I am trying to do some research for my father who owns a 2009 535Xi. Great car, its been fantastic so far in our first year of ownership. Recently the driver's side headlight has been projecting in purple, not blue/white. Looks similar to when the headlight on my Acura TL went out, but I wanted to check first to see if this is in fact a full failure, if the best course of action is full replacement, or if I can get away with changing something within the existing headlight to fix the problem. Thanks,

Dan

 

Your father's car (2009 535xi) has xenon headlights. The color change you see, is the xenon bulb burning out/going bad due to long use/age. You need to buy two new replacement xenon bulbs, one each for driver and passenger side. You should replace both sides in order that the color temperature output matches. If you just replace the driver side, then it will look much whiter than the old passenger side bulb which will appear bluer/puple in comparison. You want a 4300k temperature bulb. That is color temperature that BMW installs in all their xenon light assemblies.


I believe your car uses 35 watt D1S type xenon bulbs, but to be certain remove the access cover on the driver side and remove the bulb to check it. Bulbs can be purchased from a BMW dealer, Amazon or even local auto parts stores. Depending on where you buy and which brand you buy the bulbs will probably cost between $60.00 and $130.00 each.


Here's a handy video to show how to change the bulb on your dad's car.

 

Fairly old thread, but a goodie. Thanks for the write up and the video!!

 

actually the bulb size should be on the headlight itself. if you look at the headlight low beam it will be engraved on the trim