2004 4.8iS Opening the Headlight DIY

[BimmerE38E53]

Hello all. I recently updated my angel eyes on my 2004 4.8iS. I wanted to post a little info on how I did it in case someone wanted to try this themselves.



First, let me start with if you do not have the patients to take about 5-7 hours doing this, do not try. This was a very long process, as i didn't wanna fork out money for new headlights at the moment.



first, removing the bumper and headlights is the initial task. I'm not going to go into the bumper and headlight removal as there are already great write-up on how to do this.



Next, once the headlight is removed you will need to get the lens' off of the housing. I don't have any very scientific way to describe this process so I'll try and be as straight forward as possible.



Tools Needed:

1. Heat Gun

2. T10 and T15 Torx Bits

3. Small Pry Bar

4. Small Flat Head Screwdriver

5. Small Razor Blade (Exacto works perfect)



The seal on the E53 Facelift Headlight is not as straight forward as it seems. the plastic housing has a U shaped barrier around the lens. The lens has a flat area that sits in the U shaped barrier. First, you will need to remove the rubber stops on top of the headlight. To do this, there are little round holders that the rubber clips in. Just pull up around the round knobs and the rubber will just pop up. On the corner by the turn signal, there are white plastics clips. Same deal here, just pull the rubber up and it will come right around them. Then, remove 4 metal clips per headlight and 2x T15 Torx Screws. I began by heating up an area about 6 in at a time. You will need to be careful not to get either the lens or the housing too hot. The trick is that the lens are sealed on the flats and around the edges of the flats. So, when you being to get it out the plastic is now warm and wants to bend. This is where the tools are the trick. I went to a local autoparts store and bought a small U shaped pry bar. It said it was for pulling the plastic clips in the doors. It worked like a charm.



This process, in my case, went on for 5 hours to get both lens' off. Constant heating and prying in a small area until in was almost completely worked out. After you the lens begins to come off you will see that there will still be some of the adhesive stuck to the lens. Once I got the lens to begin to move, i would cut the remaining adhesive and the lens would then be free. Also, note that there are 2 T15 Torx Screws on the upper and lower portion of the turn signal end of the housing. These must be removed before the entire lens will come off. (they are also handy when putting it back together)



After getting the lens off I cleaned them up just to say I did really. They still look very good in my opinion so I didn't spend much time on this. Now, going back together was a breeze.



Now, while i had them off I replaced the angel eyes with LED upgrades. That's where the T10 Torx Bits come into play. The screws are very noticable and i just unscrewed all the necessary screws to get the black inside housing off to complete the angel eye upgrade.



After a dry fit, i put window sealant back on the lens to keep them a sealed unit. I personally like the white color sealant that turns clear once completely set up. It just makes me feel better, couldn't tell you why. After putting sealant around the flat part of the lens and the outsides, I placed the lens' back on and the 2 torx screws that were on the corner helped with holding the lens down along with placing the 4 metal clips (per headlight) back where they were removed from. Once everything was in place, I then put another bead of sealant all the way around the headlight and made sure there were no open areas or areas not covered with sealant anymore. Once this was done I allowed the (white) sealant to turn (clear), put the rubber surronding back on the top of the headlights (exacty opposite of removal) and proceeded with putting the headlights back in the car. BTW, I still broke the plastic housing in a couple places. I probably could have been a little more careful and not broke them, don't see any reason, I should have been a little more careful. But they are under the rubber bumpers and you would never know it!



Again, the process isn't hard it just very time consuming. For me, the time is worth the money. I still have the factory look with the headlights off, but an upgrade to the Angel Eyes when they are on.



If anyone decides to do this I don't mind helping if I can in anyway.

[g300d]

Thanks for posting your experience man!

Will be going back to this if I try mine. I want to do it mainly for better light output. Low/high beams are like candles!

I ordered new Osram Night Breaker Unlimited bulbs and hope they will do the trick but if not, I might need to go in.

If I do that, will probably go whole hog and do angel eyes as well.

[g300d]

Oh, and I have adaptive headlights and I guess that 4.8 has them too...are they in the way doing all this? I sure dont want to F those up.

Opening up a 12 year old electro-mechanical BMW system that is probably made up of mostly plastic and probably brittle after heat cycling for so long...*shudder*

[BimmerE38E53]

Originally Posted by g300d

Thanks for posting your experience man!

Will be going back to this if I try mine. I want to do it mainly for better light output. Low/high beams are like candles!

I ordered new Osram Night Breaker Unlimited bulbs and hope they will do the trick but if not, I might need to go in.

If I do that, will probably go whole hog and do angel eyes as well.

I went with 5000k DDM HID bulbs. I replaced these while I had it apart. I always use DDM when upgrading. The customer service is awesome and products never disappoint.

[BimmerE38E53]

Originally Posted by g300d

Oh, and I have adaptive headlights and I guess that 4.8 has them too...are they in the way doing all this? I sure dont want to F those up.

Opening up a 12 year old electro-mechanical BMW system that is probably made up of mostly plastic and probably brittle after heat cycling for so long...*shudder*

No. When pulling out the inner "black" plastics you don't affect or mess with the projector at all. It's a cover that's over top of the projector and DRL housings. No worries there. I was worried at first too though!

[PropellerHead]

Edit:
Found in the other thread. Thanks!

Looks good. Where did you get the LED upgrade and what part did you buy?

I would like to see this mod on a pair of Euro lenses.

[g300d]

^yeah, those LEDs will really pop with the euro lights/orange clearance lights off.

Bimmer, thanks for clarifying on the adaptive headlight mechanism. What about your bumper, howd ýou fix the gap you mentioned in your other thread?

[BimmerE38E53]

Originally Posted by g300d

^yeah, those LEDs will really pop with the euro lights/orange clearance lights off.



Bimmer, thanks for clarifying on the adaptive headlight mechanism. What about your bumper, howd ýou fix the gap you mentioned in your other thread?

I didn't fix the bumper. It looks better, but it's not exactly right yet. There are plastic clips the mount where the fender meets the bumper and mine are broken on both sides. Actually going to buy them today. Will only take a few minutes to change and hopefully fix the gap between bumper and fender.

[TECN1K]

Looks great - any segmentation with those SMD halos? Looks like the lens diffuser does a good job keeping the light uniform.

[BimmerE38E53]

Originally Posted by TECN1K

Looks great - any segmentation with those SMD halos? Looks like the lens diffuser does a good job keeping the light uniform.

They're not SMD.....I got COB (computer on board). They're supposed to be much closer together and more uniform to look like a single tube. I like them. Bought a set for my E38 little over a year ago and they still look awesome!!!