MORI3L

Hello everyone. Here is the DIY for those who would like to swap out their LCI Halogens for LCI Euro Spec Non-AHL Bi-Xenons on their LCI Car. First off I'd like to thank Chase (Sublime), BlaSTiWi and everyone else for contributing to this project with ideas as well as providing assistance with coding.

What you'll need:

** NOTE: You can use your Halogen LM2 for this **

- LCI Non-AHL Bi-Xenon Headlights (And bulbs and Ballasts)
- Bag of Wire Tap-in Squeeze Connectors (Look here)
- Tools: (Paper Clips/Philips Screwdriver/Torx Screwdriver/Pliers/Wire Cutters)
- Pin for LCM Plug/Harness Its listed on the Diagram as #5 (see Below). The one I got from the stealership came with a wire so I didnt have to crimp anything.




LETS GET STARTED!!!!!

Heres a sexy Pair of Headlights




Step 1: Remove old Halogen Headlights

Headlights are held on by 4 screws... Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this but there are
several tutorials on the net on how to take these off...also make sure to remove the screws holding the
top of the front bumper to make things easier.

Below is a diagram of what pins we're going to be swapping/combining for the next couple of steps.



Step 2: Add A new ground to your new Headlights

Ok, this one is pretty easy to mess up so make sure that you do it right.
What we're going to do here is INTERNALLY combine pins 2 and 4.
Essentially what we're doing is adding a ground for the lo-beams without
cutting any wires or adding new ones.

First, look at the Diagram above. Follow the wire that's assigned to PIN #2 down to the center
of the headlight. You will need to remove the plastic/rubber gasket that's on the outside of the headlight
in order to see which wire leads of to which pin. Using a flashlight makes things easier.

Pull on the wire to make sure that it is the correct one as there are several
black wires bunched up together. I believe its going to be the second black wire to the front
but make sure to double check. Also, there's a zip tie on these group of wires..you might
want to cut it in order to accomplish the aforementioned.

Then...with a Tap-in Squeeze Connector group the Black wire that's on Pin #2 with the Brown Wire thats on Pin #4.
Make sure to pre-strip these wires if you can as the insulation on that brown wire is really tough and will
not make good contact if not pre-stripped(you can also try to go down a size on the Tap-in Squeeze Connectors).



Step 3: Coding

Add the Xenon Option to your VO then test your headlamps. During my coding session with Chase he also disabled the
bulb checks for the AE (Along with some other cool things that aren't so relevant to this DIY).

Plug in your headlights and test them out. Everything but your high beams should work at this point.
Make sure to check for errors.

If your Lo-Beams do not work then you need to re-check your wiring (I tapped the wrong wire by mistake on one of my
headlights the first time).

Step 4: Swap PIN 5 and PIN 6 on the harness.

Take the connector apart and with a Paperclip pop out the grommet that was on PIN 5 and replace it with the Pin/wire on PIN 6.

Note: *** That rubber is really soft so this might take a couple tries***

You can also use a small paperclip to help unclip the pin so that it comes out. Then, put the rubber grommet into the hole
where PIN 6 was.

Heres a picture of the connector before I swapped the pins...sorry I didnt take one after but its simple..
that white/green wire ends up where that white rubber is and the rubber goes where the wire was.



Step 5: Re-install your new headlights

This ones pretty simple...just do what you did before in reverse

Step 6: Modify the Harness on the LCM to get the High Beam Shutter to work

Remove Kicker panel on drivers side and slide the LCM out...like so....

Note: BMW TIS has a DIY on how to take the LCM out. Its super easy after you've done it once.




NOTE: The LCM is going to have a cover on it when you first take if off. Remove this cover and then re-install it after this step.


Next...Take the connector apart... two pieces should just slide out when you're holding down the release (one release per side).




Pop PIN 12 (Left High Beam) and PIN 50 (Right High Beam) out by pressing the
release in with a paper clip/Flat head and pulling on the wire. You'll need to press
the release twice per wire. Add a pin/wire to # 48 (this is for the magnetic shutter).

Then, combine these three wires like so.......





