[hybrid90]

OK. I need some help and or advice. 20 mos ago, I was coming out of LAX and apparently hit a pothole (I honestly didn't see it). I was only doing about 25 and it felt like I ran over a brick, that's how hard it hit. So later on, I was on my way home and it was getting dark and noticed that i couldn't see the light from my passenger headlight. It was pointing down. So I tried to adjust it, and it only helped marginally. Took it to BMW, and luckily, the warranty I had covered replacing the entire assembly after my $99 deductible. They said that the bulb housing broke loose from the main housing. (I didn't tell them about the pothole).

So, about a week ago, it happened again. I was on the freeway in San Jose and apparently hit something in the road that felt like a brick. Of course, that night as I was heading south to go home on the freeway, my fears came true. The passenger headlight was pointing down. So I adjusted it up and it helped quite a bit but still not perfect. Since my car is now out of warranty, the next day, I pulled the wheel, fender liner and the headlight bulb housing door. Sure enough, the entire bulb housing is loose. I've read about some people just getting in there and being able to pop it back into the swivel bracket (which I assume is what it is since it still moves left & right, and moves up & down with the self test, albeit not quite as much) so I tried for about 30 mins to move it around trying to "feel" a pocket or something that it would pop back into. No luck. The next step is to pull the bumper and the entire headlight housing, which leads to my question:

Will I actually have access to pull the entire back of the housing off to attempt to either fix the swivel or see that it's actually broken? I don't want to go through all of this if I still won't actually be able to access anything. I'm planning on taking care of this in a few hours but can't find ANYTHING beyond "...I popped it back into place.." and "...I reattached the swivel arm...".

Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

[landomon]

I just went through this myself on my e90 Lci

I'm not sure if it's the same through all models, but in my car the projector is held in place at three pivot points. The vertical adjuster, the horizontal adjuster, and the motorized self levelling adjuster.

The most common problem is the projector slipping off of the self levelling pivot point.

Search "lazy eye" on the forum. There was a thread not too long ago about this that helped me out a lot.

If you find that the projector is still seated in the self levelling pivot point, but there's still lots of play in the projector, that means one of the other adjusters has broken. Which requires either buying a new headlight or pulling the lens off and glueing the broken adjuster back together, which is what I had to do

[hybrid90]

Originally Posted by landomon

I just went through this myself on my e90 Lci

I'm not sure if it's the same through all models, but in my car the projector is held in place at three pivot points. The vertical adjuster, the horizontal adjuster, and the motorized self levelling adjuster.

The most common problem is the projector slipping off of the self levelling pivot point.

Search "lazy eye" on the forum. There was a thread not too long ago about this that helped me out a lot.

If you find that the projector is still seated in the self levelling pivot point, but there's still lots of play in the projector, that means one of the other adjusters has broken. Which requires either buying a new headlight or pulling the lens off and glueing the broken adjuster back together, which is what I had to do

Which one is the self adjusting leveler. It's def being held in by one, but can't tell which one because there's so much play in it. I've seen the "lazy eye" posts, but they are too vague to give me good info. And I also have an LCI E90.

[landomon]

[IMG]http://s21.postimg.org/cfqbalyhj/201...1_18_59_54.jpg[/IMG]

On that picture, the round metal module on the bottom left is the self levelling. Right behind that is where the ball joint is. It's tricky to get a sight line on it but you should be able to see if it's seated properly

[hybrid90]

Originally Posted by landomon

[IMG]http://s21.postimg.org/cfqbalyhj/201...1_18_59_54.jpg[/IMG]

On that picture, the round metal module on the bottom left is the self levelling. Right behind that is where the ball joint is. It's tricky to get a sight line on it but you should be able to see if it's seated properly

OK, I'm pretty sure that it's NOT attached to that one. It seems to be still hooked in on the right side. And I tried and tried to look and get it to hook back in but no luck. That's why I'm asking about removing the whole light. It's just frustrating...

Thanks for the info and the help. I really appreciate it.

[matteblue3er]

When the projector carrier pops off the stepper motor ball joint, the headlight points up, due to the weight of on the back of the projector.

If its pointing down, the upper bracket is probably broken.

If you can move the projector carrier on more than 1 axis, the upper mounts are most likely broken.

[hybrid90]

Originally Posted by matteblue3er

When the projector carrier pops off the stepper motor ball joint, the headlight points up, due to the weight of on the back of the projector.

