Car: BMW E60 535d 2007.

Guys, need some feedback here.
I purchased a full set of brand new BMW LCI halogen headlights from Sytners in Solihull to do a LCI conversion.
All went well with the conversion and very happy. I also used an after market HID kit with the headlights, again no faults etc, pro installation.

Now, last week, my passenger side headlamp fogged up really badly, no idea why.
I called the parts dept to see if I could change it under warranty, but the nice chap said I had to go through service dept in order to inspect the headlight first.

Now, service manager came back and said the reason for all the fogginess was due to the fact I cut a hole in one of the caps that you can take off in order to change the bulb.
The hole I explained was cut and "sealed" because of the after market HID installation, how the hell can this be the cause. No evidence of water near the sealed hole either!!

So I got back home, used a hair dryer to dry out the headlamp, then left the car on my drive. We then had a downpour of rain, I came back out to find the headlamp had fogged up again.
There is no way that water from the "cap" can be the fault, how can it be??

This is turning into a "joke". Dealer is saying NO to replacing the headlamp even though I have not tampered with the headlight unit, other than placing a small hole on one of the removable caps and resealing it.

Very much look forward to some feedback here....


THANK YOU.

 

Hmm Well I work at a dealer. And The rule of thumb is that when you do aftermarket stuff on your car and you bring it for a complaint. We tell customers to bring the car in stock form for that specific complaint. In other words you should have put the stock bulbs in there and they would have replaced it under warranty. But yea if there is a hole in back of the cap, there is a chance moisture getting in there due to the humidity. That used to happen in my old car. Try putting some RTV around the hole and wires in order to complete the seal. Well Goodluck.

 

+1...The part was tampered with. It doesn't have to be water that can get in the hole, but moisture in the air going into it that can cause the fog.

 

just try and find the source of the leak and silicone it. dont make such a big deal. there are only so many point of water entry. i'd check the seal between the clear and black plastic. plus, did you dry out the lense on a humid day? the rain probably cooled the light enough to recondense the vapor inside.

 

Ehh, unless the kit you used doesn't have a rubber grommet that goes in between it, I find i very hard for water to be getting in there.

Just go buy a replacement cap and see if it happens. If it does, obviously you've narrowed it down.

 

That's what I was gonna say, but Simon beat me to it. Headlight fogging is a strange demon and the smallest of the small can cause a problem. I would start with getting the inside cleared, install a new cap then watch it closely. Maybe even a car wash if there is no rain in the forecast and see if it returns. If it does, then maybe get it back to stock JD says and go back, maybe even to another dealer. I know they don't like mods and if they can easily link the failure to the mod they most often will. The warranty is getting a bit tougher because in most cases each "defect" is reviewed by a BMW warranty person. If they reject the claim, then the the Dealer doesn't get this money. Obviously not all are individually reviewed, but a lot are.

 

You're not going to get anywhere with the dealer, since ANY tampering will void the warranty on that part.

 

I've never been a BMW parts manager, but I know at Ford and GM that dealers have to hold on to the part for 6 months, because it can be called for a review at any time.

 

Toss a bag of silica gel inside for a couple of days and see what happens.