1 LED headlight is dead

[6coupe]

As per the title, one of the outer dipped beam headlight LEDs has failed on my 2012 640d. Had it into the garage who swapped ballasts and such around between the headlights and it was still off, so confirmed it's the LED.

As I don't have a warranty, I'm looking at 'as new' replacements via eBay, or info if it's possible to replace the LEDs without swapping the whole lighting unit (£1700+VAT)

Headlights are the pre-LCI, adaptive full LED, and its the outer dipped beam LED unit that's failed.

Thanks

[darms]

what a bummer...... my warranty's up this month. I'll be renewing for sure after reading this. Hope you get it sorted and it doesn't break the bank.

[Margas]

May sound silly but have you checked the fuses yet? I wasted hours diagnosing a dead low beam on my e36 and it ended up being a blown fuse. It really should have been the first thing I checked but didn't consider that each side has its own fuse.

[NINJA59]

Sadly the simple answer is no.

You can begin to take it apart, but the bill from BMW is simply to replace the headlight. You can change the control modules and every other LED module bar the main ones....

[6coupe]

I haven't checked the fuse, but would hope the garage did. I'll check that tonight.

When it died, it wasn't sudden. It went off, but when switching the lights off and on again, came back on for a short amount of time. It's been off ever since with the warning on the dash and HUD.

Would a light from a LHD market fit a RHD car, i.e. beam directions set by the control units etc.? Germany is likely to have more lights than the UK, but want to be sure they would fit and work once fitted.

I was going to see if BMW would make a contribution, but doubt it as it's not main dealer serviced.

Hate the look of 3 of 4 dipped beams on! Getting towards darker mornings / nights too, so no avoiding it.

[6coupe]

Originally Posted by darms

what a bummer...... my warranty's up this month. I'll be renewing for sure after reading this. Hope you get it sorted and it doesn't break the bank.

I let my warranty end as it was £800ish for the year, plus the excess on a claim, so was betting on not needing to make a circa £1000 claim. I guess that saved money from warranty goes towards this one way or another.

[6coupe]

So I've been living with the dud headlight for a while but I'm a couple months from MOT so need to start looking for a new (used) headlight. In the UK they seem few and far between, but have seen one form Japan, which is also a RHD car so same as UK cars. Question is, will a headlight from another market work on a UK car, and if so, is it best to get one from a market with the steering wheel on the same side so the orientation was set the same, rather than from EU/US?

Anyone have any experience / knowledge on this? The part numbers aren't the same via RealOEM for each market but does that mean they're not interchangeable?

[Tfzen]

Is it the "left" (when sitting in driver's seat) dipped beam?
Seems like a lot of 6 owners have this issue, have you checked the cornering light module?

[6coupe]

Its the outermost dipped beam on the right when looking at the front of the car, the left when sat in the drivers seat. I had a garage check the headlight, they swapped some modules between the lights to see if the issue followed and it didn't. I'm not sure which modules / ballasts they swapped though. I'd hope all that could be swapped over.

The other dipped beam in the same headlight still illuminates around the corner when turning to the left, so imagine the module is ok.

[drmlee]

Originally Posted by Margas

May sound silly but have you checked the fuses yet? I wasted hours diagnosing a dead low beam on my e36 and it ended up being a blown fuse. It really should have been the first thing I checked but didn't consider that each side has its own fuse.

if its a fuse problem the entire headlight wouldnt work, not just one burnt out led.

[6coupe]

So to close this thread with some good news and information for others;

I bought a LHD headlight and had the garage swap all my modules over to it and it works fine, no issues with beam alignment as it also had it's annual check (MOT) and all fine.

So, if you too lose an LED, you should be able to source any LHD/RHD headlight to replace, and LHD are way more common than RHD units!

There is a little misting in the headlight but I'm hoping this is just due to being swapped over on a damp day and will fully clear without having to have the garage remove, dry and reseat all of the seals.

[Tfzen]

My dealer swapped modules between left and right.
One of the two modules still gave the left dipped beam error,
swapping the other module resulted errorfree and it stayed errorfree for the last 2 weeks.