Noticed last week that my xenons were pointing down. When I turn the lights on, it seems like the lights are trying to self-level, they go up just a tad bit, but then they stop. Thought I would take it in this morning, they would figure out it was the sensor and it would be replaced under warranty. Right about the first part, not the second. They said they saw scrapes on the lower control arm, suggesting there was external damage, which also broke the xenon sensor. This may be true, since that is what they told me few weeks ago when I took my car in for a steering shimmy and they said the same thing about the control arm, and that my bushings needed replacement. Since then I've gotten Powerflex bushings installed, but I still have a slight shimmy (I've pretty much narrowed it down to my bent front passenger rim...guessing got damaged when everything else did). Anyways, back to my current issue...

The dealer quoted me ~$350 for this - "FRONT HEADLIGHT AIM SENSOR DAMAGED INSPECT HEADLIGHT AIM SYSTEM, FOUND SENSOR DAMAGED DUE TO OUTSIDE INFLUENCE. ADVISED NEW SENSOR AND HARDWARE."

I'm hoping to get this done cheaper somewhere else. What would you do at this point? I'm in OC (Tustin), and am wondering if I should order the part (from where?) and have it installed by a reputable independent repair place (who? where? dont want to venture too far...MiniCorsa would be too far for instance, unless I really can't go anywhere else).

 

Hey. Just stumbled upon your post. I am sorry to hear about your problem with the Xenons. My advice is to order the part you need from www.mossmini.com or www.morristownmini.com. I have ordered from both in the past and found them to be reputable and very helpful. I installed the aux. driving lights on my R56 which I ordered from morristown and I probably saved about $300 overall. I live in Ontario though, so the savings might have been a bit greater than if you order from elsewhere in the USA.

Ordering the part, then having a "reputable" mechanic do the work sounds like a great idea. I am wondering though... will your Xenons need a software reboot to work properly? That might only be possible at a MINI dealership.

 

Thanks! I'll give them a call and find out how much. No idea about the reboot. If the installer I go to is good, they should know if I need it or not. I just dont know where to go. Wish I could do all this work myself or knew someone who could help.

 

You could order the sensor (and any control arms if not going with aftermarket) from classic mini in Ohio - as for the NAM discount. It just mounts on the arm with cable ties as I remember. Not sure what the angle and specs are for the front headlights, but if you search out the details, and work on level ground, you should be able to save a lot of dealer/ independant party costs....

There is a place in San Pedro that is good to go to, think it is called Johnny's.

This should be a simpler job than a lot of other things.

Good Luck,

 

Thanks a lot for the tips! Gave Johnny's a call and will probably end up getting it done over there. They haven't done it before, but they dont think it will take more than an hour. A lot less $ than the dealer. I just need to call Classic now and see if I can get it cheaper with the NAM discount, and just have the installation done at Johnnys. I'm also thinking about ordering the Alta pulley (with the spring sale going on right now) and getting that installed as well at the same time..

 

Is there a way to deactivated the auto-level? I'd like to have do its thing, then disconnect/deactivate? There are 4 sensors for this system, one attached to each corners suspension.

 

there are only 2 sensors, one at the rear left side, the other at the front right side. not sure about the deactivation.

 

um..why do you want to disconnect/deactivate the auto-level? Sorry, just curious...

 

Any idea why there are 2 sensors? Is it just to get the level right based on both the corner readings or something?

 

front and rear control arms

both look exactly like this: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...07&hg=33&fg=30

 

It's bound to break, so I prefer the beam fixed since I drive by myself most of the time and don't load more than 40-50 pounds into the trunk & rear bench.

 

You might give THE DR. a call. He's a Mini garage in Fountain Valley. You can find his ad (and a 25% off any maintenance service) in the April issue of our club magazine

 

This happened to my 03 mcs, they replaced it under warranty when i had warranty. I remember they said the sensor was on teh sway bar or something like that.

 

Ya I wish they would do it under warranty, but because my lower control arm is scraped, they're saying that whenever that happened, it also probably broke the sensor. I'm not sure if its actually physically broken and they can see it.

 

I'll give them a call, thanks! I just joined the club too

 

Cool... now how do I make them ZERO and have the Xenon level adjustment permanently fixed.

 

You can cut the wire that goes to the actuator in the headlamps itself =D

 

I see... when the HID does its thing and nothing happens, will it send an error message or warning to the instrument panel?

 

Going to Danny next Saturday to get the sensor replaced and to get the pulley installed! I called up The Dr here in OC yesterday, they were really nice on the phone, and were going to get back to me with pricing info, but I haven't heard anything yet. I'm sure they're really good at what they do, but I also get the feeling they're going to be quite a bit more. After reading so many good things about Danny, I just decided to go to him even though I'll have to drive 50-55 miles each way... heck that means I'll enjoy the freshly installed pulley even more on the way back

 

Danny rocks! He installed the pulley in ~45 minutes and WOW! This is my first real mod and the difference is very noticeable. Now about the "broken" xenon sensor...turns out it wasn't broken at all! As soon as Danny lifted my car and looked at the sensor he said "@#$@%$!!! Who told you your sensor was broken?" Told him it was the dealer. The sensor just wasn't connected! Must have been disconnected when I got the bushings installed at Ronin Motororks in Fullerton and they never connected it back. They had also left the rubber boot at the bottom of the steering column loose which I realized after I could hear a lot more engine noise inside. Gotta say I'm not happy with Ronin. Now to the dealer... they told me the sensor was broken and that it must have happened when I scraped my lower control arm. So they obviously saw the control arm and must have seen the sensor. Is there any way they wouldn't have just realized that it was disconnected, instead of giving me a quote of $350 to replace the sensor?

 

Which dealer did you go to?

I wonder the ECM receives info from the sensors to adjust the headlights. If yes, it could be that the tech connected the diagnostic tool and saw that the sensor was inactive and came to the conclusion that it's faulty and never lifted the car to check connections.

 

Irvine. They told me they saw that the control arm was scraped, hence suggesting that I must have hit something which must have damaged the aim sensor as well, and hence the replacement would not be covered under warranty. So they must have lifted the car to see the scraping, no?