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HELP: Lowered car.... Now Xenon gone CRAZY !!!

2K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  sansan 
#1 ·
Hello, as you can see by the title, I lowered my 2004 325Xi by about 1.5 inch all around with H&R coils springs. Now, the setup and install is great but later on that day, i notice my headlight does not light up the street as usual. The pattern is real close... I mean, it's like if you have a car jacked on the rear and the pattern aiming straight to the street. I can see about 4 meters in front of the car.

Also, usually, when I start the car, the xenon goes up and down, like self testing, but this time, it makeda weird clunk clunk clunkn sound. I foud out that the xenon are sorta hitting the bottom of it's travel immeditaly at the start.... while forcing to go lower, it's just make clunk clunk clunk...

when I say xenon, it is obvious that I am talking about the projector headlight.

Anyone ever had this happen to their car ?

What can I do ?
 
#3 ·
Not a big problem. Hopefully it's not broken. I've had my car lowered 2 times and the autoleveler has not been broken. I had a write up on how to fix this. Since I sold you these springs bor... just search for my write up.... you basically need two ten mm wrenches... one from your trunk... another from someplace else. Look by your passenger front tire, you'll see a little joint that is flexed downward. You need to undo the bottom bolt and adjust the joint to flex upwards.. all done.. you'll still need to adjust your xenon height levels though... as your xenons will almost be high beaming everyone.

Sansan
 
#4 ·
Sansan.... thanks, I wrote an email to you about 2 hours ago... However, what is that joint you are talking about ? There is a lots of joint in the front passenger wheel well... Is there a specific keyword to find out your post about it....

Thanks
Bo
 
#5 ·
Sansan....could you post a pic of that please???

Thanks!
 
#8 ·
tim330i said:
It sounds like Cyber Pete might have a broken sensor as well and all the dealership did was aim the lights up instead of fixing the problem :banghead:


Tim
I'm pretty sure it's not broken. There is a center point on the autoleveling. If your car is lowered wouldn't it make sense that the center point of the lights would be lower regardless of if the autoleving feature? If the sensor was broken then my lights wouldn't autolevel right?
 
#9 ·
i`m not pretty sure how the autolevel sensor works, but afther i lower my old 318i i have to adjust both headlamps, its pretty easy, get the screwdrive of the trunk and them go to your headlamps, you will see a small white plastic like a wheel, turn it until you get your vision back :D
 
#12 ·
mz3bo said:
Do you think the dealer will change under warranty if it's broken and my car is lowered ? But wait... I have not touched this part, I am 100% sure, how can it be broken ? And how much would it cost to replace ?

Thanks
The dealer is going to know better and not change it. If you have had your suspension replaced by someone that didn't know what they were doing then it is probably broken. The part is over $100 as I remember. You can normally glue the arm back together without it being a big deal.

Tim
 
#14 ·
mz3bo said:
Do you think the dealer will change under warranty if it's broken and my car is lowered ? But wait... I have not touched this part, I am 100% sure, how can it be broken ? And how much would it cost to replace ?

Thanks

mz3bo

Who installed the H&R springs for you? It appears they forgot to watch out for the sensor while removing your old springs and installing the new ones. This is usually how it gets damaged.

If you installed them yourself I think you are screwed. If a shop did it, you should seek reimbursement from them possibly.

As a last resort...just approach your service advisor and tell them it stopped working. Some service advisor (I said advisor not technician) guys can't even tell if a car was lowered or not.

He might just approve the work order for it. Some technicians don't give a crap and just do what they are told.

Good luck with it.
 
#15 ·
I sold you the springs and my car did the same thing. It happened again when I got my car lowered with the Dinan suspension. Mine didn't break. I'll take pics later tomorrow for you. Like I said in my write-up.. you just need two 10 mm wrenches to take apart your autoleveler.... at least that's what I did. I also drove around for a few hundred miles after I got it lowered with the Dinan and it still didn't break. So unless I just have a super robust sensor... you should be fine. You can search for my old write-up by searching for my screeen name. I'm sorry that the pics don't work, but that's for when I first lowered the car a year ago with the H&R's.

Check back tomorrow...
 
#16 ·
Thanks Sansan... I will check tomorow...

As for everyone else, thanks for you help.... BUT HEY, I NOTICE SOMETHING, my headlight are still moving, going up and down at startup, it's just that it is NOT moving a lot like before, it just goes down by a little, and then seems like it hit the bottom, and then clunk clunk clunk, it's seems like it pushing over it's limit and by doing so, it just clunk.......
 
#17 ·
It's physically impossibel to break at least the front auto level sensor in the xi. (Yes, I've tested this.)

What you need to do is jack up the front of your car, turn the steering wheel all the way to the right, reach in there and grab the arm. For some reason, after it's fully extended it likes to fold the wrong way. This leads to headlights-pointed-at-the-ground syndrome.

Use Tim's picture to figure out what you have to grab.
 
#19 ·
Folks, once I grabbed the thing, ow do I know wich position to put it on ? I mean, waht do I do with it, because there is a lot of factors getting involved, the car is jacked, not sitting in a flat place etc.... How do I align it correctly ?

Thanks
 
#20 ·
There is a rear one, on the left rear axle, I believe. If they're aligned correctly, now, I wouldn't touch it. (I never have.)

As far as the correct position, you just need to grab the arm and pull it until the joint is bent in the opposite direction. Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if it breaks. I've done it several times and mine's fine, but you never know. There's no aligning needed other than getting it in the proper position.
 
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