[bishbosh]

Hi,

This is a long post and I'd thought I'd better make my own thread instead of hi-jacking someone else's. To start I must say a big thanks to Alex.J for some useful information

I have an E91 pre-LCI and for the last couple of weeks I've been sourcing various parts to retrofit bi-xenons to it. I'm wanting to get as close to OEM as possible. This includes automatic headlamp levelling. I will sort out headlight washers later as that can be added separately. I'll add to this thread as it's also a work in progress!

Anyway, I got a set of pre-LCI headlights for a fair price on eBay, and some 10W angel eye LED bulbs:



Bulbs in, I powered them up on the bench:



and






Next I sourced a level sensor and bracket. I am waiting for the 2nd sensor to arrive as I type this! Next to it is my old light switch with the manual level adjuster. Since I'm fitting level sensors I sourced the correct light switch (which is now installed in the car).





Now to find a wiring loom! After finding some retrofit instructions to a xenon kit I tried to track down the loom/part number. This was a herculean task as some dealers were unhelpful saying it was only for LHD cars, we can't order the loom separately, etc. Realoem in this instance wasn't much use either.

Anyway, I eventually found a mfr code from a US site, tried that code at an online dealers which listed it as 'Wiring Set' approx £35. I blind ordered it and got the correct loom!! This shows the loom and the mounting brackets for the sensors.





The bracket from ebay was rusty so a bit of hammerite on that (and the other brackets) worked wonders!





Now for the fitting of the rear sensor to begin with: not many pictures as it was hard getting my camera into a position to get a clear shot of the rear sensor installed. Needless to say it wasn't difficult. I removed a plastic cover to get to one of the bolt holes for the brackets. It needs modifying however as it would foul the movement of the sensor if I installed it as it.

I was wondering where to cut it when I turned it over and found a thick line of plastic just to the right of centre. Cut along this line just to the right and it's fine





Bracket mounted I removed the wheel arch trim and the nearside rear seat rest and side trim to feed the wire as far as the CAS module.

The sensor wire coming through the grommet at the top of the wheel arch:




The sensor wire being fed along the loom to the front of the car:






More updates as and when I manage to get things done!

Cheers
Dave

[Alex.J]

Great work so far!

Keep us updated

[bishbosh]

Front sensor arrived today and just managed to fit it before it got dark.

This shot was taken blind after I'd put the wheel back on!




Just need to fit the wires to the plug in the frm module now

I've also managed to get a working installation of NCSExpert. It was failing originally because it couldn't understand the +OKOS option. A later daten fixed that but I couldn't read the VO, it kept giving me errors. Reinstalling an old copy of Ediabas fixed it though and I managed to add the $522 option to the VO in the CAS.

This was just a test and as I still have my halogens fitted I removed the option from the CAS.

Having never coded but being IT literate I presume I just write the updated VO to the CAS, FRM and NFRM and then restore the FRM and NFRM to defaults, which should, if I understand correctly enable the xenon option?

[xenon]

Glad to see somebody doing the job properly instead of stick crappy H7 rebased D2S bulbs in parabolic reflectors and dazzling everyone else.

[Jat]

Excellent work, am keenly interested in similar on my e91.

Do you have a list of parts you need for this whole install? How long did it take you to complete?

Can LCI xenons be fitted to a pre-LCI halogen car?

[bishbosh]

Hi Jat,

I started researching and collect parts a few weeks ago after realising that my headlights looked quite pathetic in the dark, I even put installed Philips Xtreme vision bulbs but it didn't help much.

Anyway I found some info from this thread http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=887687 but I found out that the part number for the wiring harness was out of date.

To date I obtained:
1. Non-adaptive pre-LCI xenons from eBay.
2. 10w angel eye LED bulbs, eBay.
3. 2 level sensors, eBay.
4. Wiring Kit (the box can be seen in the photos!)
5. Most of the bits from this page on realoem excluding the sensors and a couple nuts/bolts as I already had them.
6. FRM2 footwell module (already in the car)
7. Light switch, check on this page for the correct one. In my case I needed part 61316932798. This was found on eBay.

