Headlight Housing - Xenon/Halogen, Advice Needed

[10Terp]

Hi everybody,

I've been working on my 2003 Z4 I got from a friend that's in need of some serious attention to get it through state safety inspection. One of the things that needed addressing was the left side HID bulb would go in and out intermittently. I ran across a great deal for a 2003-2005 complete xenon housing on eBay and got it for $100. Today I went about swapping it out and immediately noticed some difference:

1. The existing headlight housing had a 6-pin connector on it.
1. The new (used) headlight housing from eBay had a 7-pin connector with a separate small harness that was blanked off on my existing housing.

I knew something was up, because the existing headlights had HID (xenon) bulbs in them. So, I opened up the existing headlight housing and found this mess:




For comparison, here's how the inside of the headlight housing I ordered off eBay looks:



So basically, I thought this car had stock Xenon headlights. However, I believe it's a stock halogen car that had cheap aftermarket Xenons retrofitted. Additionally, I don't have it pictured but the HID lense has the part number P6125M on it; if you google that part number some Mitsubishi lenses come up on a Russian forum (that look identical to these), and there was a link to some other Ukrainian retailer as well.

I'm looking for advice on how to proceed. I hooked up the eBay true OEM-Xenon housing and it seems to *mostly* work (see YouTube video of its behavior here: https://youtu.be/L_LGaLvAKak). The turn signals (*cough*indicators*cough*) flash fast because the LED lights on the outside of the housing are not powered, and I believe the 7th pin powers them (which my stock harness only has 6). Pulling the stalk flashes the halogens, and pushing it leaves the halogens on. This car also doesn't have the harness for the headlight position motor (see first pic); so I'm not sure how that affects the performance.

I'd love to find a way to make this new housing work, and source another from eBay for the other side. I've seen a few posts about Xenon conversions, but they typically wind up in people arguing about PFL cars being bi-xenon/single xenon/etc. Otherwise I may just find a way to convert the whole setup back to stock halogen.

Thank you! I'll probably be editing this post as I think of more things to add.

[Trav]

I think you have spent more on a replacement headlight unit than you could have spent replacing the Innovited HID kit. I bet fitting a new Innovited kit and remaking all the connections would solve your issue and be an easier job. I have no experience of these kits but is does claim to be canbus error free.

[kis]

US headlights look different to our UK ones. Halogen have 7 pin. Xenon have 8 pin in prefacelift and 7 pin in facelift.

As above. I’d just look to get an aftermarket HID kit similar to what you already have. That way hopefully it will be more of a plug and play solution.

[Motionblurrr]

It looks like the previous owner swapped out the halogen projectors and retrofitted in bi-xenon projectors in it's place in your OEM halogen headlamps. I can tell because that projector looks nothing like the OEM Hella halogen projector or the Hella bi-xenon projector. They seem to have also spliced the bi-xenon projector's shutter wires into the high beam wires -- so when you flash your high beams, your bi-xenon lowbeams also function as a high beam (along with the bonus halogen high beam included). At least it is an HID projector, judging by the connector that twists on the back of the bulb. It might be a D2S bulb. It's definitely not an OEM projector though, I'm curious to which brand it is.

Bad news is you can't swap back to halogen, unless you have the Hella halogen projectors the previous owner took out.

Good news, is that you can cheapily fix your intermittent HID problem by finding out if the aftermarket ballast is defective or if the bulbs are the culprit by swapping the bulbs on either side and see if the problem follows to the other side.

If it's the ballasts, you can just order a new CANBUS HID kit and take out the old ballasts and put in the new one and you're done. Plug n Play. If it's the bulbs, you can just replace them.

About the OEM Xenon lamps: I believe you also have to code them to your car because your LCM will still think you have halogen lamps. Also, I think there's also some work to be done in regarding to the extra-pin. There was a guide posted here I believe a long time ago where somebody accomplished it. I remember it was written in broken English but they still did it.

In the meantime, I'd just address the problem like I said above and leave the OEM Xenon headlamps for a future project, I'll see if I can find the old post about the OEM Xenon headlamp swap.

[10Terp]

Thank you all for your responses. Ideally I would like to restore it to stock halogen, but as Motionblurrr pointed out, the projector housings aren't the stock halogen ones.

It's definitely not an OEM projector though, I'm curious to which brand it is.

The blubs it has in it are Morimoto D2S:


Also, here's the only part number I could see on the projector:


If you search this part number there's a Russian forum post and a Ukrainian retail site. I took the projector housing out and here are some pics. It's literally a direct bolt in; I would love to know where these were sourced from. It also has a little actuated shutter that is spliced into the flasher lights:







I actually believe this housing will fit an H7 bulb without issue as well, so going back to Halogen may be an option.

[Motionblurrr]

OK, I did some digging and that's a Hella 4 D2S projector copy by the brand "Sigma". There are also other names they use but it seems they're the same copy projector.

Also greetings from Northern Virginia!

[Barty]

If the retrofitted projectors are Marimoto’s too, then they’re a decent upgrade over the stock hella projectors and the halogens that go with those.

If maximum light output is what you’re after -and let’s face it, the Z’s original halogens aren’t exactly stellar- then I’d recommend fitting a set of decent xenon bulbs into those projectors, hook everything up to decent ballasts and igniters and run those

[10Terp]

OK, I did some digging and that's a Hella 4 D2S projector copy by the brand "Sigma". There are also other names they use but it seems they're the same copy projector.

Also greetings from Northern Virginia!

Crazy that you were able to find that! I searched up and down and had a feeling they were some sort of Hella knock off, and looking at some pics of the Hella projectors, they definitely seem like a near carbon copy.

I think for now my plan is to figure out what's actually wrong in this HID kit and replace parts accordingly. Whether that means replacing the whole system (I have no idea if Innovited is a decent brand), or just the busted components. I really hate the 6k light of these Morimoto lights, so I may switch over to 3k.

And greetings from NoVA as well. Loudoun county here.

[Z4Mariner]

Thanks for posting on this ! Please update as you walk this out.

My 2006 coupe has stock Xenon's, but the light provided is not what I would like. I plan to disassemble and clean the lenses during the winter months, and I'll see if that is sufficient. I am considering a swap like this - https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1656727. I have the adapter cables, and I would need only the Morimoto EVOX-R 2.0 replacements for the OE Hella E55 projectors.

[10Terp]

Thanks for posting on this ! Please update as you walk this out.

Will do. The plan for now is to figure out if the problem lies in the bulb or the driver. Planning on replacing the bulbs either way (not a fan of the 6k light temperature). I'll post updates as I work through it.

[kis]

Simple bulb swap (from LH unit to the RH unit) will let you know if that’s the issue.

Although if you plan to replace anyway maybe just get a set of 3000k and then test.

My bet is it’s the little box whatever that’s called. Had one go bad on a previous car. So bought a new set - the same type (looked the same). This left me with plenty of spare wires and other parts.

[10Terp]

Turns out the previous owner was a member of this forum. After looking through his post history I found out the projectors he put in are Morimoto EvoX-R D2

[Motionblurrr]

Turns out the previous owner was a member of this forum. After looking through his post history I found out the projectors he put in are Morimoto EvoX-R D2

Oh wow, nice! That's a good surprise. If your ballasts are working, all you need is a pair of 4300K D2S bulbs and you'll be golden. I suggest Philips 85122 D2S