Front lights problem on one side

Helmuth · #1 12-19-2013, 08:22 AM

Hey guys, long time no speech.

So you see she was working perfect

but now she seems to want more attention.

About 2 weeks ago: "check headlight" came up and the left headlight low beam did not work any more. Nothing special. I planned to fix that the coming weekend. One day before the weekend: "check fog light" - and the left foglight stopped to work. I thought - no problem, better to fix 2 things in one shot. So I bought the lamps, changed them - all worked.

One week later the same 2 messages were coming up, the same 2 bulbs were failing, one time the first, second time the second. Sometimes the problem goes away after I drive through a pothole, sometimes after some minutes without anything, sometimes it stays.

Since all that is on the left side only - is there a special place/plug to look at? Would be great if one of you had an idea about how to fix that.

Thank you in advance,

Helmuth

TerminatorX5 · #2 12-19-2013, 09:24 AM

hello there, Helmuth.

since the issue comes up and goes, and especially when you hit a pothole, i would suspect that there is a contact issue... because you had the light burnt, and then the other burnt, and after replacing, they burnt again (or, just work intermittently), I would suspect some rust on the contact, that increased the line impedance, and the LCM "compensated" for increased resistance by increasing the voltage (actually, changing the PMW signal), which in turn shortened the life of the bulbs and finally just killing the bulb...

There are two places to look for the rusty or loose contacts - one is obviously at the bulb... since the area where the bulbs are is exposed to elements to some extend, rust can be a prime suspect...

the other area would be to look around the LCM - while the LCM is well protected in the right front passenger's footwell area, some of the sunroof drainage lines go in that area and may clog and therefore create some wet spots... usually in this case, you might have more than just one light problem but still, you might look into this...

keep us posted, good luck...

Helmuth · #3 12-19-2013, 10:26 AM

Hi TerminatorX5,

thank you for your answer. Are you aware about any contacts/plugs between the LCM and the bulb or are the wires going straight through?

TerminatorX5 · #4 12-19-2013, 10:33 AM

based on the WDS - there is a straight run...

however, there was an instance not long ago when the WDS did not show any "break-outs" in wiring but in reality, there was another connector involved...

Hard to tell without getting your hands dirty...

Helmuth · #5 12-19-2013, 10:43 AM

I see - will crawl under her ..... nice job in winter in the alps :-)
Will post the solution when I find one.

Thanks, Helmuth

Tomaz · #6 12-21-2013, 09:51 PM

One of my fog lights failed on my 01' and I took it apart and noticed the clip holding the bulb in used the chrome flashing over the plastic for a current path. I rebent the clip so it touched the metal flange nearby and it fixed the problem.

Helmuth · #7 12-22-2013, 08:59 AM

Problem solved. Seems the 2 lights failing on one corner were not related to each other. I have disconnected all plugs - sprayed them with WD40 and re-connected them -> several times. Doing that I have found a new better methode to remove the fog light:

instead of wiggling around from the front through the hole in the bumper you can grab it from the engine bay side and push it through - much easier then the other methode.

Thanks TerminatorX5 - I was afraid to have a problem in the cabling or a plug in between the cabling - but since you told me that cabling goes straight through I was feeling better :-)

Best, Helmuth

TerminatorX5 · #8 12-22-2013, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helmuth

Problem solved. Seems the 2 lights failing on one corner were not related to each other. I have disconnected all plugs - sprayed them with WD40 and re-connected them -> several times. Doing that I have found a new better methode to remove the fog light:

instead of wiggling around from the front through the hole in the bumper you can grab it from the engine bay side and push it through - much easier then the other methode.

Thanks TerminatorX5 - I was afraid to have a problem in the cabling or a plug in between the cabling - but since you told me that cabling goes straight through I was feeling better :-)

Best, Helmuth

glad it is working now!!!

TriX5 · #9 12-23-2013, 04:17 AM

Thanks Helmuth,

I guess high street retailing isn't what it used to be. I may just go through Schmiedmann and have them sent to the USA so I don't need to lug them through the airport.

Enjoy your Christmas!

Qsilver7 · #10 12-22-2013, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helmuth

Problem solved. Seems the 2 lights failing on one corner were not related to each other. I have disconnected all plugs - sprayed them with WD40 and re-connected them -> several times. Doing that I have found a new better methode to remove the fog light:

instead of wiggling around from the front through the hole in the bumper you can grab it from the engine bay side and push it through - much easier then the other methode.

Thanks TerminatorX5 - I was afraid to have a problem in the cabling or a plug in between the cabling - but since you told me that cabling goes straight through I was feeling better :-)

Best, Helmuth

I'm glad you got it all figured out...but I'm lost. Not sure if I'm the only one...but you have no signature nor did you mention what your model/model year/build date is...and there are multiple headlight/fog light set-ups...so help us better...can we have some details/info as to what model, model year, build date your X5 is...and what head light/fog light set-up do you have? Do you have halogen or xenon or bi-xenon...are the regular or adaptive headlights...or they pre face-lift or face lift head light assemblies and fog lights?