E90 - Adaptive Headlights (HELP!)

[hue]

I've had my E90 for 2 weeks now and I've noticed that the headlights adapt at different speeds at start-up. It seems like the timing may be off. The passenger side rises/adjusts slower than the driver side (or the driver side adjusts faster - not sure which one). Seems odd to me and the BMW service guy stared at it for 8 hours. At the end of the day, he said that it's normal (huh?). Curious... Has anyone had this experience as well? Thanks.

 

[tazza0712]

That surely isn't normal. Go back to your dealer and ask to look at another E90 with the same lighting and check it out for yourself. If he knew it was normal it shouldn't have taken him 8 hours to realise. The lights should level in unison.

 

[hue]

Will try that... Thanks. It doesn't seem normal to me either. Strikes me as odd that the lights don't move in unison at start-up.

 

[tazza0712]

Let us know what happens, I'm interested to see what it is.

 

[hue]

So the dealer invited me to drop in and have a look at another car that experienced the same issue. Apparenly, this phenonenon is not entirely uncommon. So I randomly picked another one and the lights started up in unison. I asked him if it's normal that my headlights don't start-up in unison? He said he had to speak to his foreman and get back to me. Unbelievable... Curious to know if others have experienced the same issue.

 

[tazza0712]

Let us know what foreman says.

 

[PeterC4]

hue

I'll be interested to see how you made out...I see you're in Toronto. I have ordered my wife a 328xi Coupe which is still a few months away, hopefully there won't be too many gremlins to contend with.

 

[MrElussive]

Maybe the projectors are setup to adjust once the bulb has been ignited, and some bulbs on some cars just ignite faster than the other one. If the lights work properly when they're on and the car isn't giving you any warning lights, why not just let it be?

 

[tazza0712]

I don't think he should have to let it be. It's a new car, others don't do it and it could possilbly lead to problems in the future (unsure but you never know) and of course, the main reason, it is under warranty and he is entitled to have it fixed.

 

[MrElussive]

I definitely agree with you tazza, I'm just personally not so sure that anything is actually wrong with the car. For projector bi-xenons with auto-leveling, the right projector is always a bit higher than the left. This is so the right headlight illuminates a bit further down the road without blinding on-coming drivers (for US roads, where we drive on the right).

Maybe what hue is noticing is that the right headlight simply adjusts a bit higher when he turns the headlights on so the right headlight is still going up for a split second while the left projector has reached its default position.

 

[tazza0712]

Yeah I know what you're saying as well, and that's an interesting point about the different positions of the headlights, although it doesn't explain why the other car's levelled in unison but anyway, hopefully the foreman will work it out.

 

[hue]

Here's the response I received from BMW Customer Service:

"...We contacted our technical training department. They advised that it is perfectly normal for the headlights not to be synchronized when leveling upon startup of the vehicle. The small motors that control the leveling of the headlights need to be re-initialized every time the car is started and there is no system in place to ensure that this leveling is synchronized. However, it is also possible that this leveling appears to be in unison as this process is very similar from one headlight to the other."

Any thoughts?

 

[MrElussive]

Any thoughts?

Yeah. Stop worrying about your god damn headlights and just enjoy the car already.

 

[geneo]

the left is always lower then the right or you will blind oncoming traffic and with active lights the left light will not turn into the left lane