Headlights...or not?
 

My headlights seem to be wrong. When my headlights are turned on the middle lights never light up. Ever. Not with high beam, not with anything. Am I missing something? Bulbs out? What's missing? Please see the picture and advise.

Yes..you are missing your model year/model & headlight type so that we could tell what headlight setup you might have. :) Depending on the model/model year & headlight setup...without more detail or picture...you could have approximately up to 9 different options:

• pre facelift halogen
• prefacelift xenon
• prefacelift aftermarket xenon or halogen
• facelift halogen
• facelift bi-xenon
• facelift adaptive bi-xenon
• facelift aftermarket xenon or halogen

But I'll go out in a limb and guess that you may have a 2004-06 with a high probability of having adaptive bi-xenon headlights.

If my guess is right...if you pull the turn indicator toward you...the inner lights nearest the grills will illuminate...which are your flash to pass bulbs in this setup...or your DRLs if you code that feature on.

Please report back with more vehicle info so that we can verify/clarify our statements...or give better answers/suggestions based on how your x5 is optioned. :)

Whats missing is the picture ,so all bulbs are out :rofl::rofl:

Here's the picture.
 

I have a 2005 3.0i . My light button doesn't retract or pull out towards me. Only rotates to the different settings

hopefully he knows how to activate the high beams….

Oh dear, the switch on x5 is not pushable or pullable, it is cc wise for automatic lights and clockwise for cornerlights and further for low beam.. What you being asked is what kind of headlights your car has/should have. Google "bmw vin decoder", decode your vin and that will tell you for sure what kind headlights your vehicle had when it came out of factory. Also if you cant determine what you have, in a good day light take a few pictures trough the glass and may be top wiew and shot wrom engine compartment, may be it will guys here an Idea if decoded info matches to what you have instalked now

Just pull the turn signal lever toward yourself while the headlights are off but the vehicle is running.

The center most lights should come on, they are Flash To Pass.

If you have Bi-Xenon or Adaptive Bi-Xenon the center lights are not High Beams and the only way the center lights will come on are for Flash To Pass assuming DRL are not enabled.

If the vehicle had DRL enabled, the center bulbs could have burned out over the years.

jfoj
 

Thanks for a straightforward answer. :thumbup:

Order options
No. Description
1CA SELECTION COP RELEVANT VEHICLES

205 AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

321 EXTERIOR PARTS IN BODY COLOR

386 ROOF RAIL

402 PANORAMA GLASS ROOF

417 ROLLER SUNBLIND, REAR SIDE WINDOWS

438 WOOD TRIM

441 SMOKERS PACKAGE

442 CUPHOLDER

459 SEAT ADJUSTM., ELECTR. W. MEMORY

461 SEAT BACK ADJUSTMENT IN REAR

488 LUMBAR SUPPORT DRIVER/FRONT PASSENGER

508 PARK DISTANCE CONTROL (PDC)

521 RAIN SENSOR

522 XENON LIGHT

524 ADAPTIVE HEADLIGHTS

533 AIR CONDITIONING FOR REAR

534 AUTOMATIC AIR CONDITIONING

609 NAVIGATION SYSTEM PROFESSIONAL

639 COMPLETE PREP. CELLULAR PHONE USA/CDN

676 HIFI LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM

761 INDIVIDUAL SUN PROTECTION GLAZING

8SP COP CONTROL

926 SPARE WHEEL

945 CONSIDERATION OF PRICE DEPENDENCY

524 ADAPTIVE HEADLIGHTS is your headlight option.

These should be Bi-Xenon so the inner lights (what you may think are "High Beams" are ONLY for Flash To Pass and possibly DRL if enabled.

Where did you get pull/retract the light button? In post #2, I said pull the turn indicator toward you. :)

Sorry for barging in and possibly complicating things. But is that a US-model feature/restriction?

I have Bi-Xenon in my 2004 Euro-model. And when i turn on my high-beams, the outer Xenon lights flicks the light pattern shields away, AND the inner halogen high-beam lights turns on.
And the exact same thing happens when i use the flash-to-pass function.

The thing is, on high-beam (shields off) my Xenons does not provide nearly enough forward concentrated light to work as a sole source of the high-beam light. Their light pattern is too dispersed for that. Whereas my inner halogen lights provides a super concentrated beam that will light up the reflective road markers 2 miles out.

Cannot say for sure what if any difference there is between Euro and US, but there are differences.

At least here in the US, unless someone has altered the vehicle programming, vehicles with the Bi-Xenon that I am aware of will not turn the inner Halogen lights on. Now this being said, we are talking about BMW and the minute you think you may fully understand all the variables, you find out there is something different.

I recall a lot of the Euro vehicles have the ability in the cabin to raise and lower the headlight beams via a thumb wheel on some models/manufacturers. Not sure if BMW does this or not.

I find it interesting you state that the Bi-Xenon do not provide enough light and the Halogens are so much more of an addition. I would expect and say this is directly opposite from what I see. I can use my Flash To Pass at night to bring on my Halogens, then flip to true Xenon high beam and I recall the Xenon high beam is a better lighting option.

I guess if I had Halogens on with the true Xenon high beams I would produce more light and it a much wider and scattered pattern, but not sure it would put my Xenon high beams to shame.

I think the OP should just get his Owners Manual out, read up on the features and understand them. This question usually comes up when people are new to Adaptive and Bi-Xenon lighting on BMW's and they are not familiar with the overall operation of the lighting system.

But if the car is used, you also need to assume someone could have also altered the programming or possibly modified the lighting in some why.

My GMC truck would turn the low beams off when the high beams were engaged, this is the way the truck was designed. Well I quickly sorted this out and now have the low beams stay on when the high beams are activated. It adds a lot to the ability to see in the vehicle. So people do modify lighting behavior often.

Thanks. That answered my question.

They do. But only with Halogen lights. If you have Xenons, you don't get that option. I guess there's no need for it with the Xenons auto-level function.

I would also expect the Xenon high beam to provide a lot more light than it actually does.
Maybe our reflectors are different (US vs. Euro) since we rely on the inner Halogen lights for high beam?

Freestyler, I have the adaptive bi-xenon & I have the feature/option to have the large halogen bulb (normally just Daytime bulbs in Canada) also set to turn on with my bi-xenons and WOW what a world of hi-beam difference. I'm not sure why Canada (& USA) does not have this set up like this by default. so much light.

Clockwork,
Ah yes of course. It's a coding option.
But working as daytime bulbs? How is that possible?
If your projectors and lenses are like mine, the light beam will shine directly into the eyes of oncoming drivers, which i would presume would be considered a safety hazard, even if they are operating at a lowered voltage.

Blame the US Department of Transportation. At least that's what my indy tells me...

I asked them to code my lights so that the halogen and bi-xenons turn on with the high beams. They said that they are not allowed to do it by law.