OEM Bi-Xenon Failed!! Advice Please!

[rilla]

I have a 2003 325i SE Saloon that had done 36,000 miles when I bought it and has now done 55,000 miles, it has an amazing specification including Bi-Xenon headlights.

Tonight, the nearside xenon has stopped working. I understood that xenons should last the life of the car or approx 3000 hours, so I'm surprised that something has failed.

Before I take it to a dealer and get fleeced, does anyone have a suggestion for me to check myself.

Thank you!

[alfabadass]

I heard they're £150 bucks to fix when the go pop?

[Vee]

Swap bulbs over. You'll then know whether it's the bulb or the ballast/igniter.
My 52 reg car used to have a problem with one xenon. When wet/damp it would take it's time to start.
Turning the headlight switch on and off verey quickly normally started it.

[4nonymous]

Had this problem.

Swapped bulbs over, turned out to be ballast.

[rilla]

Thank you for the replies. It can't be a very common problem as there is little information to be found online.

My guess is that the ballast has blown, but even if it's the bulb, either solution is a trip to BMW!

Thanks again.

[davidd]

Same happened to my 04 320cd, was the ballast, I think the dealer wanted a couple of hundred to fix it.

D

[ThunderSpook]

I had a very similar problem on my Cooper S. Ended up costing the trader I'd just bought it from around £600-800 to have BMW sort it out!! Hopefully it's different for the BM's but with the Mini they would only replace the control unit or the entire headlight.

[Eggle]

I have just had a similar problem and it was the ignighter. BMW want around £200 to replace with my light, but there are two sorts of light. Mine is an AL ( Molded into the lens cover ) The other type, something like ZLF, is the dearer light, with the ignighter replacement at around £260 with BMW.

[bazking69]

rilla said:

I understood that xenons should last the life of the car or approx 3000 hours, so I'm surprised that something has failed.

Components do occasionally fail. Especially 6 year old ones...