Xenon Projector Replacement

darich

darich

Active member
 South Lanarkshire
As per the title, I'm thinking I might give replacing my xenon projectors a go....the current headlamps are utter gash. The other night, I flashed the high beams and actually thought they weren't working.

Has anyone attempted this before? Can it be done without removing the headlamps or splitting them open?
I guess removing the headlamps wouldn't be a massive job, but splitting them might be more tricky.
If I can get new projectors, then I'll more than likely put LED bulbs in too but I know they're a straight replacement.

I also notice there are what appears to be two projectors inside the headlamp unit, but on both dipped and high beam, the inner projector never lights up. Is that meant to be the case? What is the point of the inner projector if it never lights up?

Anyone done anything like this?

Thanks
 
Replacing the projectors is something that’s been done a fair few times before, have a search on the forum.

It’s not overly complex: open the rear service hatch, remove the bulb and then remove the bolts holding the projector in place. Pull it out, put the new one in and bolt everything back up.

The inner projector is a dummy and doesn’t have a bulb in it other than the faintest of angel eyes, so you’re correct when stating it doesn’t work
 
Thanks for that. My current research does lead me to think it's reasonably straight forward. Found a site www.retrofitlab.com which is coincidentally based in Netherlands, which sells a kit with E86 specific projectors at a cost of £165. That is a little more expensive than buying a more universal one but it would hopefully make the fitting a lot easier.

Thanks for confirming the inner projector is a dummy.....makes me wonder if it could be wired up to high beam though!!
 
AFAIK the inner is a halogen bulb for the flash function as a xenon wouldn't be able to strike quick enough to light up.
 
smorris_12 said:
AFAIK the inner is a halogen bulb for the flash function as a xenon wouldn't be able to strike quick enough to light up.
Click to expand...

In case of the pre-facelift, you’re correct. It has a halogen bulb with a classic mirror reflector. On LCI cars, you either have the same design as the pre-facelift xenons with an outer projector for the dipped beam (fitted with a halogen bulb) and a mirror reflector for the main beam, or two projectors with the outer for both the main and high beam (operated by a mirror flipping up when switching to high beams) and a dummy inner.

As for wiring up the inner projector for high beams: I’m planning on exactly that, with the outer being xenon (using the flip-up mechanism to engage high beam) and an LED spliced into the inner projector to engage with the outer on high beams.

Retrofit Lab do indeed offer a kit, but there are substantially less expensive options that have been explored on the forum. Have a poke around, it may save you a few pounds :thumbsup:
 
I appreciate there may be cheaper options....in fact I found what looks like the same projectors on Amazon for about £50 less. However, I'm not an auto-electrician. I'm not even an electrician. And for a bit extra outlay I don't mind buying a kit which is either ready made or includes templates rather than a generic kit which would require some technical knowledge and/or increase the chance of something not fitting or me breaking something.

My car is Bi-xenon so it appears the outer projector is both dipped and high beam, with the inner projector redundant.

I have a friend who's an electrician and it may be something he could help me with but I'm not against buying a set of projectors for dipped lights and if it can be done, another set which would replace the existing inner ones and operate with high beam only.
 
Hey there,

Check out this thread where the chap replaced the old Xenon "projector assembly" with a newer Morimoto EvoX-R 2.0 assembly : https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1656727

I've talked with 3002tii on the phone before, he said this was one of the best upgrades he's ever done. He's a real Z4/Z4M enthusist.

When I have time, I'm planning to do this as well. Having had the headlights out before, I would suggest removing the front bumper and taking the entire headlight assembly off the car, it's quite painful to work in the wheel well (IMO).

To get the bumper re-aligned, I measured the panel gap between the hood and the side fenders (I think 3mm?) and then found some rubber "screen protector installer" that happened to be the same gap and I cut it into a few pieces to shim each headlight to get the gaps correct. Worked like a charm! Much easier than messing with a depth / gap gauge!
 
Having been inside my own Xenon headlights, I wanted to mention (if it's not already known), the "highbeam" is really just a metal bar that's actuated by a solenoid and moved "out of the way" so light can leave that area of the lens; it's really a "shutter".
 
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