If its pointing down, the upper bracket is probably broken.

If you can move the projector carrier on more than 1 axis, the upper mounts are most likely broken.

Ugh!! That's not what i wanted to hear, but appreciate the input and the help. I still haven't taken the light out. Was going to do it this weekend, but it started raining. I guess it's time to seriously start looking for a headlight. Anyone have any ideas on where to get one and what I need to get if I need more than just the housing?

[matteblue3er]

Get a used housing off eBay. Should be like $300 or so. Swap your modules and bulbs over to the "new" housing

[DemonEye_335i]

I have been looking for solutions to this issue as well. My passenger side light points considerably lower than my driver's side. From other posts I read up on the phillips adjustment screw at the back of the head light casing. so I tried my luck at it. The adjustment screw on my problem side could lower the light angle further and then raise it back. However, it would not go past the low angle at which it started. The screw could keep turning and the light angle would oscillate like it was falling back down to the previous thread of the screw.

I pulled the bumper to remove the light and inspect the inner workings through the back, but the adjustment mechanism was obstructed by an inner housing. I did hear a very small piece of debris rattling inside.
The adjustment screw, as I discovered, could be pried out of the housing revealing a beveled gear that it connects with. There is also an O-ring on the screw sealing the housing, so care is advised to not wear it out.

If anyone has located a schematic showing the mechanical mechanisms of the head light, that would be very helpful. Mention of the "upper bracket breaking" has me curious what part of the light this is.

[hybrid90]

Originally Posted by DemonEye_335i

If anyone has located a schematic showing the mechanical mechanisms of the head light, that would be very helpful. Mention of the "upper bracket breaking" has me curious what part of the light this is.

I've been looking for the schematic for almost two years since it happened the first time. Please, if someone has this, post it up!!

[hybrid90]

Originally Posted by matteblue3er

Get a used housing off eBay. Should be like $300 or so. Swap your modules and bulbs over to the "new" housing

Im gonna have to do that. I just worry that since there's so many components, I'll miss something or get something wrong. But then, it should be pretty straightforward since everything else works. Hell, sometimes you can barely tell that my light is broken.

[cwbmw]

Just last night and now again today, my left light gets stuck pointing all the way to the left.

Last night, after a 20 mile drive, I simply turned the lights off, turned off car, turned car back on, turned lights back on, and it fixed itself.

Today I can't seem to be able to get it to reset itself.

Anyone have any ideas what could be busted in the mounting bracket if its only pointing to the left? It doesn't get stuck in any other direction so far.

Also, it's just the lens that is stuck, in a prior picture, it shows the outer rim that the lens is mounted in as being shifted too, but mine is just the lens.

[Sgt Fox]

Just a note to anyone with an e92 with adaptive headlights. The tutorials about the ball clipping in or out of the actuator seem to apply to the e90 lights only.

The e92 needs to have the ball pivoted downwards to slide out of the slot holding it in. I also was only able to remove the vertical adjust motor after removing the two screws holding the motor, as well as removing two screws holding the mating metal arm to the projector housing. Once these were removed, I had to slide the metal arm up to clear the ball, allowing the motor to pull out. No force was required.

The Foxwell scanning tool also has commands to force the lights to move through their cycles. Very useful for troubleshooting this.

[9krpmrx8]

Originally Posted by Sgt Fox

Just a note to anyone with an e92 with adaptive headlights. The tutorials about the ball clipping in or out of the actuator seem to apply to the e90 lights only.

The e92 needs to have the ball pivoted downwards to slide out of the slot holding it in. I also was only able to remove the vertical adjust motor after removing the two screws holding the motor, as well as removing two screws holding the mating metal arm to the projector housing. Once these were removed, I had to slide the metal arm up to clear the ball, allowing the motor to pull out. No force was required.

The Foxwell scanning tool also has commands to force the lights to move through their cycles. Very useful for troubleshooting this.

I checked mine, and cannot find anything on this, any idea what it is listed as under the commands?

[Glene]

Originally Posted by matteblue3er

Get a used housing off eBay. Should be like $300 or so. Swap your modules and bulbs over to the "new" housing

I searched, but could find anywhere selling the housing. I am in the same boat, the low beams pointing down on both sides. I adjusted upwards to the max, but it does not help much.