I've still not done everything although I only started fitting the parts last weekend. The wires are as installed as far as the footwell module but I haven't actually plugged them in yet.

I then need to code the car (finally got NCSExpert working properly yesterday )

I also need a few hours free (when the wife isn't looking) to remove the bumper and install the new lights. Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of this weekend!

I presume LCI lights can be fitted but I don't know if/what the changes may be. I wanted as close to OEM as possible.

Dave

[Jat]

Thanks Dave, all useful info. Is the Footwell module not specific to a Xenon car?

Would you be interested in assisting another install?

[bishbosh]

Originally Posted by Jat

Thanks Dave, all useful info. Is the Footwell module not specific to a Xenon car?

Would you be interested in assisting another install?

There's a lot of info on the web, some better than others and from what I've found FRM2 or better is ideal. I've been following a guide for my install, google "e90_nonadaptive_eng.pdf"

The guide is intended for a BMW techie and mentions requiring a new FRM2, but I think that's more due to a liability issue as BMW don't want to be at fault if anything goes wrong coding an existing module. They prefer to code a new/virgin module. Again this was gleaned from various sites.

Realoem does not make a distinction between FRM2 modules with and without xenon but it does for adaptive headlights, but that's a moot point as mine aren't adaptive

I don't have too much free time, but willing to help via email, pm, etc

Dave

[Jat]

Cheers Dave, will look into that, and will pester you no doubt ; )

[bishbosh]

I wired up the loom to the FRM2 module this lunchtime. You don't have a huge amount of room to maneouvre the plug and it's hard with your head upside down most of the time.

Anyway I made this to help. The colours are only valid for the 'official' loom but it was a great help when looking at which wires go where.

Oh, and the pins slid in easily with a comforting 'click'



Dave

[Jat]

Why are those brackets for the sensors no longer available from BMW?

[bishbosh]

I never said they weren't available from BMW, but that is what was implied in that thread I linked to...however, I ordered them anyway from Cooper BMW Parts and got them 2 days later.

[Jat]

lol - sorry my mistake, must have got confused over your thread and the link. I seem to find LCI xenons all over the place, but not pre-lci ones. Need to know if this complicates things and also if they are adaptive, can they be in stalled in a non-adaptive manner.

[bishbosh]

I know there is a small loom you can buy to install lci xenons into a pre-lci xenon car, but you might be able to get away with swapping a few pins in the headlight connector. I don't have a wiring diagram for that though.

I presume you could install adaptive xenons and just not use the adaptive bit. They require their own control module on the light and I think they connect via pin 7 on the headlight socket IIRC

[Jat]

What do you think you will have spent on the whole install (no labour)?

[bishbosh]

£620 in total :-)
And since I'm doing the work myself then £0 for labour :-)

[Jat]

£620 is fantastic - what did you need to buy?

Most sets of headlights look like they take up most of the budget.

I was expecting a retrofit parts to be closer to the £1000 mark.

[bishbosh]

The official kit Inc lights is £1700.

My lights cost £450 and included bulbs and ballasts. Most of the rest I found on eBay at bargain prices compared to BMW.

Example, I bought a light switch for £35 but it costs over £100 new from a dealer.

[bishbosh]

I have not costed headlight washers yet but they aren't included in the £1700 kit either I don't think.

[Jat]

Im working on a potential shopping list right now, the parts lists provided by all are very useful. Could you retain the old switch and just not use the heigh adjust wheel?

[bishbosh]

You could in theory, but changing it gives it a more OEM install. I don't know if there would be any consequences of not changing it.

When checking with dis, my frm gave an error as it thought the manual height adjust wheel was broken. This was after I'd swapped it for the xenon version.

[Jat]

That makes sense, since you changed the control but still had Halogen lights, to the system correctly threw an error as the control wheel was missing.

I would change it too, but if its a case of stealer pricing, I might wait until one pops up at a better price and assume the current one will work without real issue.

Its odd, as I'm talking like this is all going ahead and I have zero parts and not a full decision to move ahead as yet. lol