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  #21  
Old 01-30-2019, 05:39 PM
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There is another module associated with the ALC besides the LCM and the 2 modules under the headlight. It's located behind the glove box. It's a really complex (overenginnered?) system.

Here is the diagram for it:

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...stment/qLCFsvg

If swapping your headlight doesn't get it fixed maybe your indy is right and that's what's wrong with mine as well... I had a short in the leveling module under the driver's headlight (water intrusion) and the LCM disabled that headlight.
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  #22  
Old 01-30-2019, 05:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalworks View Post
There is another module associated with the ALC besides the LCM and the 2 modules under the headlight. It's located behind the glove box. It's a really complex (overenginnered?) system.

Here is the diagram for it:

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...stment/qLCFsvg

If swapping your headlight doesn't get it fixed maybe your indy is right and that's what's wrong with mine as well... I had a short in the leveling module under the driver's headlight (water intrusion) and the LCM disabled that headlight.

thank you!
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  #23  
Old 01-30-2019, 07:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalworks View Post
There is another module associated with the ALC besides the LCM and the 2 modules under the headlight. It's located behind the glove box. It's a really complex (overenginnered?) system.

Here is the diagram for it:

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...stment/qLCFsvg

If swapping your headlight doesn't get it fixed maybe your indy is right and that's what's wrong with mine as well... I had a short in the leveling module under the driver's headlight (water intrusion) and the LCM disabled that headlight.

thank you!
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  #24  
Old 01-30-2019, 08:54 PM
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As I feared, mine stopped working today. I pulled off the ballast and checked continuity in all the wires from the plug to the ballast and then from the ballast to the ignitor plug. I have the common problem of cracking insulation on the wires, but I had proper continuity on all wires. I cleaned the contacts on the ignitor/bulb face. I also noticed the little ground tab that contacts the housing of the plug going into the ignitor looked a bit flattened, so I pried it up a bit with a small screwdriver.

Name:  ignitor.jpg
Views: 354
Size:  51.1 KB

I put it back in and it worked. In fact, it worked better than yesterday, as it comes on immediately. Yesterday when I finally got it to work, it had a 10ish second delay before it would come on.

I'm still leaving the bumper off until I'm confident I have it working reliably.

AM.
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Last edited by Attacking Mid; 01-30-2019 at 09:11 PM.
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  #25  
Old 01-31-2019, 02:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Attacking Mid View Post
As I feared, mine stopped working today. I pulled off the ballast and checked continuity in all the wires from the plug to the ballast and then from the ballast to the ignitor plug. I have the common problem of cracking insulation on the wires, but I had proper continuity on all wires. I cleaned the contacts on the ignitor/bulb face. I also noticed the little ground tab that contacts the housing of the plug going into the ignitor looked a bit flattened, so I pried it up a bit with a small screwdriver.

Attachment 75300

I put it back in and it worked. In fact, it worked better than yesterday, as it comes on immediately. Yesterday when I finally got it to work, it had a 10ish second delay before it would come on.

I'm still leaving the bumper off until I'm confident I have it working reliably.

AM.

Thank you, the ballast, igniter, Headlight Control Unit and new bulb have been swapped over to the opposite side, where they all work fine. Thanks for the info, I'll keep an eye on the igniter and it's contacts. I hope yours stays working, and you get your bumper back on soon!
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  #26  
Old 01-31-2019, 03:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by North Idaho X5 View Post
Thank you, the ballast, igniter, Headlight Control Unit and new bulb have been swapped over to the opposite side, where they all work fine. Thanks for the info, I'll keep an eye on the igniter and it's contacts. I hope yours stays working, and you get your bumper back on soon!
Thanks! I have gone out and turned the lights on twice this morning and so far, so good! Have you inspected all the wires inside? Not all wires are for the headlight, so it's not too difficult to check them. Did you see the break in my big yellow wire from my new owner thread?: https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ml#post1153762

I would just bend that little tab out a bit. It can't hurt anything and it's easy to do.