I'm sure there's a better way to connect these wires but I just used zip ties/electrical tape (Went Ghetto for this one)...
Plug in the LCM and test out your high beams to make sure that the shutter is opening/closing.

If all is well then put everything back together (dont forget to put the cover on to the LCM) and enjoy your new headlights!!!

Some thoughts on this retrofit.... I'm not sure if my AE is running at 35W as it should be...The reason being is that
I was supposed to swap 4 pins on the LCM for the AE but the Pins were already in the "correct" place. My AEs run halogen H8
just fine so perhaps this step wasn't necessary after all. I'm going to get an HID Kit installed on the AE later
this week and I'll report back if there are any issues but so far I haven't run into any problems or errors.

Below are a couple pictures of my new headlights installed!!

BlaSTiWi

Well done !

ysp

Thank u very much for this DIY i will do this weekend the same retrofit there is one thing that i will like to know correct me if im wrong i have to add xenon to the VO $522 then what else should i do?or just adding xenon to the VO is enought?

Thanks to everybody who takes the time like you to make the work for others easier making great DIY like this!

MORI3L

Just adding the Xenon to the VO should be enough. I highly doubt that you will have any other issues but if you do just post them here and we'll do our best to help you out. Also, take note that these headlights are Euro Non-AHL. If you get the US spec Bi-Xenon's there are additional steps to make this retrofit work.

Make sure to post pics when you're done.


Good luck!!!

ysp

Well i live in belgium and i bought the bixenon from a friend that live in germany,non AHL so i can proceed with the retrofit?
Thanks again for the DIY and i will upload for sure some pics!

MORI3L

Yes.....as long as your car is LCI and you bought non-ahl you will be ok to proceed.

ysp

Ok i did the retrofit all went like you said i only going to point out one thing the right headlight plug cable that you got to swap is blue and white like you see in the picture where the 3 wires gets combine for the rest all was great,i will upload pictures as soon as i get it 100% working!
Can you answer me one question please;i add the zenon code to the VO ( $522 ) before i joined the 3 cables all worked fine ( not high beam shutter ) but after i combine pin 50 from the brown plug and pin 12 from the blue plug with pin 48 from brown plug i set the lights on and works for a few seconds then not more and i get flashing lights(hope you understand my english) i believe is something with coding to do!you mention this: Add the Xenon Option to your VO then test your headlamps. During my coding session with Chase he also disabled the
bulb checks for the AE.
the only thing i have not done is disable the bulb check if this will fix my problem can you tell me where and which are the lines i should disable?

Thanks mate for your work,im really happy i did all myself (with your DIY off course ) and i didnt pay for it!

ysp

I need some help!
all works perfect even high beam shutter ( after i coded BI_XENON_BEI_LH aktiv ) my problem is i get warning that the lights are non fuctioning good and the big problem is that all works untill i start the motor then begins the lights to flash!i wanted to go out tonight but...
Someone wants to give me a hand?

ysp

Also i notice that my left hight beam shutter works but not the right one and the angel eyes works sometimes i dont understand whats wrong here also light levels works perfect then when i star the engine all of turn off or star flashing please people need some help cause cant use the car after 5 pm here in belgium is already dark

thanks

MORI3L

Can you give me some details about your car? What year is your car? What type of headlights did your car come with? Does your car have LM2? It really doesn't make sense that combining those two pins would do such a thing to your car. However, if you are not using a HALOGEN LM2 then you might have issues. Which lights exactly are flashing? Also, I noticed you said something about light levels....I hope these headlights that you have are not the auto-leveling ones because this DIY will not work for those.


Also, are you sure you added xenon to your VO? Flashing lights are often times a symptom of the VO still being set to halogen.


Lastly, if you said everything works fine before you combined those pins on the LM...It may be possible that you have a different version in which case we just need to find the correct pins to combine. I would put the pins back where they were for now so that you can drive and we can do some brainstorming to figure this one out....I have a list of what each pin does on two different versions of the LM2 so as soon as you answer the above questions I'll know whether I need to do some digging or not.


Let me know!