Written off because of headlights!

R

Rsuggo93

Member
Been informed this week that my 2005 z4 headlights have had all of their wires corroded and both sides will need replacing, which is way more than what is probably worth fixing the car for given the age and related problems that come with that.

With 160,000 miles on it, it's sad that it doesn't seem worth fixing.

Doesn't seem worth pouring money into it anymore..

Unless anybody can persuade me otherwise, that is!
 
Find some used HL on ebay or somewhere? Are the wires really beyond repair? What causes them to corrode in first place?
Is there anything else wrong with the car to make it so worthless? Come on, it's still a sporty bmw roadster, not some old renault clio or something with zero emotions.
 
£150 for headlights
£200 to fit them
Water leak
Thermostat stopped working (overheating)
Someone bumped into the driver side door last month

Plus the age related rust

All in maybe £1500 to fix I reckon!
 
Where in the UK are you?

What size engine is it?

Were you told exactly where the corrosion is? There's wires within the headlights, the pins on the headlights and then the wires running from the car to the headlights.
 
Located in North east England.

In regards to the corrosion - I bought some aftermarket headlights several years ago but the garage that fitted these bodged the fitting, resulting in the corrosion.

When I took it to an auto electrician they told me that the headlights I had fitted weren't compatible due to a voltage difference, so they put the original lights back in and said that they had to hard wire in one side, and that to get them properly fitted and sorted I would need to get replacement headlights (not the ones that were the wrong voltage) and a "socket with 6 inches or so of wire attached"

I'm not a mechanic in any form so I've no idea on the specifics more than this.

I've had this Z for nearly 10 years and I'd love to keep it on the road.
 
Depends on how you look at it. Sure retail wise it may be effectively worthless, but if you fix the issue for £1500 and get a couple years more out of it then that's cheap motoring in a fun to drive car which still has most of the plus points that made it cost, what, £30k new.

But then I hate throwing stuff away that basically still works :)
 
Rsuggo93 said:
2.2 engine!
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Worth saving imo if you would still enjoy the car afterwards. If it was a 2.0 with that mileage it would be cheaper to sell it to a breaker and buy another.
 
Rsuggo93 said:
If someone is happy to do the work and knows what they are doing I'd happily pay the going rate to keep it going.
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I would have been interested to have a look at the lights for you but I'm in the East of England.

Are the headlights Xenon? On the main headlight switch next to the air vent do you have one wheel or two?
 
I think they are halogen, not sure how I would tell the difference on that one.

There are 2 - one controls the interior dimmer on the dash and the other are for the height motor, if this is what you are referring to.

As I said, I'd love to keep the car on the road and a bit of a travel wouldn't be an issue if there was some hope for it.
 
Rsuggo93 said:
I think they are halogen, not sure how I would tell the difference on that one.

There are 2 - one controls the interior dimmer on the dash and the other are for the height motor, if this is what you are referring to.

As I said, I'd love to keep the car on the road and a bit of a travel wouldn't be an issue if there was some hope for it.
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They are halogen. The aftermarket lights you had should have been fine to use. Were they Sonar branded?
 
These are the ones I bought:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292789091241?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=9ADe-wFvT0-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=iDKrC6IYTxu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Which does say halogen, but apparently aren't compatible. They worked but the indicators thought they were always off and flashed quickly.
 
One of my earlier threads. Hope it helps!
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=135548
 
Yep, definitely halogen according to this guide.

The headlights being the issue here - any suggestions on how I can sort these is appreciated.

Seems as though local garages just want to write it off and tell me to get a new car!
 
Assuming the car still has good MOT length. I’d investigate the water leak/thermostat issue first. Headlights wouldn’t be too complicated to fix IMO.

For lights what you need is someone breaking a Z4 to cut off a sizeable length of the headlight loom (inc. connector). This can be spliced into your existing loom which was bodged when you had the aftermarket lights installed.

Then buy some original halogen lights as aftermarket aren’t the best IMO. Will then be a plug and play fix.
 
kis said:
For lights what you need is someone breaking a Z4 to cut off a sizeable length of the headlight loom (inc. connector). This can be spliced into your existing loom which was bodged when you had the aftermarket lights installed.
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[ref]Umfaan[/ref], you got any?
 
Rsuggo93 said:
Seems as though local garages just want to write it off and tell me to get a new car!
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Oh and find a better garage. Local means convenient. It doesn’t indicate competence.

I travel over 50 miles to RBM in Hook. So a 100 mile round trip. Look for a recommended independent garage. Doesn’t need to specialise in BMW.
 
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