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My 2003 E46 325xi has Osram Xenarc bulbs. I've zero experience with these. Last week I got a headlamp out warning, and lo and behold, the driver bulb was out. So I ran with my hi beam-passing lamp lever pulled as it seems the same "lo beam" bulb uses a shutter to adjust low-hi beam.
I pulled the bulb, what do I look for to see if its done? Or could it be the transformer? I have two spare bulbs from the junkyard. When I pulled my "dead" bulb, it had actually come back to life, and burned my finger, thru two layers of latex gloves!
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Some images...
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No answers yet, I thought this would be a no-brainer. Often discussed. So I put a bulb in yesterday, and may have been the same one that I thought was burned out, and it worked when I installed it, and when nightfall came, I had to drive home with the high beam lever pulled towards the steering wheel. So 15 minutes of being careful not to get stopped by the cops, and two vehicles crossed my path with one headlight burned out. Do the transformers go bad. Can anybody help?
Last edited by CORVAIRWILD; 08-03-2022 at 08:36 AM.
Member
The ballasts do go bad. Have you scanned the car for codes? I *think* a bad ballast will throw a code.Originally Posted by CORVAIRWILD
Current stable:
2002 525i (Daily Driver)
1994 SN95 Mustang 'Vert (The Bumblebee)
2001 325i Convertible (Beach cruiser project)
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I'll see if I can find my scanner. But I haven't. It goes on and off randomly, the headlamp and warning indicator. How do you tell if these lamps are bad? Swap side to side?
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Yes, that the place to start. See if the light error follows the bulb.
Current stable:
2002 525i (Daily Driver)
1994 SN95 Mustang 'Vert (The Bumblebee)
2001 325i Convertible (Beach cruiser project)
Member
I swapped bulbs, same driver side bulb out. A friend suggested "restarting" the lamp, it then illuminated. He has the same issue with his 545. So do I have a tired transformer?
Race Car Driver -loading
I'd try swapping ballast side to side and see if it follows, you could also try swapping ignitor side to side.
05 330i Alpine White
Past:
02 330i Titanium Silver
R56 MCS
00 540i6
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I see the wires running to a box under the headlamp. Maybe I'll get a used headlamp assembly from the pull a part. What is the box under the headlamp? What does an ignitor look like?
Race Car Driver -loading
Box underneath is your ballast
Socket attached to the bulb is ignitor.
MAR-LRB160.jpg
Ballast
OEM-BMW-E46-325i-330i-330ci-325ci-M3-Xenon-Igniter-HID-Bulb-Socket-353120396753.jpeg
Ignitor
Hope this helps
05 330i Alpine White
Past:
02 330i Titanium Silver
R56 MCS
00 540i6
Member
I see.... What's more failure prone? Based on my lamp illuminating if I cycle the headlamp switch
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Another thing to look for is bad wiring inside the headlight. On my e38 with xenons the problem with the low beam not illuminating (single xenon, so no shutter) was the insulation on the wiring was bad (flaking off), allowing the high voltage required to fire the xenon bulb up to somehow leak, I wrapped up the wire with some electrical tape and no more problems.
Last edited by ConvGeorge; 08-13-2022 at 12:04 PM.
Member
So, I don't see any wiring inside the headlight assembly. And the wiring going to the headlamp looks perfect. I have a 99 Mercedes where the wiring is disintegrating, a common problem. This wiring looks perfectly fine. But there's no wiring inside the headlamp assembly, the wire goes to the bulb, and it's got this loose fitting insulation I noticed, the goes down to the transformer buried under the headlamp assembly. All looks fine as far as I can tell. But I should look more carefully?
Member
Make sure you know what brand your housing is - AL or ZKW as they aren't the same in construction so if you go to pull the ignitor out of ZKW at the yard, it will not bolt up to AL and vise versa. In most cases, the brand is stamped on the front clear section of the headlight housing.
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Mine are both AL
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