126d.jpg
getting quite bad condensation in my drivers side headlight and have just put 2 10 gram silica gel bags inside it today so I'll report on how well it works. It might take a few days but I'll report in this thread with pics.
 

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20140213_180718_zps0439dbe8.jpg20140213_180445_zpsf559126d.jpg
getting quite bad condensation in my drivers side headlight and have just put 2 10 gram silica gel bags inside it today so I'll report on how well it works. It might take a few days but I'll report in this thread with pics.
 

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Sim_Simma said:
Id suggest sealing the ballast plugs on both headlights too. I've used silicone on mine and also have ordered some silica gel bags to help with the moisture absorption.
Click to expand...

Be careful of the Silica, there is a post on here somewhere where somebody ruined their lights as the Silica leaked and corroded the wire/contacts IIRC.
 
srhutch said:
Sim_Simma said:
Id suggest sealing the ballast plugs on both headlights too. I've used silicone on mine and also have ordered some silica gel bags to help with the moisture absorption.
Click to expand...

Be careful of the Silica, there is a post on here somewhere where somebody ruined their lights as the Silica leaked and corroded the wire/contacts IIRC.
Click to expand...
I've already learnt from this :lol: it's not silica that is an issue it's the chorine salt moisture absorbers that when they absorb too much moisture they turn into a corrosive liquid. Silica gel stays in gel form and the ones I've got turn green when they can't absorb any more then you dry them out in an airing cupboard or radiator until they return to orange. I will check on them regularly but i think silica gel is safe.
 
Seems to be working already 20140214_073036_zpseed4c2ea.jpg
bare in mind the condensation doesn't seem to change much ie it doesn't seem to dry out at all when it's dry and doesn't seem to get really any worse when it's wet.
 
@Sim_Simma - given your symptoms - perhaps yours just need a long blast with the hairdryer and then the reat cover going back on?

Mine seams to be stable now....
 
jamiez said:
@Sim_Simma - given your symptoms - perhaps yours just need a long blast with the hairdryer and then the reat cover going back on?

Mine seams to be stable now....
Click to expand...

ohh Ive tried with a heatgun many a time! With the back cover off until all the condensation is gone, blow out the moist are from inside the headlight - comes back. only thing I haven't tried is completely sealing the headlight including all plugs and vent holes, then in theory once the moisture inside is absorbed, it will never have air inside with any moisture to condensate on the inside of the lens. It's funny that the undamaged o/s headlight had water ingress problems from the start yet my passenger side headlight which was smashed up doesn't have this issue!
 
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