According to both the US and German brochures the E60 is supposed to have Xenon low beams AND Xenon high beams. The other day at the dealership I was looking at the Xenon headlights of an E60 and thought that the lamp that was visible in the high beam section of the headlight looked a lot like a Halogen "H7" bulb. Upon closer inspection I could see the actual spiral fillament inside the bulb (which Xenons don't have). Then I opened the hood and read the writings on top of the headlight and sure enough it said "H7".

So it seems that both the German and US manuals, and all this talk about Bi-Xenons are NOT correct, at least on US model E60's. I have looked at close up pictures of the headlights on European E60's and even those look like they have the H7 halogen bulbs for high beams instead of Xenons (maybe someone can confirm this for Euro models up close, and read the writing on top of the headlight).

So what's the deal with this? We have been so preoccupied with the other things like NAV, reflectors, Bluetooth, Sirius, and LED taillights the perhaps we have not noticed this. At least I don't recall reading anything about this on the message boards.

rodybmw

The E60 has bi-xenon. This means that the same Xenon light is used for both dipped and high beam. A small metallic plate shields off the light for the dipped beam and is removed on high beam. The lights are great on both dipped and high beam! I think what you are referring to is a dual-xenon with separate xenon lights for dipped and full beam, which is rather uncommon.

It is bi-xenon. The halogen you saw is triggerred by holding the left side level (the lever you use to turn on your turn signals) towards you. This is for flashing purposes (i.e. to signal the car in front of you that you want to pass). But if you press the level away from you, you will notice that high beam symbol will remain lit even if you let go of the lever and activates high beam Xenon. So if you push the lever away from you, the xenon headlight comes on and stays on. But if you pull the level towards you, you will see that the halogen light comes on, and turns off as you let go of the lever. I hope this helped.

Hi oreo,

Thanks for explaining how it works. After seeing the H7 bulb on the car I looked through the online owner's manual and did not find any reference to Xenon high beams and how the shield worked. The only reference I saw to high beams was the instruction on how to replace the "H7 high beam bulb", which made me even more confident that there were no Xenon high beams on the car.

Thanks again for the explanation.

rodybmw

Ki

Thanks for your explanation. It helped a lot.

rodybmw

I just noticed that the other day with a friend. The high beam were nice and white and I was questioning how a regular buld can produce the same. My friend hit the high beams and the the flashing beams. Whala! a new thing I learned.

Blue low beam yellow high beam
 

So I'm also struggling with this situation. I'm reading that my 2006 bmw 520d m sport has bi xenons? But my low beam and drls are blue xenon light and looks great, but my high beam is the old yellow light and barely any brighter. Can someone explain this to me please? I thort it was the same bulb for high/low beam, if it is them how is this possible with my car? Do I need to replace the high bulb?

for pre lci (04-07), you are able to change the high beam with coding: xenon, inner high beam bulb or to have both bulbs at the same time. You can do this for flash to pass and or straight high beams