Xenon light playing up

[bensz4mc]

Have an intermittent fault with my near side Xenon light.. Sometime if doesnt come on and then turn it off and back on and it's fine.

What do you think it could be?

 

[Booner]

Mine does that too sometimes

 

[Beedub]

dicky balast maybe??? any warranty??? i crapped my pants when my lights needed replacement.. the price was insane, luckily it was a warranty repair.

 

[Aliv6]

dicky balast maybe??? any warranty??? i crapped my pants when my lights needed replacement.. the price was insane, luckily it was a warranty repair.

Lucky, BMW told me to piss off!

I was lucky i suppose, mine was just a bulb, £60 for two aftermarket 6k bulbs iirc. Doddle to fit.

 

[bensz4mc]

Stealer just called, they said it needs a new bulb - £180 fitted.. Nice start to the weekend!! I thought Xenons were meant to last for ages.....?

 

[Beedub]

Stealer just called, they said it needs a new bulb - £180 fitted.. Nice start to the weekend!! I thought Xenons were meant to last for ages.....?

holy s**t... 180 bags for a bulb......

be thankfull its not a balast.......

 

[kennef]

you can actually get these bulbs (Philips D2S) from ebay for USD$50-ish + shipping... bought 4pcs (not all mine) and has worked faultlessly.

there are other brands too, like osram, hella, narva, but my mech recommended philips.

 

[mmm-five]

£44.99 from Powerbulbs

 

[jamiez]

Hold on a moment - can i clear something up...as i have this issue also

I have extended warranty

1) Is the buld covered?
2) Is the ballast covered?

Ive read on other posts that its unlikley to be the build and instead a dickey ballast
Perhaps BMW mis-diagnosed some of the above to a buld and not the ballast?

 

[srhutch]

I remember seeing the Xenon Bulbs were covered by extended warranty, I would have thought ballast were to.

 

[bensz4mc]

Are they covered by the extended warranty, as just paid for the bulb from the stealer?

 

[bensz4mc]

Just checked.

Comphrensive warranty excludes:

Batteries, all exhaust components (except Catalytic Converter), brake and clutch facings, discs and drums, bulbs and fuses....

 

[jamiez]

bensz4mc - was this sorted in the end?

New bulb?

 

[Hunter]

What does the ballast actually do and what is it?

 

[Franzino]

dicky balast maybe??? any warranty??? i crapped my pants when my lights needed replacement.. the price was insane, luckily it was a warranty repair.

Correct....price is insane! I had the same problem on one side and light unit was replaced under warranty....on the other side the problem was only the bulb (no warranty).

 

[jamiez]

UPDATE FROM ME

BMW called me today and said that the nature of my fault is indeed NOT the bulb but the xenon ignition unit. The car was in today for another unrelated xenon level issue. But I had to demo the dicky light issue and asked them to question their own investigation but ruling in/out a failing bulb.

When the problem was initially diagnosed they told me I needed a new bulb – this was during Insp II.

I think a letter is going to BMW at some point. If I had “accepted” their original diagnosis I would have been 250+ quid lighter for a non-required part and no further forward!

Point of the update – be cautious!

 

[SmartB]

I have this on my car sometimes, especially if I fire it up a little bit quicker then I'm supposed to. If I wait long enough in the 2nd position it's all okay. While running the light turned off only twice in last 6months, car is still under warranty, should I visit BMW?

 

[Z4M_Trinity]

Doubt they will be able to see the fault if it's come up so irregularly tbh, but it's always worth an ask seeing as it's in warranty!