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      06-11-2018, 11:39 PM   #1
bosstones
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DIY for Z4M Xenon & Angel Eye/DRL Bulb Replacement

I replaced both Xenons and Angel Eye/DRL bulbs in my Moupe a couple of days ago. I used instruction from AmmarYasirA's thread as a general guide before getting my hands dirty. My search skills suck, but, like jdoublehcubed in that thread, also didn't find many pic-laden DIY's for this so hopefully this contributes to the community.

Overall, I didn't find this to be very difficult or time consuming. Frustration was low aside from bumping my head on the strut while trying to take pix.

Tools needed:
  • Car jack
  • Jack stands (2)
  • quarter or nickel
  • standard screwdriver

Parts:



1. Lift & secure your car
Lift your car by whatever means you usually do. For me, this meant using a car jack and jack stands. You could use ramps if you have them. Bonus points if you have a lift.

2. Access front wheel well
Driver or passenger side....doesn't matter which you do first. I started w/ the driver's side so my pix will start there as well. I removed the wheels to get unfettered access to the wheel wells. I was also going to swap out rotors and pads afterwards so I had to take the wheels off anyway.

The pic below shows the location of the light cover (as I call it herein). The cover is already removed but it makes it easier to spot. (Oh...and, yes, the anti-rattle clip on the caliper is off......and my wheel well is dirty as hell...I have no shame. ).



3. Remove light cover in wheel well
I used a quarter (yes, as in 25 cent coin) to turn the screwhead of the clip on the cover. Located on the left side (for the driver's side; right side for the passenger side), each of the 2 clips has a round side and flat side to it. You will turn each clip such that the flat side of the clip faces away from the cover (~ a 180 degree turn). The pic below shows the cover w/ the clips already turned. Once turned, the clip edge should pop out w/ only slight effort. The other vertical edge has 2 flanges that recess into the cowling. You can see these in the pic below as well.



Here's what the cover looks like removed, by itself.



4. Loosen retaining clip on light box
Once the cover is removed, you can see the light box. It is the large, black plastic thing in the pic below.



The back cover for the light box is held in place w/ a large retaining clip that runs diagonal across it. It'll be obvious. It is held in place in 4 locations, but you only need to worry about 2 to loosen it.

I used the side edge of a screwdriver blade to work the clip from it's 2 locking clips. I just put the edge of a standard tip screwdriver under the clip near each lock point and simply rotated the tip to work it up/over. I started w/ the top front then did the bottom front. I don't know if it makes a difference wrt order.



Once the clip was free from the latch points, I swung it down towards the bottom of the housing, not up and over. Once down, I actually unhooked the bottom right corner of it so that there was more freedom to move it out of the way.





5. Remove rear light box cover
This is part is what I would call the trickiest part of the whole process. Even still, perhaps I lucked out since it did not give me much problem at all. Realize that the light housing is not perpendicular to the angle you'll likely be working. Add to that, the tab on the side of the cover along w/ the notched area at the top. Taking those into account led me to break up cover removal into a couple of different steps. Here's what the cover itself looks like (already removed).



For me, the cover removal process amounted to breaking it down to a few steps:

a) loosen cover from any clips
b) work the cover around the protruding part at the top of the light housing
c) remove cover

For the first part, I used the inside edge of the cover (where the tab is) as a pivot point/fulcrum and swung the outside edge outward. Basically, swing the vertical edge of cover closest to you outward. At the end of the day, the cover was angled somewhere btwn 45-55 degrees outward. I initially didn't have the bottom, inner corner angled so close to the light housing as shown in the pic below. That was part of the next step.



Next was to work the cover over the protruding piece at the top of the light housing. To do that, I angled the inner, bottom corner of the cover inward towards the light housing while swinging the top edge of the cover down. It's shown in the pic above and below. As the pic shows, it almost completely frees the cover from being obstructed by the housing protrusion (I'm sure there is a real name for it...)



From there, it is just a matter of swinging the vertical edge of the cover (nearest you) down slightly and sliding the cover out towards you.



With the cover off, you will be staring at something like this:


6.Remove Angel Eye/DRL bulb assembly
Replacement of the angel eye/DRL bulb assembly is pretty straight forward:

a) unlock bulb assembly from housing
b) slide out bulb assembly
c) unplug bulb assembly
d) reverse w/ new bulb assembly

The angel eye/DRL bulb assembly is on the inner side of the light housing and is recessed a fair ways (at least compared to the Xenon ignition element and bulb).



There are torx 2 screws that help keep it in place, but you don't have to worry about removing or loosening them. Simply grasp the black plastic base of the assembly and twist CCW maybe a 1/8 turn. All you are doing is rotating the assembly so the torx screws leave the flared detent in the bulb assembly.

Pay attention to where the brown & white wires for the angel eye/DRL bulb assembly are routed before taking anything out.



The connector was larger than I expected. There are no retaining clips holding it in, just pure insertion force. I wiggled the connector left/right a little as I pulled backwards. The connector length seated in the assembly is about the same as what is exposed.



For reference on the connector length/depth:


Installation of the new assembly is the opposite of removal. The harness connector is keyed so there is little need to worry about reverse biasing the bulb.

7. Re-install Angel Eye/DRL bulb assembly
Fairly self explanatory. The harness connector is shaped and can only install in on orientation. Bulb assembly installation is opposite of removal. The side labeled 'Open' should be on the left. Insertion of the bulb assembly should be w/ a slight clockwise orientation. This allows the retaining screws inside the headlamp housing to enter the 'wings' of the bulb assembly. Once in, a fractionaly CCW turn will lock the bulb assembly in place.

