Nimraynn Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Hi guys, I have a set of xenon headlights that came from (I believe) an 02 plate M3 and one of the bulbs has gone on it. I'm going to swap the bulbs, but in my limited knowledge, I'm led to believe you'd normally notice a change in the colour of the light as a xenon bulb starts to die. This didn't happen on mine, it just suddenly cut while driving, coincidentally after going through a deep puddle when a road started to partially flood the other night... so I think the water has got somewhere it shouldn't and has potentially killed the ballast or something like that. If the ballast does need replacing, can I use any E46 ballast or does it need to be a specific one? The ones I had at the moment are bi-xenon, but I don't have them wired up like that as I've only got the one plug rather than the two. With this in mind, can I get away with fitting a non-bi-xenon ballast (i.e one with only one plug on it) or do they work differently even if not wired up as bi-xenon, if that makes sense? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonlpearce Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Mine did this, water had gotten into the ballast and fried it. Look on the ballast for a part code and you should be able to find a matching one on ebay or similar.They are used on many different variants of BMW so also check realoem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 I have this problem too! There's a difference between the ballast, and the igniter. Google suggests its usually the igniter, which is the black box inside the headlight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonlpearce Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Best way to check is to swap the working ballast/ignitor from the other side so you know which bit is faulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 This all sounds like effort, so I hope it's just the bulb But I'm expecting its not just the bulb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonlpearce Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Bulbs are also interchangeable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Yeah, I've ordered some new bulbs anyway as they're cheap enough. I'm gonna look at it properly tomorrow so having a spare set of bulbs will be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 (edited) I'm just going to order the ignitor - it's £40 posted from one of the Baltic states vs. a lot more for a ballast, and general concensus seems to be that the ballast is less likely to die. I just need to swap the bixenon light for a halogen one while I find the ignitor part number Edited August 27, 2015 by TriggerFish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Had a few spare minutes so swapped the bulbs round and the problem didn't follow, so it looks to be the ballast/igniter. How easy are they to swap about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Igniter is inside the headlight - the projector/reflector needs to be removed to get to it... Not hard, but a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted October 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 Well it's been a while and I've only just got round to looking at this properly. It is the ballast that is faulty I swapped the ballasts from side to side and the problem followed, so I've put them back as they are as I'd say having only a drivers light is better than having only a passenger light... but as its getting darker earlier, need to fix this sooner rather than later. Part number on the ballasts is 1 307 329 074. Looking on eBay, I can see a few and they're averaging around £85 each. Anyone know any other places I might be able to get one cheaper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bungers Posted October 10, 2015 Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 Check BMW Mini ballasts, fairly sure a lot of them are the same and are generally cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimraynn Posted October 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 All sorted finally, now I've been paid Bought one from a Range Rover of all cars. Found it £25 cheaper than the BMW advertised ones, identical part numbers and spec so thought why not TriggerFish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...