My wife's '05 Mini S has xenon headlights, car was made 7/04, so it has the projector xenons. Recently I noticed the drivers side (left) headlight is pointing much lower then the right side. I checked the two sensors front and back, and they are physically intact...sensor arms and wires both fine. I also swapped out the control units, right to left and left to right and the problem was still there. I also tried to adjust the vertical screw to make the project higher and no change. So, does anyone know how the two leveling sensors work...does the front sensor control the left headlight and the rear sensor control the right headlight? What is my next move to fix the problem?

 

Typically, with xenon headlamps the driver's side does point down lower. I believe the reason is because it's the side oncoming traffic gets blinded by.. the passenger is higher up so it's easier to see the side of the road.

It depends on how big of a difference it is. Is it only slight? or is it dramatic?

 

The left (drivers) headlight is pointing way too low. I drove the car at night the other day and its pointing very low, not projecting down the street like the right side. I think it's the motor or actuator inside the headlight that actually raises the projector, is bad, or jammed. Has anyone opened up a '05/'06 Xenon headlight assembly? I can't find any exploded views of the headlight leveling assembly.

 

Ah okay.

When you turn on the headlights does the drivers one adjust; Move up and down or just stay in place?

 

The level of the lighst should be about the same. The auto level sensor in the rear left and front left work together to adjust the lights at the same rate. If the bracket in the back sensor gets bent a little , the lights will point up or down together at the same level, depending on the bend. Since one is bad sounds like the adjustment motor that is internal.

Do you see any movement when you first start them up, they bounce a bit for a sec then level. Drive up close to your garage or wall on a flat surface and then you can tell.

They housing come as one unit. You can get hardware on the outside, bulbs , Ballast and such , but no internals.

 

Long story short...I checked out everything with the drivers side (left side in the US) Xenon headlight and after taking the rubber inspection plug out we discovered the entire inner lamp assembly was loose and not moving with the motor.
Well we (my wife and I, it's her car) decided to remove the entire headlight assembly. The next move was to disassemble the headlight, as if you were doing a Joey mod.
We used a hot hair dryer to soften up the glue, not the oven. We discovered that the inner moving lamp assembly had detached from the ball and socket mounting/ adjusting screws. I think this is from 9 years of closing the hood. I never liked that the headlights were part of the hood and that each time you close the hood impacts the lamps and all the plastic moving parts in the Xenon headlights...one of the first gen design querks.
We snapped the lamp assembly back into the ball and socket mounting/adjusting screws and we tested it out before putting it back together...and it works just like should...saving well, hundreds of dollars on an OEM replacement Xenon headlight. If you have any questions let me know.

 

ECS Tuning just referred me here because my 2006 R53's right-side headlight just had the same problem. How hard is it to unglue the housing and reattach the light assembly?

 

Thanks, 3rd Gear, I'll take closing the hood seriously now. Because the xenons are so pricey I'm seriously considering fitting all tungsten units. Has anyone done that conversion?

 

This is exactly what turned out to be wrong with mine. Two of the three ball-&-socket joints had popped loose for some reason. I was able to reattach one of them with a hook tool from one of the access holes in the back of the housing, but the one on the motor arm was also loose and I was too afraid of breaking it.

I went ahead and opened up the headlamp as if I was doing the Joey mod. I used a heat gun (not an oven or hair dryer) to soften the glue. It was a pain in the neck to get everything lined back up and glued back together, but it worked. I just don't understand why Mini had to design such complex and unserviceable headlamp units. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the ball-&-socket joints don't pop loose again.

 

OMG, I have been looking all over for this! This should be a sticky! My Wife's 07 MCSc 1st gen is doing this. I was thinking about taking the headlight apart by the Joey method, but was not sure once I had it apart if it was repairable, now I know it is and will be doing this! AWESOME!
thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!

 

I would also like to chime in and say that I had this exact same problem with my 2005 MCS. The projector had popped off the vertical adjuster on both headlights. I was able to remove the lights from the Mini and after removing the cover for the bulb, used a piece of wire to hook around the plastic cup on the projector itself. I gave it a firm tug backwards after checking that it was lined up with the ball on the adjuster and it popped back into place. I did not have to open the headlight using this method, so I would suggest trying it first. This thread saved me a lot of headache and even more money!

 

Sounds great,

minirubicon wrote:
" ECS Tuning just referred me here because my 2006 R53's right-side headlight just had the same problem." "This is exactly what turned out to be wrong with mine."

Glad I could help.

 

do you have the level sensors in the front and rear? thanks

 

We have them here:




#1 Level Sensor - Front Part # 37146784698

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/37146784698/

&&


#6 Level Sensor - Rear Part # 37146853759

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/37146853759/


Thanks

 

lose some weight

 

I was able to go in through the bottom access cover and with a bicycle spoke clamped in some vise grips I was able to hook the bent end of the spoke over the servo ball joint and pull it back on. Lots cheaper than a new unit. The design of the Mini, with the lights mounted on the hood that most people slam shut is a set up to damage such a complex unit. So, I never slam the hood anymore as that seems the likely reason the ball joint separated.

 

My new to me 2004 MCS JCW with '05/06 lamps has this problem on the driver's side. The sockets on the lamp assembly have become detached from the ***** on the adjusters so the drivers side light droops. Are there any diagrams or instructions about how to get access to snap the sockets back on?

 

I just thought I'd update my situation and share what I did to fix the problem. After reading the information on this website regarding drooping Xenon lights, I decided to work at the problem. The fix turns out to be quite easy and doesn't require removal of the headlamp nor any special tools to reconnect the ball and sockets.

Step 1 - Unplug the lamp wiring harness from the head lamp assembly (will also need to squeeze the cable retainer to get that disconnected) and also disconnect the washer fluid hose from the headlamp washer pump mechanism so you can get the rear access panel open.

Step 2 - Open and remove the rear access panel to enable grabbing hold of the orange Xenon igniter box. For me, just pulling on the igniter box would not get the ball and sockets reseated.

Step 3 - Open the side access cover/panel. A slight twist is all that is needed. You will use this to get a long, large flat bladed screwdriver to apply some pressure on the top of the sockets while you are pulling on the igniter box. I put some cloth tape around the blade of the screw driver to give it some friction and limit any damage that might be done if it slipped.

Step 4 - While pulling down on the igniter, I applied pressure to the blade of the screwdriver situated on top of the top socket. It did not require a lot of pressure. When it reseats you fill feel a little snap as the ball and socket rejoin.

Step 5- Again while pulling down on the igniter, I applied pressure to the blade of the screw driver situated on the lower socket until I felt the ball/socket snap back into place.

Step 6 - Close up the side and rear cover/panels. Reconnect the washeer fluid tube and plug in the wiring harness.

Step 7 - Test. Lights should go through their leveling routine and no drooping.