Found this wire behind the headlight housing near the hood latch, just hanging around, not connected to anything. Is that right? What's it for?

 

Well...to tke the guess work out this please let us know if you have this wire on both sides what year is the car built,is it pre LCI or LCI. More information we have more educated answer you shlee have.

_S

 

his car is:

"2008 BMW 550i, Carbon Black Metallic w/ Cream Beige Dakota, CPO with Ext. Maintenance, Premium pack, Cold weather pack, Comfort seats, Active steering (amazing!!), Logic 7, Comfort Access, NAV, HID's, Sprint Booster, RPI scoop w/BMI filter, Charcoal removed"



From the look of it, it seems to be a light plug or some sort. Can you trace it back to the other end. That will make it easy for some members here to help you identify it.

GL

 

He has the car info in his sig, 2008 (LCI) 550..

I assume you are not getting any error messages concerning the headlight turn light or "eye broe" on that side?

 

You are right just saw it....me dumb dumb. I agree we need to know where the other end goes or at least if you are handy measure the voltage on the pins of the socket with light on and off and see if there is any voltage present. Whatever this is looks like an after market retrofit of some kind.

 

No errors or anything, both eyebrows and AE's work. The loose wire is only on the passenger side. It's right next to/behind the hood latch. Just saw it hanging there while I was changing the AE's. Any other ideas? There's a similar unhooked/loose connection wire under the rear bench seat towards the passenger side. Saw it hanging out from under the cushion and tucked it back in, anyone know what that's for too?

 

OK....if you know how to use a volt meter put it on the beep mode and turn the car off and pin by pin between the one under the hood and the one under the seat and see if the meter beeps that means there is direct conection between the two ends.

 

I'll try to do that when I have some time, but I highly doubt the two wires are related. The one under the backseat is smaller and is sticking out of a factory wire loom that continues to snake through the truck. The one under the hood doesn't look like it's a part of any factory wire loom, but the wires and connection don't look aftermarket. Could it be for an E60 lci option that my car doesn't have, like the radar cruise control or night vision?

 

are your adaptive headlights working? does the LED on your headlight switch turn solid green when they're on? the headlights have plugs for the leveling motors.

due to the proximity to the headlight, that could only be something for the headlight, the coolant temp sensor on the lower radiator hose, or maybe the oil pressure switch (but you'd get a warning on that one!.) the last two i think would only be possible if someone removed the radiator and didn't pull the cable out of the way before they reinstalled it, remote but not entirely impossible.

look for a connector within the radius of the slack in the cable. there has to be a socket nearby that has no connector on it.

 

at first It thought it was the lower radiator hose sensor connector also since that's what mine looks like but if that is disconnected, there would be some errors on the idrive plus the cable seems to be a bit short to reach way down to the lower end of the radiator. Looks like a connector for some lighting apparatus is my best guess.