8. Unplug Xenon ignition element harness
There is a retaining clip around the ignition element. It unclips on the left side w/o much effort. The inner side is hooked around part of the headlamp housing so there is little/no risk of the clip falling off completely.

This clip is what holds the harness for the ignition element in place. With it unclipped, you can slide the harness out fairly easily. It has nowhere near the insertion force the angel eye/DRL harness has.

With the retaining clip "removed", the harness plug slides out fairly easily.

9. Remove Ignition Element
The label on the back of the element housing says it all. Turn CCW slightly and pull it backward away from the headlamp housing. The front of the element housing has 4 hooks/clips. If you have an issue pulling/sliding it off, use very small turns (CCW or CW) while pulling back slightly since one of the clips might 'just' be off alignment.

Here's what the ignition element front looks like for some a priori knowledge. You won't be able to see the clips/hooks while you are trying to remove it.





This is what the housing looks like w/ the ignition element removed. The Xenon bulb stares right at you. Easy as pie.



10. Remove Xenon bulb
DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR HAND!!! If you do, clean it gently w/ isopropyl since your skin oil can shorten the bulb life. I wore nitrile gloves for this (actually...for the whole job, but I put on new gloves just for this step).

The bulb itself can be pulled/slid straight back. No CW/CCW turning necessary at all. The top of the bulb has a notch that aligns w/ part of the bulb housing in the headlamp assembly.

11. Install new Xenon bulb
Installation is opposite of removal. The notch on the base of the bulb faces up. This will align the bulb w/ it's home in the headlamp housing. The bulb should easily slide into its new home.

12. Re-install Ignition Element
Re-installation of the ignition element is the opposite of what you did earlier. I have no fancy tricks/tips for this since it went pretty easily for me. Reading the boards, aligning the 4 clips/hooks gave some folks a little trouble. There is not a lot of play on them so all I would suggest is to make sure the ignition element is flat against the back of the Xenon bulb before turn CW.

13. Plug in ignition element harness & clip
Again, pretty straight forward. Plug the connector back into the ignition element then secure the retaining clip.

14. Re-install light box cover
As w/ everything else, installation is the opposite of the removal steps. This was no exception. You'll want to line up the tab on the inner, vertical edge first. Then, work the aforementioned protrusion to the recessed area of the cover. Once that is in place, the cover should easily maneuver so that it sits over the light housing. When in place, re-install the retaining clip and snap it into the 2 lock points.

Notes About the Passenger Side
Here are a few notes about the passenger side. There are a few minor differences wrt topology on the passenger side, namely: 1) hey look!...a reservoir and 2) harness routing below the light housing is different.

That's it...and that fact that everything is mirrored compared to the driver's side. Removal of the housing cover was no different than before.....angle the cover outward, pivot the inner bottom corner towards the housing, and the cover to slope downward towards you, work the protrusion over the cover, and slide the cover towards you. It will touch the fluid reservoir but I had no issue removing the cover and there was veeerrrry minor movement of the reservoir in the process.

View of passenger side:


Angling the housing cover outward:


Pivoting the cover's corner and working the protrusion over:


That's it! Not a very difficult job at all. Like with anything, remember to break things down into steps. Also, remember that the light housing is at a bit of an angle from where/how you'll be working.
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Last edited by bosstones; 06-12-2018 at 01:14 AM..
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      06-11-2018, 11:52 PM   #2
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Pix/attachments got screwed up a bit.....think I fixed it.
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      06-12-2018, 02:15 PM   #3
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Perfect DIY dude! Took mine to the next level.
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      06-12-2018, 09:30 PM   #4
bosstones
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Thanks! I used your post as a guide so I felt compelled to reference it in mine. Fairly simple job compared to other DIYs people have posted, but...it's something.

Now if only I could figure out how to get rid of the extra pix at the end...lol I almost always host pix elsewhere but figured I'd upload them to BP so they'd always be around. Clearly, I'm doing it wrong.
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      07-09-2018, 03:40 PM   #5
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Dam I just did this too, I end up using osram 7000k (up to 7000K) CBB.. supposedly its the brightest cool blue they made.

For some reason my driver ballast was impossible to put one.. really stiff.. the passenger side took 30 seconds..

I end up jacking the car up on the side I was working on and it gave me enough room without taking off the wheel... if it wasn't hot as heck, I would have remove the wheel also..

Got my info here.
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      07-11-2018, 11:32 AM   #6
bosstones
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Wow....my pix got all messed up. All these years on forums and I've never mastered using attachments (vs linking). lol How do I get attachments to not be lumped down at the bottom of a post, but in the body of the post instead? I've had inconsistent results.

rsutoratosu, let us know how those 7k's work out. I stuck w/ stock since I didn't want a blue-ish look and was going to eventually wicker in LED's for the angel eyes/DRL's and didn't want color mismatch (relatively speaking).
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      07-11-2018, 02:59 PM   #7
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Click Edit, and then Go Advanced.
You can then move the tagged images up into the text where you wanted them.
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      10-21-2018, 04:14 PM   #8
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Really outstanding and detailed post!

FWIW, I've replaced both of my angel eye DRLs without removing the wheels or jacking up the car. To access the headlight housing, I just turned the wheels as far as they could go in the same direction as the housing I was working on (left for driver's side, right for passenger side). This creates plenty of room for access. That said, my suspension and wheels are stock. To light up the wheel well, I used a flashlight with an adjustable head.

It's a bit of a hassle not having total access to the housing, but it's really not too difficult. So if you don't have a jack stand and don't want to bother with taking your wheels off, it can be done!
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