What on earth has happened here - light issues

[JoshW]

Hi all,

Had a bulb out warning on the headlight, got the wheel access panels off expecting to find Xenon bulbs and found this? My car was supposed to have Xenon lights as checked by the VIN (WBADU52040LJ50561) and it seems somebody has modified the wiring etc - it now has standard H7 bulbs? What are all these clips and why has some of the wiring been taped over with blue tape? Can someone elaborate, I am very concerned to be finding this?

The good thing is it was just a blown bulb.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[JoshW]

 

[Scooba_Steve]

I could imagine either damage or failure and the subsequent repair bill meaning someone converting to halogen. Potentially bodged wiring aside if the LCM is coded correctly it powers the headlights direct so shouldn't be an issue.

 

[JoshW]

I'm thinking the same thing, either that or front end damage. Thing is I bought it as listed with Xenons so to find this is very concerning

 

[biojo]

what do the front of the headlights look like, this is usually easiest way to tell if there Xenons due to the optic lens, if you can see the bulb you can telll there not, or if its after market

The only down side now is you wont have headlight adjustment unless you do it manually under the hood

 

[srhutch]

.

 

[JoshW]

what do the front of the headlights look like, this is usually easiest way to tell if there Xenons due to the optic lens, if you can see the bulb you can telll there not, or if its after market

The only down side now is you wont have headlight adjustment unless you do it manually under the hood

They look like projector headlamps, which leads me to believe that the original headlamp housing has been modified? I've attached a picture, what do you reckon?

 

[srhutch]

Non genuine headlights I'm afraid. Someone had swapped them.

 

[JoshW]

I had a bulb out on the outside, in that funny shaped projector lens. When I took the access cover off, it was just as found as above. I would have expected to find an ignitor for the xenon but it appears to have been modified. Full beam seems to be the bulb next to the projector lens, but none of them are xenon.

They should be as the VIN confirms it and the advert of sale did also

 

[srhutch]

I had a bulb out on the outside, in that funny shaped projector lens. When I took the access cover off, it was just as found as above. I would have expected to find an ignitor for the xenon but it appears to have been modified. Full beam seems to be the bulb next to the projector lens, but none of them are xenon.

They should be as the VIN confirms it and the advert of sale did also

As I said above, they are non genuine headlamps. somebody has swapped them.

 

[JoshW]

What would be the best course of action? I've contacted the dealer to see what can be done about this. I would want this reverting back to stock by either a BMW specialist or a dealership

 

[srhutch]

If it was an AUC car I would be taking it back. If not I don't think you will stand a chance unless it was advertised with Xenons.

 

[JoshW]

It wasn't an AUC sadly, I imagine BMW would have spotted this a mile off. It was advertised with Xenon's and I checked the VIN - sadly I didn't actually check them when I bought the car, didn't think anything of it as it's not usually a thing one would expect.

I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the help anyway, much appreciated. Thanks, Josh

 

[Z4M-2006]

Where did you buy it from ?

 

[biojo]

as said there not bmw ones, the indicators should be on under side of headlight (2 bulbs)

Also on a 08 car you would have 2 optics, although one doesnt do anything just side light halo, and the main beam is bi-Xenon

 

[JoshW]

I bought it from a dealer called Lee State Cars (http://www.leestatecars.co.uk). Annoyed as it's something basic that I should have noticed but to the eye it looked okay, I thought the smaller bulb was a separate flasher bulb.

I'll keep posted on what develops. Thanks guys

 

[patriot66]

I have these fitted to my car. They are Sonar/2xcite aftermarket headlights. Definitely not Xenon !

 

[Roundozo]

I had a bulb out on the outside, in that funny shaped projector lens. When I took the access cover off, it was just as found as above. I would have expected to find an ignitor for the xenon but it appears to have been modified. Full beam seems to be the bulb next to the projector lens, but none of them are xenon.

They should be as the VIN confirms it and the advert of sale did also

As others have said, they are not original headlights. Aftermarket jobs. What does the light control switch look like also? Do you have a wheel next to the switch? If so then they have either changed this also or the car never had xenon.

Also do you have yellow stickers under the bonnet warning of xenon high voltage?

I'm just trying to work out if it did once have xenon but maybe the previous owner had a little bump or they broke and couldn't afford to fix.

Another side note, you still get projector lenses on the halogen headlights on the z4.

 

[jamiez]

It wasn't an AUC sadly, I imagine BMW would have spotted this a mile off. It was advertised with Xenon's and I checked the VIN - sadly I didn't actually check them when I bought the car, didn't think anything of it as it's not usually a thing one would expect.

I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the help anyway, much appreciated. Thanks, Josh

How long have you had the car?

Your VIN does indeed state xenons as as per an earlier post, your light switch inside the cabin should not have an additional rocker switch to adjust the level which you may have seen in other cars.

Since the VIN states Xenon but after markets have been installed I would would little concerned as to why this course of action was taken? Is it covering up an unregistered history of a smash possibly? Or did a past buyer simply have a problem with them and they thought swapping them for halogen was better (strange choice and quite a lot of work)

Either which way, it's unlikely that the dealer will refit xenons. You'll need to decide what you want to do. If the car is within the 28 day period - I expect you are eligible to return the car.

 

[jamiez]

I had a bulb out on the outside, in that funny shaped projector lens. When I took the access cover off, it was just as found as above. I would have expected to find an ignitor for the xenon but it appears to have been modified. Full beam seems to be the bulb next to the projector lens, but none of them are xenon.

They should be as the VIN confirms it and the advert of sale did also

As others have said, they are not original headlights. Aftermarket jobs. What does the light control switch look like also? Do you have a wheel next to the switch? If so then they have either changed this also or the car never had xenon.

Also do you have yellow stickers under the bonnet warning of xenon high voltage?

I'm just trying to work out if it did once have xenon but maybe the previous owner had a little bump or they broke and couldn't afford to fix.

Another side note, you still get projector lenses on the halogen headlights on the z4.

Lol. What I just wrote. Sorry I didn't just requote you