Gee_115

You are incorrect. There are two sets under a headlight with AHL. You will see the bigger mudules which control your lights then you will see the smaller module for the AHL. Here is a part number 63127189312. Depending on the year of your car the part number could be different.

nomis_nehc

Yes, while the smc can fail, and they do, a lot more often than the actual motor on the projector, self leveling isn't a function of adaptive function.

In US, E60 with xenon comes with AHL as standard, however, this is an option in Europe. Meaning that self leveling (moving up and down), has nothing to do with SMC.

If his lights aren't doing up and down, the car auto flags it as AHL has failed, which is why I am more inclined to think that it is a case of the motor failing as opposed to the smc. Besides, this wouldn't be the first time we are hearing 2004 adaptive motor failing now. Seems to make sense, since it is a wear and tear item, and OP's car should be 10 years old.

tom_il

Its not so simple.
I studied the differences between the connections of the normal and dynamic Bi-Xenon.
I believe that de dynamic module takes over the control of the self levening also. As there are less wires going from the lightmodule to the headlamp to control the motors in the dynamic versus the normal one.
As I understand it the wires controling the motor of the normal Bi-Xenon are now used by a bus system to the dynamic module which then conrols all the motors in the lamp.

nothingbutbmw

oh interesting, thank you for the clarification.

If the AHL module is out, wouldnt it cause the xenon module to stop working as well? or was it the opposite. IE: if the the xenon control module stops working so will the AHL?

My indy was telling me about this but i dont remember which way it was

BraveHelios

Adding INPA screen shots in pdf form.

tom_il

No. And it would be plain stupid to swith of the headlights because the AHL stops working. Thats dangerous.

tom_il

clear that error again, it came together with a low battery warning. Then all sorts of warnings can come.
After clearing check if it comes again.

I do this always to verify that it wasn't a one time error or glitch.

Edit : sorry was to fast. All points towards yout AHL module beeing defective.

BraveHelios

Update... It was too blasted cold to go out there and remove the fog lamp bulbs. Instead I ran INPA and checked out the codes. See attached PDF's for most recent codes. Of note: PDF light2, says that the battery voltage is 11.93 volts. This is with the car "off" (but key turned to just before cranking). I checked the voltage of the battery with a multi-meter at the charging terminals under the hood (with ignition completely off) and it read 12.26 volts. Can it be that part of the error/failure is that voltage at the ALC (module?) is too low? As far as I can tell with the information I have, "alive signal of the ALC system is missing" is not getting me any closer to the culprit.

Side question... can I use INPA/OBD II with the engine actually running? So far I haven't done so?

Thank you all for your insight and information!

BraveHelios

Thank you for the information.

Please remind me (there are so many modules!) where the AHL module is located?

Gee_115

You have to remove the headlights. The smaller ones are the SMC/ALC modules