djkevin510

I just picked up a 2005 530i on sunday and so far I love it!!!!!! But I'm not sure if this is normal or not but my driver side headlight seems to be lower then the passenger side so low that the light beam shoots out about 5 feet or so kinda seems like the driver side is facing the floor but the pasenger side works fine like a normal headlight. when driving at night you can really see the difference between the 2 lights.

thanks!

525Da

It's normal, they do that so you wont blind the cars that are driving towards you.

djkevin510

oic weird sometimes i cant even see whats on the left side of the road lol

protams

Need to adjust, there is 2 white plastic screws on headlamp, go for inner one.You can do it your self, find a flat place befor some wall to see the difference.

Iceman

The passenger side headlight is supposed to give more light so you can see pedestrians and bikers earlier.
The drivers side needs to be shorter to not blind oncoming traffic.

v_therussian

Hey,

Congrats on the car - you'll love it more and more as you get more comfortable with it. I highly recommend pushing the car to it's limits in some serious curves (just remember: safety is ALWAYS first!) - it will really bond you with your ride

That ought to do it

Never heard this before - you live and you learn
Thanks, Ice!
Do you know if this is a Global standard or its not applicable to U.S. spec cars? Bc I think mine has always been even.

BlaSTiWi

Also you might wanna check your auto leveling mechanism system ... usually when malfunction it'll default to make the beam shine downward (probably more for safety if the other way around it could potentially blind the on coming traffic).

The beam pattern on the driver side should be lower than the passenger but I don't think its that far off especially if you feel that you can't see the road.

sy545

I had the same problem on my 545i and it sounds like an adaptive headlight problem. Check the following:
1. Verify that you have adaptive lights by checking the headlight ring. This should show "BMW Dynamic Xenon".
2. If you have adaptive lighting, the green indicator on the headlight switch will flash if a problem has been detected.
3. The Driver's headlight pointing down and to the left can be due to:
a) A defective headlight control module (aka ALC) or
b) A failed stepper motor within the headlight housing.
4. Before making any adjustments, substitute a known good (used) ALC and check to see this corrects the problem. Do not use a new ALC as this requires programming by BMW. Not sure but you may be able to swap the ALC from the passenger's side.
5. If this does not correct the problem, the bad news is that the stepper motor has failed and a replacement headlight will be required.

Search the forum using "adaptive" and you will see many posts that will help. The specific part numbers for you BMW can be obtained from http://www.realoem.com/bmw/. If the complete headlight requires replacement, check what is available on eBay. New replacement parts can be purchased from ecstuning.com or used from bmrparts.com

Good Luck

tex_phil

THey can be adjusted higher or lower. You want to have the drivers headlight lower though. The projector beam should not be simply __ at night it would look like _/-
In the UK the beam is the opposite with the right side lower.

djkevin510

ok thanks everyone! I'm 18 i came from a turbo sc300 from clublexus so this luxury/digital stuff is all new to me! lol I'm kinda scared to even adjust anything or even check to see if there is a problem! haha I'm paying extra for extended warranty I think ill just take it to the dealer today and let them know what is happening! Also thanks everyone for the good greets! I love the car already and the forum community!!! The second day of owning the car I pushed the car pretty hard on the rocky twisty and turns of the coast line of norcal...that's when I notice that this light should not be normal and if it was not safe at all even when i asked the bmw dealer they said it was normal but it was during the day and i don't think they seen it on the road at night.



when i was pulling right turns on the coastline i was scared that something mightpop out of my right side view like a car or something laying on the road!



thanks everyone!!!