[caitov]

Hi
My wife's 540i has been acting like it's possessed - or trying to communicate with us.

At first when it was parked in the garage (but not locked) the headlights would randomly flash - like they were trying to adjust or something similar.
Once it started it would keep this up until we locked the car.

Now it has gotten to the point that even while driving (during the day) it will do this at random times. It's obviously very annoying now as other drivers think we're flashing them.

I plan to take it to the dealer next week, but am wondering if anyone's experienced the same thing and what was the cause.

Thanks

[claykin]

Probably a bad module or power supply for headlamps.

[Frozen Fractals]

Mine did this when I first took delivery of my CPO 2018 540iX. Quite literally right when I picked the car up, the heads lights were going on and off in the parking lot. It was late evening with the sun low on the horizon, so I presumed the lighting conditions were messing with the sensors. It did it again in my garage a few days later while in accessory mode (engine not started). Both times, the switch was set to “auto” mode.

However, outside of those two instances, in the 2 months and 3000 miles since, I haven’t had it happen again.

I plugged the car into ISTA-D and pulled all the codes and none of them referenced a headlight malfunction. I’m keeping an eye on it, but I’m chalking it up to a software bug (mine has I-Step/Level of around late 2017).

[Kingtreasure]

Did y’all ever find the fix? Mine keep doing that

[adhrp]

There's a SIB out for it. The headlight switch is faulty in some cars and vibrates internally. Search this forum for more info.

[MauiSteve]

Here is the SIB likely pertinent to your problem.

[123abc]

Same happen to my 17 540xi. The problem is,if the dealership cannot find the issue, I will get charge for $180 dollars. The light is like randomly blinking. Hard to know when is it.

Originally Posted by caitov

Hi
My wife's 540i has been acting like it's possessed - or trying to communicate with us.

At first when it was parked in the garage (but not locked) the headlights would randomly flash - like they were trying to adjust or something similar.
Once it started it would keep this up until we locked the car.

Now it has gotten to the point that even while driving (during the day) it will do this at random times. It's obviously very annoying now as other drivers think we're flashing them.

I plan to take it to the dealer next week, but am wondering if anyone's experienced the same thing and what was the cause.

Thanks

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by 123abc

Same happen to my 17 540xi. The problem is,if the dealership cannot find the issue, I will get charge for $180 dollars. The light is like randomly blinking. Hard to know when is it.

There will be a code for it stored in your car when the issue happened. See the SIB PDF posted above and you could even initially scan the car yourself using an OBD reader. The SIB requires customer complaint + code for the dealership to do the work.

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by MauiSteve

Here is the SIB likely pertinent to your problem.

What does SIB stand for?

[MauiSteve]

SIB = Service Information Bulletin

Other car manufacturers more commonly use the term TSB which is an acronym for Technical Service Bulletin.

[Maxx Power]

Just updating an older thread, as it is the one that comes up when searching.

When my headlights started flickering, as in the OP, I was all ready to order a new switch and just replace it, however as I was pulling out the old switch I noticed that the whole thing was just put together with clips (I love how BMW does this). So I thought I would open it up to have a look for this loose part that is supposedly vibrating.

While there weren't really any parts at all (other that the PCB and the dial/buttons), what I did notice was that there was a fair bit of silver/blue dust around where the dial connects to the PCB, kinda like the copper sulfate on your car battery terminals. So I just cleaned the whole assembly and put it back together.

The whole job took about 5 minutes, no tools required, and the lights haven't flickered since I did it.

Definitely worth a try before you spend $180 on a new switch.

[Mik3ymomo]

I made a “How to” to fix this yourself. It’s cheap and easy and the dealer will charge you $800+ to do it. Don’t do that too yourself.
https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...8#post30051108