auto leveling head light trouble shooting

[taosx5]

Here is the dea!! This happened on my wife's 03 X5 4.4. We just did a road trip from NM to CO and while driving at night I kept having oncoming traffic flash me like my high beams were on. I don't drive this car much except on long trips so I don't know when this issue started. Now that we changed time and it gets darker earlier my wife is driving a little bit at night coming home from work. She said just in the last couple of weeks oncominig drivers have been "flashing" her pretty often at night. It dawned on me when we got to our destinatioin that the auto leveling was not working.

The only thing that has been done recently to the car is I had the left side front cv axle changed, and I swapped out my summer to winter wheels/tires.

Since I am not at home I don't have a lot of tools/resources but I have been on the forums reading about this. I jacked up the front right side of the car and checked the position of the auto dimming switch arm and mine seems to be in the correct position that is pointing horizontally towards the wheel not pointing down as some pics have been posted.
0 <----[+++] This is how the front sensor looks right now. The 0 is the tire, the arrow is the arm and [+++] is the sensor box. Sorry I don't have photo capability right now. I have not checked the rear sensor yet.

I looked at both headlights trying to determine how the auto leveling works. It appears that there is a vacuum line that goes into the back of each headlight which I assume works some mechanical device inside the housing that moves the lights. I cannot tell where the line goes to.
Here are some questions that I cound not find answers to in the forums.

1) Does anyone have a good idea how to trouble shoot why auto leveling will not work, is it a fuse, a relay, the sensor I mention?

2) Are the lights mechanically moved by these vacuum lines I mentioned?

3) If I take the sensor arm off the front sensor with the front wheel off, can I manually move the arm to see if the lights react to the movement?

4) If a rear or the front sensor is out does it disable the auto leveling, meaning if one is out?

5) What position should the rear sesor arm be in relation the rear wheel? Should it point to the wheel like the front one?

6) I suspect until I figure it out, I can simply adjust the headlights manually, you know to keep from disrupting other drivers at night and is this a good idea?

7) I will be glad to post pictures of what I find along the way to help assist anyone in the future but I am technically challenged. If I take any pics, what is a good way to save them then post to this forum. I have never done that.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[TriX5]

The lights are moved up and down by an electrical positioning motor. The sensor for the self-leveling is on the left front suspesion and they may not have gotten things quite right when you had the drive shaft chenged. I may be able to shoot a picture of mine a little later today.

[taosx5]

Originally Posted by TriX5

The lights are moved up and down by an electrical positioning motor. The sensor for the self-leveling is on the left front suspesion and they may not have gotten things quite right when you had the drive shaft chenged. I may be able to shoot a picture of mine a little later today.

TriX5, thanks for your input. I was out this morning and away from the computer. Like I said I am not at home so I don't have a lot of tools at my disposal and also do not have the ability to send a picture.

The sensor you speak about I think on mine is definitely on the right front side (I think there is also one on the back but I did not mess with that one today. This sensor is attached to a steering stabilzer and after studying the set up I think I know how it all works. In fact I jacked up the front wheel today and took the wheel off. Then I took this sensor off, and with the headlights on against a garage door, I moved the sensor up down and all around. Once in awhile the lights would move but very intermittently. After awhile I could not get them to move so I disassembled the electrical plug and then re-inserted it. I suspect there is an electrical connection issue because once in awhile the lights will do there auto adjusting at start up and most times they won't.

I think I will have an alcoholic beverage and contemplate the whole deal.
Thanks again.

[Jim M]

I thought I would resurrect this thread, since I did a search and didn't find anything else exactly on point.

I have a 2008 X5 which has had headlight adjustment issues since it was new. I have taken it to the dealer three times, and until recently, all they do is adjust the headlights and send me home. But the headlights sometimes point up with no particular reason. I can see the light pattern on road signs and stop signs. Like taosx5, I frequently have oncoming drivers flash me as if I had the high beams on. At other times (usually after driving at night for more than a half-hour), the headlights seem to be aimed properly.

After having the car to the dealer three times with no fix, I sat down with the service writer and explained in detail what was happening. They ordered new ride level sensors, and installed those. That didn't fix the problem. I stressed to the service writer that the problem was intermittent, and had been worked on three times already.

The dealer kept my car overnight, and the service manager drove it home that night. Finally, he observed the problem while driving the car at night. I think they are next going to replace the computer that controls the headlight leveling.

The dealer is still holding my car in captivity while they search for a fix.
Has anyone else had a similar problem and could offer some suggestions?

Jim M

[thunderX]

except mine are aiming too low!

I checked the mounting of the sensor, seems OK but I don't know enough about this setup to say for certain.

The rear air suspension auto-leveling returned to normal on its own.

There is a hole in the front passenger side mount, I assume it's an alignment hole?

How can a DIYer re-calibrate the headlight aiming?

Thanks to anyone that can help.

[Quicksilver]

I would like to see a picture of how that sensor is attached to the suspension.

Originally Posted by TriX5

The lights are moved up and down by an electrical positioning motor. The sensor for the self-leveling is on the left front suspesion and they may not have gotten things quite right when you had the drive shaft chenged. I may be able to shoot a picture of mine a little later today.

[kkodal78]

if you have air suspension in the front and they put the leveling sensor which is on the upper control arm in the front wrong than your X5 would not be leveled and would be visible so if you car is looking leveled than you should not mess with the leveling sensor. have it checked by a mechanic to see if the headlights are aligned correctly.

[civdiv99]

I can't tell from original post if they are moving incorrectly (meaning a dynamic problem) or just aiming too high as a regular thing. I do know that it's easy enough to set the lights however you want and that'll be your new norm. Typing the whole how it works on this little mobile screen I am using isn't practical, but in general just pop the hood on a dark level road, grab yer flashlight, and locate the vertical adj screw, and aim those puppies however you like. The LCM uses input from the right rear if just rear leveling, and right side front and rear if four wheel. If your LCM isn't throwing you a Msg then it's gatting the info it likes to see. So, just set your aiming points and that'll be your norm. This is a mechanical adj to set the aiming. Your car has no idea if they are pointing correctly, only affects relative position. The screw (I want to say it has white plastic knurl around the head) just sets how the bulb is adjusted as mounted. One of the first things I did was adj aiming to my prefer (passenger side higher and a bit outward along shoulder) don't make this any more complicated than that.

[thunderX]

and you must be right. Aim is now higher. I'll do a real adjustment later- when I did it it was freezing out and the f'n wind was blowing like 40 mph gusts, knocking down the hood.

[civdiv99]

TaosX5- the intermittant reaction you got is probably correct. If ya start the car the lights do their self-check. If they move down a bit and then back.up, yer fine. Tweak the vertical adj whenever you want to change the aim. If the system none responsive, then you should have gotten a fault Msg. The bmw fault message for most things involving self-level and similar type systems is "$$$$$$$$"

Well, anyway if they don't get through the little self-check, then you are still back to "grab a Phillips and put 'em where you want 'em." You know, old school like.