E39 Headlight Adjusters Broken

[Filth 5]

Hey Guys,

My headlight adjusters on my 2002 E39 530i are broken which is stopping me from passing a warrant.

Does anyone have any fixes or know anywhere I can take my car to get this sorted?

Had a look on youtube and the fixes are mostly for US E39's which are a little different to mine so not sure if those fixes will apply to my car.

Any help is appreciated :-)

Edited May 5, 2013 by Filth

[Tristan 338]

These pop up on TradeMe every now and again (new ones).

[Filth 5]

These pop up on TradeMe every now and again (new ones).

Yeah I thought I saw them a few weeks back too - will keep an eye out.

Have you had the same issue Tristan?

[Tristan 338]

Have not had the same issue but back when I was buying replacement headlights for my car (crappy aftermarket ones when I got it) I saw them on TM.

Edit:

Maybe call one of the wreckers on here to see if they have.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Tristan

[Crazy Dave 0]

Hey Guys,

My headlight adjusters on my 2002 E39 530i are broken which is stopping me from passing a warrant.

Does anyone have any fixes or know anywhere I can take my car to get this sorted?

Had a look on youtube and the fixes are mostly for US E39's which are a little different to mine so not sure if those fixes will apply to my car.

Any help is appreciated :-)

Mine have been broken for a while - never got around to buying the crappy little replacement plastic rods that break.

I just disconnected the headlight leveling motors, set the beams up and it passes a warrant every time. (I don't drive at night much)

I did take one lamp unit out once and tried to separate the lens from the rest of the lamp. Gave up in the end and went away to think about it. ..................... Am still thinking about it.

[allan 295]

Their is a write up on how to do the replacement it is not hard just takes time unless you have a couple of hundred dollars spare to get them done for you?. Being a 2002 it will be a facelift model and these are sealed which needs to be heated to soften the sealing compound plus remove some screws then the front cover can be removed and access gained to the adjusters.

[Arma 134]

I need to get mine fixed too, the adjuster on my e39 520i 2001 is messed up a little - it works but one headlight is always tilted far lower than the other.

[zara 0]

Their is a write up on how to do the replacement it is not hard just takes time unless you have a couple of hundred dollars spare to get them done for you?. Being a 2002 it will be a facelift model and these are sealed which needs to be heated to soften the sealing compound plus remove some screws then the front cover can be removed and access gained to the adjusters.

According to my research, if your headlight was manufactured before sept 2001, you can bake them open, after that you can't and it literally needs to be cut open. My adjusters are broken too but it's been OK for the WOF so far so I'm going to leave them for now, they don't jump around at night anyway.

[Allanw 1071]

Da-daaa:

Surgical Method

I hope you have small girl hands!

[allan 295]

That is interesting as I have opened e39 2002 facelift headlights by using the heat method it's a bit messy. Caution have struck a pair from a 2000 that somebody had replaced the sealant material with something else and it was a no go. The link Allanw has posted would be your next best option if you don't wish to try the bake method.

Arma, yours maybe the tilt motor connection has come adrift or broken not hard to have a look at.

[Crazy Dave 0]

That write up looks promising - So where is the best place to get replacement adjusters?

[Allanw 1071]

That write up looks promising - So where is the best place to get replacement adjusters?

For facelift lights, you used to be able to get aluminium ones on Ebay. Not cheap, but should last for ever really!

[hotwire 352]

That write up looks promising - So where is the best place to get replacement adjusters?

Just got mine from the stealers a few years ago when I needed to replace them. Simple job on the PFL lamps, have never opened the FL lamps to have had experience with them

[BM WORLD 1283]

Just got mine from the stealers a few years ago when I needed to replace them. Simple job on the PFL lamps, have never opened the FL lamps to have had experience with them

the F/L ones are ba$tards to open up.

have done a few

[KwS 2425]

I just disconnected the headlight leveling motors, set the beams up and it passes a warrant every time. (I don't drive at night much)

Is this a good option for people that dont care for the auto levelling and just want the lights to stay fixed? Or will they keep going out of adjustment, like usual?

[Crazy Dave 0]

Is this a good option for people that dont care for the auto levelling and just want the lights to stay fixed? Or will they keep going out of adjustment, like usual?

Well it did NOT seem like a good idea at the time.

Initially in the morning the beams would be pointing up in the tree tops and the next they would be pointing 2 metres in front of the car.

Identified the broken adjusters as the problem and when you grab the back of the lamp units they wobble up and down.

I thought that if I disconnected the leveling motors then the lamps would still move around when ever I went over a bump and the beams would be all over the place.

However they seem very stable and it has gone through 3 warrants now with no issues.

The downside is that it is giving me no incentive to get on and fix them.