focusing lens in my headlight assembly is shaking

[rkstar9]

The round lens the bulb shines trough on the low beam headlight shakes while Im driving.

When im at high speeds on bumpy roads behind people they think im a police officer so they pull over.

only the right hand head light does this however I found out there is a TSB for this where the solution is to replace the entire assembly.

on newer cars (E92, E93 (3 Series)) with similar problems the TSB suggest "Install an additional headlight arm support to both headlights P/N 51 64 7 019 777 (Left)"

So my questions are:
For someone who has opened a headlight
1. can I get such support arms for a z4?
1 If I get aftermarket headlights will that fix the problem?
or is there a service out there that will install angel eyes and secure that lense for me?

It seems there is no way to answer this without removing the bumper and pulling out the headlight.


anyone with experience opening the lights I would appreciate any input

[RecycledTeen]

{bump, since search results came up empty}

Have had the "headlight flickers when driving over bumps" issue with my driver's side light ever since I picked up the car and since it wasn't "too bad" I lived with it. For the record, the passenger side is fine. Fast forward to this weekend and pulled bumper off to replace lower center grill, so decided to look at that headlight.

It appears the off-centered plastic piece inside the headlight that is connected to the top adjuster is "cracked" (identified by arrow, the other part of the plastic piece is recessed, out of view)



It still makes contact = when adjustment is made (turning screw clockwise) it pushes the plastic piece out and everything's "pushed against each other, but at the currently adjusted position it's loose, hence the light is able to move when jarred (like from driving over a bump). From what I can tell that's not a replacement part, so going to attempt gluing it to try to keep it solid. If no good, then at least I know what it is and maybe swap light assembly out later on sometime...

Anyone else come across this or have an alternate solution?

[M-Power M3]

^^ I might have the same problem. I've been sensing my light flickering over hard bumps and this would explain it. Like you said it hasn't been a huge enough issue for me to stop everything and solve it but it is getting annoying.

[rkstar9]

NICE! Thanks for the Post dave did you have to cut the headlight to gain access to the piece?

the problem seems to have worsened over time, It makes the ride feel cheap.

[RecycledTeen]

^ No, headlight housing has a holding clip (#6 in diagram below) that slides out of the way to remove the back cover (used for access to change bulb).

After a failed attempt to glue it in place, I was able to remove it by first removing the screw that secures it to the "bulb holder" (which is what pushes/pulls light aim) then once released from the holder I turned the adjuster screw out (push) all the way to free it up and wiggle it out of the housing.

As noted, certainly had a crack in it causing the wobbling.



Ideally would be best to replace with a used or new one, but doesn't appear to be a part that can be ordered separately.



A little clean up and re-glue and she's solid again = success. Assembled in reverse order. Hope this helps others down the road, when they find broken headlight housing mounts are not the reason for the wobble!

[rkstar9]

Great thanks for the Pictures

After realizing how simple it seemed I went ahead and attempted to do this fix unfortunately after opening the head light I noticed there were 2 plastic pieces where the focusing lens bolts on that had broken off completely

One you can see here the other one you can't see.



After playing around with instant glue (that fell on to the front of the head light that I will have to spend 4 hours cleaning in the future) I realized it would not cut it as the piece it holds it's quite heavy.

So I decided to drill a whole instead and shoot 2 bolts all the way from the front of the light going into the focusing lens.



Needless to say the focusing lens is strong as hell now, I put everything back together and the auto leveling mechanism works fine.

I learned I can easily put on angel eyes without cutting the front cover as everything is accessible from the inside. That will be the next project.