[gbkd80]

I was trying to put a new bulb in the drivers side housing today and I bent the top clip, so I started muscling it with a screwdriver to straighten it out and i felt the whole housing pop. I realized I popped out the lamp housing from it's plastic clips.

I got it back in a couple times and it felt solid but after fighting with the headlight for so long I think I actually broke something and now the lamp housing inside the entire headlight assembly is loose. I don't know if I can just leave it like that or what, but it feels like at some point that thing is gonna loosen up over a bump and come out. Do I need to remove the entire headlight assembly now to fix this?

I can't believe what a pain in the neck replacing a bulb is on this thing. For real.

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by gbkd80

I was trying to put a new bulb in the drivers side housing today and I bent the top clip, so I started muscling it with a screwdriver to straighten it out and i felt the whole housing pop. I realized I popped out the lamp housing from it's plastic clips.

I got it back in a couple times and it felt solid but after fighting with the headlight for so long I think I actually broke something and now the lamp housing inside the entire headlight assembly is loose. I don't know if I can just leave it like that or what, but it feels like at some point that thing is gonna loosen up over a bump and come out. Do I need to remove the entire headlight assembly now to fix this?

I can't believe what a pain in the neck replacing a bulb is on this thing. For real.

Are you talking sidelight or main headlight?

Halogen, Xenon or LED?

These are the times where not paying a Dealer for 30 minutes of worth of work and an inflated price for a part cost you much more in the end.

[gbkd80]

The main low beam headlight.

Now I'm getting parking light malfunction....

I really didn't think that changing a bulb would need a trip to the dealer or my indie mechanic... I guess I suck.

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by gbkd80

The main low beam headlight.

Now I'm getting parking light malfunction....

I really didn't think that changing a bulb would need a trip to the dealer or my indie mechanic... I guess I suck.

So Halogen.

Unfortunately I do not know anyone that repairs these sealed enclosures.

[Solidjake]

It's not that difficult to replace the bulbs. Did you remove the wheel and the plastic flap to access the light easier?

Regardless, you will need to bake the lights open to remove the front lens and push back in the inner housing. If not, you will need to buy a used headlight.

[gbkd80]

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Did you remove the wheel and the plastic flap to access the light easier?

Yup.. but I guess I bent one of the metal tabs that the bulb secures into (top one), and it wouldn't stay put without falling out. So I started trying to pry at it with a long screwdriver and I popped the assembly inward... I was able to take off the upper cover from above the headlight housing and kinda pry the plastic back into its clip, but I ended up weakening it so now it takes very little for it to pop back out. I get a parking lamp malfunction now sometimes and I wonder if that happens to be any of the bulbs accessible from the top, and I may have jostled something loose. For the moment the headlight assembly is staying put inside the shell. I would hate to have to replace the whole headlight assembly because of this.

[Billfitz]

Getting at the low beams is a nightmare, even if you pull the wheel and remove the wheel housing cover. Why BMW didn't put a top access cover on the low beams the way they did on the high beams is baffling. But you can fix what BMW f'd up.

I used a Dremel rotary tool equipped with an abrasive blade to cut off the top of the housing over the low beam, making it easy to get at things.


The cover that's created by cutting the top off the lamp has to be sealed water tight when you put it back in place. That's a simple job using some vinyl mastic, the same stuff used for sound reduction on panels.