X5 E70 Halogen Headlight Angel Eye LED Upgrade

[capnhyaku]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I have an Australian delivered 2009 (pre-LCI) X5 E70.

I am attempting to update my non-HID headlights with LED's for the Angel Eyes (Halo's). After much frustration, googling and buyers remorse... and seeing a few posts on here of people stuck with the same problem I wanted to share the outcomes of my research in one easy post.

I will in the near future attempt the upgrade and post the results here now that I (*think I) know what to do.

For sake of simplicity, when I refer to "park", this is the bulb that lights up the Angel Eyes.

Firstly, to cover the basic PITA this is:
1. On Halogen E70 headlights the inner most bulb housing is the high-beam.
2. Conversely on bi-xenon OEM HID headlights, this is the DRL/park light bulb housing. This takes a H8 bulb and those of you lucky enough to have factory-HID, I salute you and you can stop reading. After-market parts and the interwebs has you well covered.
3. On Halogen E70 headlights the park light is found in a special housing between the high-beam and low-beam bulb housings.
4. This park light housing is not easily accessible AT ALL. It is behind some structural parts holding the front quarter guard to the chassis. There are 3 screws, 2 which MIGHT be accessible with effort; 3rd screw is beneath the housing and not worth trying to get to.
5. Best method of changing the park light (without removal of the quarter panel and headlight assembly) is through the wheel arch as far as I can tell.

Now for the park light itself:
1. It seems to be a custom BMW part, I have not seen it elsewhere.
2. It is shared between some other models (most notably some E90 models).
a. You can see the E70 part here: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...g/63127192578/
b. You can see the similar E90 part here: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...h/63117161444/
3. For lovers of RealOEM.com:
a. see the E90 diagram here: RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog
b. see the E70 diagram here: RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog

So as for my plan to upgrade the park light to LED:
1. The only part I have found so far is from Wiesslicht (sold through Bimmian.com): https://bimmian.com/Accessories-for-...o-Upgrade-Kit/
2. I do not know if it will fit or direct the light correctly, but will give it a shot. I already bought (and came to regret) the H8 bulb for HID E70's from Bimmian and am hoping they will let me do an exchange.
3. I will take it to the BMW specialist I have parleyed with for years. He will remove the wheel arch and replace later on, while I have a go at this. He has done this a number of times but only with the OEM bulb part (not a chunkier LED part).
4. ???
5. Profit... or at least LED AE's on my factory halogen E70.

Please wish me luck.

[capnhyaku]

Here is the E90 LED bulb from Wiesslicht I am referring to.

[blue dragon]

Thanks for the post, still interesting to see the options from other parts of the world. I don't think I have seen an e70 in North America with halogen headlights

[capnhyaku]

SUCCESS!!! I finally got around to this. No photo's unfortunately as even with the wheel arch off there is not much to see.

The bulbs fit. As I suspected BMW is re-using the old parts bin.

So here is a run down of the steps:
1. Make sure you have a plastic rivet gun and plastic rivets for the front wheel arch/guard. Also the other screwdrivers etc.
2. Remove the wheel, followed by the wheel arch being careful of the brake lines, sensor lines etc.
3. Get up in there with a Phillips-head screwdriver and remove the 3x screws holding the rear cover behind the park light.
4. Remove the rear cover.
5. Brace yourself...

THAT is the easy bit. Getting the old bulb out and the new bulb in is the HARD part. The stealership manual says to remove the quarter-panel as well to basically remove the whole headlight module to replace the park light... pffft.

1. There are two screws deep in the body of the headlight housing holding the OE part inside to the light guides of the halo's. These are located in the middle of the 3 holes top and bottom. Funnily enough it doesn't matter what I say, this is done by braille. You can't see inside the headlight housing to see what you're doing anyway,
2. Take off these screws with a magnetised screwdriver, you will loose the screws otherwise.
3. Disconnect and carefully remove the OE part.
4. PROTIP: get some silicon grease (not sealer) and put a dab on the screw guides on your LED upgrade. This will help keep the screws lined up for the next step.
5. CAREFULLY guide the LED part back into the housing and then get the screws lined up and tapped.
6. With both screws tapped, tighten up and connect the power. My bulbs had no + or -, so it must have a smart relay inside to keep the power in the right direction for the LED.

TEST and then put the cover and wheel guard back on.

BONUS PROTIP: Don't forget to put the wheels back on before you drive off.

Attached is:
1. A pic from the view of the low beam headlamp cover of the PITA in question. If you've got a mate who can spot for you or hold the bulb while you screw the screw's it might be easier.
2. The cover you need to reach through the wheel arch to remove.

[PotsyDriver]

Originally Posted by capnhyaku

SUCCESS!!! I finally got around to this. No photo's unfortunately as even with the wheel arch off there is not much to see.

Thanks for the detailed info. I'm about to embark on this globe replacement. Took me a while to work out what globe I needed after getting help from others - started a thread over here - and only found your post here right at the end

Just checking if yours is still ok and if you'd do anything differently now if doing it again?

What globe did you end up going with? I'm thinking of trying these ones...
BMW E90 E91 E70 Angel Eye LEDs 20W BULB HALO Corona Rings AUSSIE SELLER

Have checked my VIN with the seller and they assured me it's the right type, so fingers crossed...

[capnhyaku]

They are still OK and I don't know what I would do differently. I had good support from my mechanic on the steps to follow.

I did notice the light output from the rings is not as bright as the later LCE which had LED as part of the headlight design.

Good luck!

[capnhyaku]

Blinking like crazy on one side, it gradually got worse over time.

So after 1 year they are bad/faulty/broken.

Not going to bother trying to deal with bimmian for a return on this given the cost of shipping. Going to buy cheap from aliexpress and see how long those last.

[hquick]

Hey....looking at this myself. What did you end up going with?