[tsbrown]

Hoping I can get some help diagnosing an issue with my adaptive LED headlights, primarily on the high beams. I don't seem to have good high beams anymore but there are no dash warning lights.

Car is 2019 540i with adaptive LED headlights (I believe it's option code 552) that I've had since new. I had the VLD/GFHB coded a couple years ago and always worked well. About 6 months ago, the front end of the car was hit/scraped in a parking lot that required the front bumper cover to be replaced and buffing out scratches on only the passenger headlight. I don't drive much at night, except in winter when it gets dark early and recently have been getting oncoming traffic flashing me for thinking my high beams are on when they aren't.

Things I've checked:
- lights come on and do the up/down startup sweep. Are they supposed to go side-to-side as well?
- high beams don't appear to have a higher projection or brighter beam vs low beams
- Body shop that performed the front end repair said there were no issues/errors with the passenger headlight assembly when they reinstalled. I do know they had a local indy check/clear codes before returning the car to me but it's now been about 4 months since the repair so I don't think they have documentation of any errors.
- I do know the upper elements are low beam and the lower elements are high beams and they appear to be functioning as expected, even the fog lights go out when the high beams are activated
- all fuses related to the headlights/driving lights appear to be in tact.
- manually adjusted the alignment per -0.7% spec using the 2" lower at 25 feet distance measurement. This is the same as 7cm lower at 10m per BMW specification.
- have service scheduled next week at the dealership to have them diagnose and align on the Maha Lite 3 machine, etc. but hoping to avoid that if I can figure it out beforehand.

What should I check next? Really hoping it's something simple vs a $500 control module or something like that.

Thanks.

[LogicalApex]

I will check later, but I believe the startup diagnostic does have the lights move side to side as well as up and down. Do you still see steering adaptation when you turn the wheel while parked in front of a wall where yo can clearly see the light action?

Do you also notice the high beams being brighter in that sense? As it should be instantly noticeable once they are activated in that scenario and it sounds like you’re not seeing a difference.

It sounds like you’re on the right path having BMW adjust the headlights though. As it sounds like they may have not aligned them properly when reinstalling them.

[tsbrown]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

I will check later, but I believe the startup diagnostic does have the lights move side to side as well as up and down. Do you still see steering adaptation when you turn the wheel while parked in front of a wall where yo can clearly see the light action?

Do you also notice the high beams being brighter in that sense? As it should be instantly noticeable once they are activated in that scenario and it sounds like you’re not seeing a difference.

It sounds like you’re on the right path having BMW adjust the headlights though. As it sounds like they may have not aligned them properly when reinstalling them.

The lights definitely follow the steering wheel, but this is due to the cornering lights on the inside of the cluster vs the low/high beams surrounded by the DRLs (mine is pre-LCI). As for the high beams being brighter, they really aren't any more.

Weird thing is only the passenger side was removed/reinstalled. I know as I took a photo of the car in the shop when it was disassembled. So not sure why one side would cause both to not work properly.

[arkhi]

So your post is kinda unclear. You said you don't have high beams on, that your lights are properly aligned, but they still flash you?

Either you just have bright headlights and the reflections on the road because of snow/rain is blinding other people, or the sensor in your rear axle that causes the headlights to go up or down based on load, accel, and decel, is shot.

[tsbrown]

Originally Posted by arkhi

So your post is kinda unclear. You said you don't have high beams on, that your lights are properly aligned, but they still flash you?

Either you just have bright headlights and the reflections on the road because of snow/rain is blinding other people, or the sensor in your rear axle that causes the headlights to go up or down based on load, accel, and decel, is shot.

This hasn't happened at night with snow/rain, only clear nights. Also haven't driven at night with oncoming traffic since adjusting the alignment a couple days ago, so can't be sure it made a difference.

Still there is little if any difference between low and high beam projection/brightness. But the front and rear sensors are worth checking. thanks.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by tsbrown

The lights definitely follow the steering wheel, but this is due to the cornering lights on the inside of the cluster vs the low/high beams surrounded by the DRLs (mine is pre-LCI). As for the high beams being brighter, they really aren't any more.

Weird thing is only the passenger side was removed/reinstalled. I know as I took a photo of the car in the shop when it was disassembled. So not sure why one side would cause both to not work properly.

My car is also pre-LCI. This is a feature that actually isn’t present on the LCI (the LCI headlights lost their steering adaptive function in the US as has been covered on the forums a fair bit).

The steering adaptive nature of the headlights are independent of the cornering lights. The Cornering lights are only used when you are approaching an intersection at low speeds with your turn signal activated, when reversing, or when your turn angle is at the more extreme portion of its arc. In normal steering your headlights should be moving with the steering wheel at all times if the headlight switch is set to “A”.

I have the Adaptive Full LED headlights on my car so I’m very familiar with their operation.

[tsbrown]

I should have started with this at least a few days ago but finally did a BimmerLink scan for errors and got the following.

Error memory

43 Frontal Light Electronics Left
1 error
8059B9: Low beam - activated due to implausible input signals
44 Frontal Light Electronics Right
1 error
805B29: Low beam - activated due to implausible input signals

My car does have the VLD/GFHB coding and it looks like when the headlight was reinstalled and errors were cleared, there remains some conflicting signals to the lights so it just stays on low beam. I'm checking with my coding expert to see if he has any suggestions but in the meantime does anyone know more about these errors? I'm guessing a coding reset to the original VO or finding/fixing the conflict buried in the code will do the trick.

[tsbrown]

Turns out it was strictly a coding issue. Could have fixed the conflict in the code and kept the VLD/GFHB or reset to standard auto high beam. I just went back to standard auto high beam.

[lnxguy]

Sounds like you needed a calibration after the bumper replacement.