[Mik3ymomo]

As many of you know there is a service bulletin for the headlight switch. After taking it to my local dealer and telling them what it was they charged me $277 to diagnose it and then wanted another $770 to replace it.

I am not new to working on cars so I decided to do it myself and took photos so I can provide instructions to do this yourself in 5 mins with simple tools.

If your headlight switch looks like this then you are in the right place. If your lights turn on and off during the day then this is your problem and the part is only $165 from Rock Auto.

I used a nylon pry tool to remove the side trim and it exposes one screw that you can remove or move out of the way the vent above the headlight switch.

The switch will come right out with only the plug attached to the back. It unplugs by just pulling on the plug.

Now plug in the new switch and reverse the process. I slightly pulled back the weatherstripping on the door to work the side panel back in.

You could probably reach your hand in behind the light switch without removing the vent but it’s just one screw and it’s a T7 Torx size. If you dont have Torx just reach your hand in the hole and push out the light switch from behind after removing the side panel.

[Mik3ymomo]

Some more photos for you guys.

[AwesomeM3]

Nice work Mike!

[seis1]

Originally Posted by Mik3ymomo

Some more photos for you guys.

Thanks for the detailed pictures and description!

[jsf721]

So what did you buy at rock auto and what did you replace ?

[Alscoob]

Originally Posted by jsf721

So what did you buy at rock auto and what did you replace ?

Now plug in the new switchand reverse the process.

[DrSteveB]

Please tell me the problem with the lights that led you to this solution? (excellent description of fix -thanks)

[tjbuggy2b]

He mentioned it in the OP but what happens is (during the day) the lights turn on for a second or two, then back off over and over. Mine is starting to do it. At the moment, I just have to turn the switch full left, then full right, and back to auto and it will behave for a while. Right now, I see it about once a month. I know this fix is in my future, though.

[Neusser]

Originally Posted by Mik3ymomo

As many of you know there is a service bulletin for the headlight switch. After taking it to my local dealer and telling them what it was they charged me $277 to diagnose it and then wanted another $770 to replace it.

I am not new to working on cars so I decided to do it myself and took photos so I can provide instructions to do this yourself in 5 mins with simple tools.

If your headlight switch looks like this then you are in the right place. If your lights turn on and off during the day then this is your problem and the part is only $165 from Rock Auto.

I used a nylon pry tool to remove the side trim and it exposes one screw that you can remove or move out of the way the vent above the headlight switch.

The switch will come right out with only the plug attached to the back. It unplugs by just pulling on the plug.

Now plug in the new switch and reverse the process. I slightly pulled back the weatherstripping on the door to work the side panel back in.

You could probably reach your hand in behind the light switch without removing the vent but it’s just one screw and it’s a T7 Torx size. If you dont have Torx just reach your hand in the hole and push out the light switch from behind after removing the side panel.

Nice. DIYs like this are invaluable, as the overabundance of tech on these cars are their collective Achilles Heel.


Dealer prices are always a good chuckle, too. You'd have to be one dim bulb to let the dealer do much other than sell you a car.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Neusser

...
Dealer prices are always a good chuckle, too. You'd have to be one dim bulb to let the dealer do much other than sell you a car.

I must be a dim bulb then. Then again, I have an EXCELLENT dealer that is extremely competitive with the indy around the corner. I'll pay the little extra at the dealer any day of the week and twice on Sunday for the peace of mind.

[Neusser]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

I must be a dim bulb then. Then again, I have an EXCELLENT dealer that is extremely competitive with the indy around the corner. I'll pay the little extra at the dealer any day of the week and twice on Sunday for the peace of mind.

Maybe your indie sucks, too.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Neusser

Maybe your indie sucks, too.

No, they're just as expensive as the dealer; and my dealer definitely doesn't suck. Maybe we have a much higher level of professionalism here.

[LeeS1969]

Just signed up to add a little to this in-case others get here. My late 2019 G31 had been flashing the lights oddly when the engine off but unlocked, the other day it did it in a traffic queue so realised it wasn't some "I'm unlocked" warning! Also the parking light switch flaky, press it and it comes on and straight off, have to press it a couple of times and kind of "catch" it.

