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E39 Facelift Halogen to Xenon HELLA OEM retrofit

31K views 72 replies 14 participants last post by  tmvE39/E53/Z32 
#1 · (Edited)
I got these headlights from ebay and I I want to retrofit my Facelift Halogen 2001
They are xenon OEM hella from 2003 530i



last night in installed them on 2003 530i car with xenon
( simple swap just to be sure that all is in working condition ) before Halogen swap

2 questions :
1 I need to do some light correction , right side it down left side is up
As far as i can see adjusters are not broken and auto leveling system is working
How you guys adjust your headlights ?
2. Xenon light is kind of purple . My OEM is white ... is it headlights or bulbs ?
just strange for me , i am kind of new to this staff
thanks
 
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#49 ·
Cleaned out my inbox. Try again.
 
#50 · (Edited)
asked :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the bulb is made in Germany.
It's the real PHILIPS bulb made in Germany not fake made in China.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
To:
Subject: Re: Other: message about OEM PHILIPS D2S HID XENON BULB BMW E46 E39 M3 M5 X5 NEW #150454445771
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:09:17 -0600

BTW where your bulb are made ?

China ?
 
#53 ·
And if they look that good why did you purchase new ones again?
 
#57 · (Edited)
First I marked headlights with correct xenon setup from another E39 so I can readjust my new headlights in the same way



My old Halogen headlights ( feel the difference ! haha )



were not really bad , i just polished them recently :thumbup:





One headlight arm was broken
I got it with new headlights so I replaced both



Fixed !!!



In process


New Xenon HD installed





We will skip coding section here

if somebody interesting
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1567928

... it took me some time to retrofit xenon and decode LCM module ...

Decoded and fully functional

No error message on cluster !





Now i need to clean my car and enjoy it

Halogen headlights are for sell !

:thumbup:
 
#63 ·
Awesome, So i'm about to do the swap on a 2001 525 and I want to know if there is such a thing as a headlight computer for these xenons to be installed correctly? Also, where would I be able to get the software to use my laptop? Any help will be greatly appreciated as I am going into this project head first.
 
#64 ·
Awesome, So I'm about to do the swap on a 2001 525, and I want to know if there is such a thing as a headlight computer for these xenons to be installed correctly?
Also, where would I be able to get the software to use my laptop?
Any help will be greatly appreciated as I am going into this project head first.
What is a "swap on"...?

For OEM Xenon HID's, there is a auto-leveler-servor that connects to the passenger side suspension.
There is also the 35w HID Hella ballasts and OEM D2S bulbs, and brackets to hold the ballasts.
 
#65 ·
it's actually, "the swap" from halogen to hid but I know about the ballasts and brackets but there is a small white computer and a longer black computer that I see referred to xenon and hid's that I am wondering about. They are factory Hella hid's but will I need the other computers for them to run properly. What I would like to know is if these "computers" affect any kind of voltage input or wattage output?





These are the ones I'm wondering about...
 
#66 ·
I think the white one is the computer/module for the leveling sensors.

The oem xenon setup in the US used level sensors that would adjust the lights up or down based on the load in the car (heavy bags in the trunk or 3 people in the back seat) or and perhaps if you were going up and down hills. Jason mentioned one of the sensors is on the rear suspension. I think there is another sensor up front somewhere, but I could be wrong.

Retrofitting the sensors is going to be a big job and I believe the wiring to connect the sensors to the proper computers is not there on a non oem xenon car. You would have to run the wiring yourself as well as install the correct computers/modules. I am not sure anyone has successfully done all that as it would be a lot of work for something (autoleveling) you do not really have to have.

The main issue as I understand it with recoding the LCM for xenons is so you won't get error msgs. telling you your bulbs are out.

I was under the impression that if you retrofitted hella xenons (with hella ballasts) into a halogen car that you would not get any warning lights as the car would not be able to tell the difference in voltage (how it knows if a light is burned out). That the issue with bulb out warning lights happens when you use some non oem ballasts.

I also posted this following question in your coding thread if you prefer to answer it there rather than mixing in a coding response here.
Champaign you have done a great write up, but would you or someone else list the pros/cons to recoding the car for xenons? Does recoding alter the voltage going to the lights/ballasts? It sounds like if you recode the car for xenons then you may run into the added issue that you have to make sure you also recode and tell the computer/module that there are no leveling sensors otherwise you can get another warning light. I ask because I am going to be doing an OEM Hella xenon conversion on my halogen car soon and you mentioned the xenon would not function correctly without the xenon coding. Would you be able to list out what would be missing or elaborate further?
 
#69 ·
champaign can u post picks of your old lights so i can see the difference mine look like the ones u posted so i would think i had HID but the low beams are amber like and my high beams are bright white so idk
You don't have HID. To be sure, check to see if you have the ballast for the low beam. All facelift E39s have projector low beam, but that doesn't mean they all have Xenon/HID low beam.
 
#73 ·
So it sounds like you have Halogen Hella. I used to have DDM Slim Digital Ballast for my H7 HID kit. Those trigger the bulb error on the cluster. I swapped them out with DDM Raptor regular ballast. No more error.
BTW, you need H7 bulb adapters for those H7 HID bulb to fit. They are everywhere (eBay) for about $10~$15
 
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