E46 330ci 2003 xenon head light failure

[kev1387]

Hi guys wondering if anybody can help, having nightmare with one of my xenon headlights not working.
Having thought it might be the lamp i've now been told by the auto electrician that its the switch that is at fault, which i ordered from BMW only to now find out that i've got to send the car to the main stealer for them to re-program the whole car at a cost of 250 pounds + vat, otherwise lights wont work.
Question i'm asking does anybody know someone or company that can re-program my car cheaper than main dealer?

Help much appreciated

[Vee]

Is it only one headlight that doesn't work ?
If so it cannot be the switch.

Do you mean the ballast (igniter) ?

Most independents should be able to sort this for you a lot cheaper than BMW.

[Maxus]

Did you try swapping the bulbs over to diagnose that it wasn't just a bulb gone?

I had one go on mine. I thought it may be the igniter as the bulb flickered but wouldn't turn on when the switch was turned. Turned out to just be the bulb.

As a belt and braces I would also try swapping the igniter over to rule that out if it isn't the bulb.

As previous post said - would be strange to be the switch if one light is working.

[paprika]

flip bulbs over.
look at ballast
look at igniter

try and get inpa or dis hooked up. that would be easier.

ballast will require coding in, ignitter or bulb wont.

look at bmminiparts for the part or ebay.

realoem the part numbers.

[ghibbett]

I had a problem with mine last night too! Basically I noticed one of the lights was flickering. Switched it off, then back on except the drivers' side didn't come back on. Got home, tried the whole key on/key off business but to no avail.

So, first thing to do was to swap the bulbs over. Easy job - takes 2 minutes. Swapped the bulbs...and...drivers' side still out! That was yesterday. Today I removed both headlamps and swapped the ballasts...and...now it's the Passengers' side out. So I'm now looking at re-con OEM ballasts from HIDs4U (£130 vs £300 from a Dealers).

One post above concerns tho...do you need to get the ballasts coded?

[kev1387]

I've fitted new lamp and new ignitor no luck, auto electrician is saying switch is losing voltage resulting in no power being supplied to light.

[Ruskie]

I had one fail on mine. Took to garage who swapped bulbs round, wasn't that. Got told would be control unit, possibly £250 just for part. Agreed to book it in when I had my diary handy. 3 days later the light came back on and has stayed working perfectly for 2 months now!

[H6CJF]

ghibbett said:

So I'm now looking at re-con OEM ballasts from HIDs4U (£130 vs £300 from a Dealers).

One post above concerns tho...do you need to get the ballasts coded?

I had to replace one last year.. no coding issues at all. Also, I used a ballast of a ford galaxy. £75 job done

[ghibbett]

Yeah job done and dusted on mine. Got a new one from BMW, plugged it in and away. Got 2yrs warranty on the part too - might not be worth much, but makes me feel more at ease!!

[kev1387]

Are we talking about the switch not needing re-coding or the ballast guys?

I've got the switch from BMW ready to go in but been told once in needs re-coding at a cost of 250 pounds main stealer only!

[ghibbett]

To confirm: Ballast does not need coding. Plug and play.

[paprika]

ghibbett said:

To confirm: Ballast does not need coding. Plug and play.

Ballast does need coding into the ecu.

You can risk it by skipping the coding process.

[ghibbett]

Strange. I checked this with BMW and asked the consensus of other E46-specific forums, and all reported no coding needed.

Now as I've not coded my new ballast, and all is currently working fine, does this mean I've:

a) got away with it?
b) only temporarily delayed some form of catastrophic headlight-based failure?

[H6CJF]

What is it with this myth about everything BMW needs coding! Think logically chaps.. the ballast is just a transformer, what information can it possibly send to or receive from the ecu? As I said, I sourced one for a Ford Galaxy and it has worked fine for 2 years or more. I'm sure BMW are quite happy for this myth to be perpetuated as there will always be people who 'aren't prepared to risk it' I'm not one of them I'm afraid.

[roofer]

E46 does not need ballast coding, E9X is a different kettle....

[kev1387]

What about if switch needs replacing?
Will this need re-coding?
If so anybody no of anyone that can do it cheaper than main BMW dealer?

[roofer]

kev1387 said:

What about if switch needs replacing?
Will this need re-coding?
If so anybody no of anyone that can do it cheaper than main BMW dealer?

No, it won't. Xenon and Halogen switches are different though, so get the right one.