Headlight malfuction

My 2011 Z4 35is is only one year old with 13,000+ no-snow or salted roads miles, and has problems with the headlights. The low beams are too low that it is too dark to drive at faster than 40 mph. Aslo, the headlights do not move right or left when the steering wheel is turned. The mechanics told me that they are going to replace the headlight mechanism. I am waiting for the parts to arrive.

I expected the moving headlight would be a troublesome in later time. There is no front-end accident for this car, so I did not expect this problem came so soon. Well I brame on too many pot holes in the Massachusetts roads.

Hi, another owner had a similar problem and found that the rear chassis height measure was incorrectly fitted in manufacture, BUT it was also stated that he could have gone over a speed bum and it bounced the whole assembly, almost into reverse, hence the lights were so low.... if the latter is truly a problem then many many other Z4 car owners could have a real issue...

I had a similar problem with the headlights locking in the down position for a while then after several days would correct itself. Did 4 or 5 times. Turned out it was the SmarTop I had installed. I took it off and no more problems. However the side to side movement still does freeze up occasionally even after took SmarTop off so unsure of correlation there.

Originally Posted by thayden

I had a similar problem with the headlights locking in the down position for a while then after several days would correct itself. Did 4 or 5 times. Turned out it was the SmarTop I had installed. I took it off and no more problems. However the side to side movement still does freeze up occasionally even after took SmarTop off so unsure of correlation there.

I was hoping that the problem would be a software related. But, the servce people told me the headlights have to be replaced. They have not called me yet, it's been a week.

The service guys replaced both headlights after waiting for the replacement parts 10 days. Now, the low beam is working correctly, but the headlights still do not move. Don't they check their work after installing the replacements? Really dissapointing their service, I wish I could take it to another dealer!

Originally Posted by Zcar

The service guys replaced both headlights after waiting for the replacement parts 10 days. Now, the low beam is working correctly, but the headlights still do not move. Don't they check their work after installing the replacements? Really dissapointing their service, I wish I could take it to another dealer!

Make sure your headlight switch is in the automatic mode (far left). If you manually turn them on they do not move side to side.

Finally the headlights problem has been fixed. The low beam problem (beaming too low) was fixed by replacing the defected level sensor. The headlights did not move was corrected by the software. They reprogramed (?) the software yesterday, but the lights moved only to the right, failed to move to the left. They kept my car one more day to resolve the problem. Today they found that the lights are designed to move to the left only 8 degrees while it moves 15 degrees to the right. So, they thought they had not fixed since it appeared to not move to the left. In fact they did fixed it yesterday. I should notice that the lights moves much more to the right than to the left!

Good to hear that they got your lights working correctly.

Originally Posted by MC-X3

Make sure your headlight switch is in the automatic mode (far left). If you manually turn them on they do not move side to side.

I did not realised that the position must be turned to the left in order to headlight move. I thought they used to work when the switch was turned either at far left or far right. I asked this question to the SA, but they don't know.

To be blunt, nowadays the "average" SA knows far less than many customers. Sad, but true.

I had experienced a similar event, i.e., requiring multiple drop off to fix the simple problem - (stuck open thermostat!) at this dealer for my old 323is, many years ago.

I have to agree with you on the poorly qualified SAs.