If you remove the ballast, you can check all your wires' continuity. On one side of the ballast receptacle, you only have the yellow and brown wires going to the main plug for the vehicle's wiring harness. On the other side of the receptacle, you have 4 smaller diameter wires including the black ground wire (Sorry, I can't recall the other colors, but it's obvious when you're in there.) These 4 wires go to the plug that plugs into the ignitor. You'll need something like a sharp pick to get in there to make contact because the female receptacles were far too small for the probes on my multimeter.

On the ignitor end, I didn't know which receptacle hole went to which wire, but it didn't matter. Just check them all and one should show continuity for each wire coming from the ballast. If none show continuity for one or more of the wires, then you know you've isolated your problem.

The insulation cracking on these wires is a known and widespread problem, so also check for possible shorting. I have no idea how that yellow wire got severed on mine. It looks like someone cleanly cut it, but I can't imagine how that would have happened.

Anyway.... hope some of this helps.

AM.
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Last edited by Attacking Mid; 01-31-2019 at 03:40 PM.
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  #27  
Old 02-01-2019, 03:22 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Attacking Mid View Post
Thanks! I have gone out and turned the lights on twice this morning and so far, so good! Have you inspected all the wires inside? Not all wires are for the headlight, so it's not too difficult to check them. Did you see the break in my big yellow wire from my new owner thread?: https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ml#post1153762

I would just bend that little tab out a bit. It can't hurt anything and it's easy to do.

If you remove the ballast, you can check all your wires' continuity. On one side of the ballast receptacle, you only have the yellow and brown wires going to the main plug for the vehicle's wiring harness. On the other side of the receptacle, you have 4 smaller diameter wires including the black ground wire (Sorry, I can't recall the other colors, but it's obvious when you're in there.) These 4 wires go to the plug that plugs into the ignitor. You'll need something like a sharp pick to get in there to make contact because the female receptacles were far too small for the probes on my multimeter.

On the ignitor end, I didn't know which receptacle hole went to which wire, but it didn't matter. Just check them all and one should show continuity for each wire coming from the ballast. If none show continuity for one or more of the wires, then you know you've isolated your problem.

The insulation cracking on these wires is a known and widespread problem, so also check for possible shorting. I have no idea how that yellow wire got severed on mine. It looks like someone cleanly cut it, but I can't imagine how that would have happened.

Anyway.... hope some of this helps.

AM.

Thank you, much appreciated. I'll look into that. The X5 front end is currently all apart, but my schedule won't let me spend time on it for a few more days. Luckily, it's not a daily driver. But if I cant get this figured out, it will be a daytime driver only!!

- Chris
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  #28  
Old 02-01-2019, 03:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Attacking Mid View Post
As I feared, mine stopped working today. I pulled off the ballast and checked continuity in all the wires from the plug to the ballast and then from the ballast to the ignitor plug. I have the common problem of cracking insulation on the wires, but I had proper continuity on all wires. I cleaned the contacts on the ignitor/bulb face. I also noticed the little ground tab that contacts the housing of the plug going into the ignitor looked a bit flattened, so I pried it up a bit with a small screwdriver.

Attachment 75300

I put it back in and it worked. In fact, it worked better than yesterday, as it comes on immediately. Yesterday when I finally got it to work, it had a 10ish second delay before it would come on.

I'm still leaving the bumper off until I'm confident I have it working reliably.

AM.

Interesting, and also on the list of things to check, thank you. I hope you get your bumper back on soon with a reliable set of lights. This single light Pirate Eye look just ain't right!
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  #29  
Old 02-01-2019, 09:01 AM
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There is a pin blocking the ignitor harnesses from being able to be plugged in if the ignitor is not in the closed position.


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  #30  
Old 02-01-2019, 09:34 AM
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I didn't have to go anywhere yesterday (I work from home), but I did go out and turn the key to position 2 and flip on the lights on two different occasions. Both lights came on immediately both times, so I'm somewhat encouraged.

AM.
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