Facelift OEM Xenon Issue, dimming etc

Hey guys, Let me get straight to the point. I was driving back home when I realized my passenger side xenon was dimming. It then proceed to have this sequence when I turned off the lights and turned them on again.

After Turning on the lights Birght Normal Xenon Color, dim, shut off. RESTART Bright Normal Xenon Color, Dim, shut off. I did get the Front lamp was out but only for a second and only once. Which I find weird. I pulled over and turned off the car. Turned it back on this time it just dims. It does not flicker. I did research but couldn't not find an answer to my problem.

Any idea of what it might be? Igniter maybe? Bulb perhaps? Loose Connection? I will replug all connections tomorrow to see if its a loose connection..

Any help is greatly appreciated and will be rewarded with a e-cookie. Thanks!

Anybody !?.. No ideas ??? nada?

I don't think a loose connection, bad igniter or ballast would cause this issue. I'm willing to bet it's the bulb. Swap the passenger side bulb with the driver side and see if this still happens on the passenger side, if it stops on the passenger side and now started up on the driver's side then it's the bulb for sure. Else it would means something else other than the bulb. Hope that helps.

If you need new bulbs buy a PAIR of the philips 85122+ on ebay from a reputable seller, they are the best bulbs that stay white for its whole life without any color shift and they put out a bit more lumens than the regular 85122.

Swap Bulbs? See if it does the same thing, Also Swap Ballasts, just to rule out those parts?

Originally Posted by ElrichMeister

Swap Bulbs? See if it does the same thing, Also Swap Ballasts, just to rule out those parts?

OEM ballasts aren't easy to take out and swap, they are mounted under the headlights and require to pull off the headlights.

I will do both and see, Thank you for replies. And Thanks for the Phillips Bulb Suggestion MeRon!

OKAY UPDATE:

I have Swapped Bulbs, Problem persisted on the same head light. It's not The Bulbs. They both work Fine!

I have Swapped Ballasts, Problem Persisted on the same head light.

I have Swapped Ignite-rs, Problem Persists in the same head light!

Light Bulb Turns Pinkish/Purpelish then DIMS. The only thing I haven't swapped yet was that Little box above ballast. Could that be a problem?

I have a Video Coming up. I will Upload just now.

You can't Really see anything. But in the end Its quite obvious.

Are you using Oem ballast and igniters?

Purple light is a bad bulb.


Lol, was that highland park?

Are you using Oem ballast and igniters?

I believe so. Gray square ballast and red black square igniter?

Purple light is a bad bulb.

I have switched the bulbs. The "supposedly" bad bulb that originally was changing colors and diming was put on to my good head lamp and now works fine. It seems to be something on the passenger side. The only thing left for me to swap out and see if its the problem is that little box above ballast.

Lol, was that highland park?

No that was Forest Park Bandshell parking area lol

Oh I forgot to add my bulbs are H7 not the D2s type or w.e they are.

If you have H7 bulbs then you don't have OEM HIDs as OEMs use D2S. Also all OEM ballasts are located underneath the headlight like I said earlier in this thread, they require the headlights to be pulled out to remove.

This sounds like the common issues that E46s have with aftermarket HIDs. Usually you get bulb-out warnings but some ballasts won't cause this, rather they flicker like in your case. You can try "bulb-out cancellers" to prevent the flicker; they are basically just capacitors. I would try that first and see if that resolves the issue.

Something like this:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/HID-Xenon-Con...item4ab0a550cf

If you have H7 that means your car never came with xenon lights. Do you have your car coded for xenon or do you have a wiring harness?

I didn't touch the bulbs or the headlights since I got the car. It came like that so I assumed its OEM Xenon. It worked fine for couple of months since I had this car and it just started to DIM. It does not flicker. Just Dims. I will try to take and post picture of what it looks like. But this is a ballast I have which mounts on the bottom of the lamp

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1284979
and Ignitor

http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/m/mlbf...FkFfJw/140.jpg

So I am not sure if it has been coded for xenon or not or does it have thee wiring harness. I will try to take some pictures and post it up so you can see for yourself.

OKay, I am completely lost. I've swapped the box above the ballast. And It is still doing the same thing. Is it possible something could've came apart inside the headlight... due to a bump or something? Also When you look at the silver rings on the headlight it says BMW DYNAMIC XENON... and everything else seems OEM. ???

Well, Now I am baffled. Today I've got bulb error on the dash, and my passenger side wasn't lighting up at all. I have bought new bulbs, to replace and see if it does anything.

No ideas, but subscribed for the solution.

Sorry.

Like said before, Try getting the bulb out error eliminator. I got mine from DDMTuning when I had my e39