Headlight Out...Xenon

[centuryboats]

I have a question. When driving home last night I got a headlight warning light. Passenger side outboard low beam Xenon was out. What was weird was that the inboard light was glowing. Is this a controller or bulb or both?
2007 BMW Z4 3.0i

[Varinn]

Inboard light glowing? There are only two real projector housings on a facelifted e85 like yours. The inner lamps are fakes, but the halo rings should glow only on the two inner housings. If you have a xenon bulb out you'll just need to replace both. Yes, both sides. Grab a pair and toss them in, you should be good to go.

[centuryboats]

thanks!!!!!

[Varinn]

The bulbs will be expensive! Try to resist the urge to buy just one, they will end up being wildly different colours and you'll hate the look. Xenons slowly turn a purple hue as they age. It's not that noticeable if you drive the car every day but the comparison of a side by side old vs new will be strikingly different.

[KPop]

I got these OEM HID bulbs from Amazon and got 2-day Prime shipping for $85.

The OEM ballasts are pretty cheap too at $62 per side. Overall, the cost to replace bulbs and ballasts isn't bad at all.

I'd also recommend doing the work yourself. It's pretty straightforward and you can go through the front wheel-wells. It took me about 30 min on the passenger side and then 10 min on the driver's side. Just wear latex gloves when handling the bulbs and try not to touch the glass bulb when installing or removing from the housing.

[centuryboats]

Thanks!!!!

[rsutoratosu]

lots of people try swapping ballast or bulb to make sure its not one or the other.. if you got the time, give it a shot..

[Swashplate]

Or do what I do when this happens and turn the lights on and off till they behave.

[onthe3rdday]

Originally Posted by rsutoratosu

lots of people try swapping ballast or bulb to make sure its not one or the other.. if you got the time, give it a shot..

+1 Your bulb may not be blown, take the time to do some troubleshooting first, it may help you avoid a headache later

[pungo]

Originally Posted by KPop

I got these OEM HID bulbs from Amazon and got 2-day Prime shipping for $85.

The OEM ballasts are pretty cheap too at $62 per side. Overall, the cost to replace bulbs and ballasts isn't bad at all.

Those appear to be fake Phillips bulbs. Over 80% of the Xenon bulbs being sold are counterfeit and made in China. They work okay but are nowhere near the quality and precision of the real deal.

[centuryboats]

Light started working again the next day. Went ahead and replaced both bulbs and the ballast on the passenger side. The passenger bulb looked kind of burnt when taken out. Replaced ballast as cheap insurance.

[Daemonblitz]

I have actually had very good luck with the Xenon bulbs from Khoalty. They are $25 for the pair... yes $25 and they have worked well. After 2 years they started to colorshift slightly so I just picked up a new pair even though they were both still working.

[rsutoratosu]

Originally Posted by pungo

Those appear to be fake Phillips bulbs. Over 80% of the Xenon bulbs being sold are counterfeit and made in China. They work okay but are nowhere near the quality and precision of the real deal.

yeah.. the review says DO NOT BUYYYYYYY!

[KPop]

I think some may have been replicas, but mine were legit Phillips OEM bulbs (dealer confirmed for me before I installed).

Here's another link for the same bulbs w/ better reviews (a bit more expensive, but still less than at a dealer):

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Xenon-...9TWBNE99VB4YMX

[pungo]

Originally Posted by KPop

I think some may have been replicas, but mine were legit Phillips OEM bulbs (dealer confirmed for me before I installed).

Here's another link for the same bulbs w/ better reviews (a bit more expensive, but still less than at a dealer):

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Xenon-...9TWBNE99VB4YMX

Those appear to be fake as well.

They do a great job at duplicating the appearance. Your dealer may not know what to look for to determine if they are fake or not since it's hard to tell the difference. The printing on them is a tell tail sign. It's not like they don't work, they're just not the same quality. Plenty of people are happy with them and saved allot of money.

[KPop]

We compared my bulbs with a 100% legit one they had in stock and they looked identical up-close. If they're fake, they're pretty good (great light quality, very bright, cheap, etc.), so doesn't bother me too much.

Here's a post that shows some comparisons between real and fake. This example is a particularly bad fake bulb.

http://honda-tech.com/lighting-107/c...-pics-3004545/

[Uncle Russ]

I know this is a two year-old thread but I wanted to update folks that Tire Rack has the Philips D2S bulb for $52 with free shipping. Tire Rack is an authorized Philips retailer so I'm hoping the chances of getting a counterfeit part are low to zero.

russ

[wdb]

Perfect timing -- I have an intermittent D/S headlight. Off to TireRack now.

[MinneapolisJeff]

The Retrofit Source has the Phillips D2S (85122) bulb set for $85, free shipping if you hit 100

[StickMon]

Thanks!!
Another buy for the spare parts drawer.

[DanFromTucson]

OK forum pals. I have a headlight out and want some advice before I buy parts. A week ago, I noticed that my right side headlight had a dim purplish hue. Then a couple of days later, my dashboard lighting indicator came on. At that point I noticed the headlight was out completely.

The inner halo glows, but neither the high beam nor the low beam works. The left side light is fine.

Do I need a new bulb or a ballast, or both? If I need a bulb, I will replace both sides at once. If I need to replace the ballast, do I also need to do both sides at once?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help! This is on a 2007 Z4M Coupe, so it's Xenon.

[StickMon]

Purple, or could you call it pink?
Pink-eye is the standard failure mode for the bulbs.
If you replace the bulb, you should do both so they're the same color temp.