Started reading up and found it's a common issue and got to this thread, basically did the steps above (thanks) - but a couple of tweaks

Had to take off the door seal first to get the trim off - note there is a tab on the trim that's under the air vent, so needs to come out (and go back in) A pillar side first.

Undid the screw (Torx 20 I think) but didn't need to take off the air vent, just push it up enough to push out the light unit with my fingers.

I decided to take a look at it rather than replace. Everything inside looked clean and OK, but the motherboard only seems to be supported by 4 tiny tabs around the light controller.

So I assume the board isn't pressed against the buttons and fingers on the rotary control firmly enough. I cut some small pieces of double sided tape and stacked them to just a fraction deeper than the space in the plastic cover (leaving the film on one side so it doesn't stick to the case) and stuck them to the board away from components.

I also took out the 'fingers' and very carefully bent them very slightly to give them a little more pressure. Hopefully this will keep the board firmly in place and stop any more issues.

Popped the cover back on and reinstalled - hardest part was getting the door seal back in cleanly as it had bent a little taking it off.

So far a quick test seems to be working well. I'll try and remember to update how it goes. Sorry but didn't think to take any pictures of it inside. Hope it helps someone, very easy to take apart the unit and there are no springs to fly across the room into another dimension, not daunting at all, just take time and be careful.

[Steved]

Originally Posted by LeeS1969

Just signed up to add a little to this in-case others get here. My late 2019 G31 had been flashing the lights oddly when the engine off but unlocked, the other day it did it in a traffic queue so realised it wasn't some "I'm unlocked" warning! Also the parking light switch flaky, press it and it comes on and straight off, have to press it a couple of times and kind of "catch" it.

Started reading up and found it's a common issue and got to this thread, basically did the steps above (thanks) - but a couple of tweaks

Had to take off the door seal first to get the trim off - note there is a tab on the trim that's under the air vent, so needs to come out (and go back in) A pillar side first.

Undid the screw (Torx 20 I think) but didn't need to take off the air vent, just push it up enough to push out the light unit with my fingers.

I decided to take a look at it rather than replace. Everything inside looked clean and OK, but the motherboard only seems to be supported by 4 tiny tabs around the light controller.

So I assume the board isn't pressed against the buttons and fingers on the rotary control firmly enough. I cut some small pieces of double sided tape and stacked them to just a fraction deeper than the space in the plastic cover (leaving the film on one side so it doesn't stick to the case) and stuck them to the board away from components.

I also took out the 'fingers' and very carefully bent them very slightly to give them a little more pressure. Hopefully this will keep the board firmly in place and stop any more issues.

Popped the cover back on and reinstalled - hardest part was getting the door seal back in cleanly as it had bent a little taking it off.

So far a quick test seems to be working well. I'll try and remember to update how it goes. Sorry but didn't think to take any pictures of it inside. Hope it helps someone, very easy to take apart the unit and there are no springs to fly across the room into another dimension, not daunting at all, just take time and be careful.

I am happy working with complex electronics but it wasn’t clear from your post ‘how’ you removed the rear of the lighting module to access the motherboard - black or white tabs? These, in my past experience, are made from brittle plastic and tend to snap very easily, so unless I had a spare module to hand it doesn’t seem worth trying to open it up on the off chance of being able to fix it.

Please update this thread if you get a moment.

[bavarianboar]

Is this hot pluggable or car battery power supply needs to be turned off somehow?

Leave the car unlocked so Idrive and battery power to switch turns off first itself maybe?

I have the same issue and need to replace switch on my 2020 540i

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by bavarianboar

Is this hot pluggable or car battery power supply needs to be turned off somehow?

Leave the car unlocked so Idrive and battery power to switch turns off first itself maybe?

I have the same issue and need to replace switch on my 2020 540i

Yes, no.

Easy peasy. It's a simple switch swap.

[paquet]

Can someone please share the link to the service bulletin?
Adding this to my 'i didn't know about this, and now i will likely have to deal with it' list