Fantastic video with great detail, thanks for putting this together. Chiming in on some of the other comments regarding the connection for the adjuster motor. I was stumped like Mr. Browne in this video trying to get the torx screws out of the motor. It just didn't seem right that BMW, who has such amazingly well thought out designs, would have made such a challenging constraint for assembly/disassembly. I did some more research and found someone pointing towards the white plastic hex shaped stub that comes up through the black metal mounting plate for the lenses and being able to turn that to disengage it. This was the proper process and with a gentle twist of 90 degrees it was released from the motor and the reflector assembly lifted right out. I wish I had known this sooner and appreciate the other folks commenting in the thread as well. Great work!
One thing I'd add, and suggest the OP sticky this comment somehow. You DONT need to try to get the long T20 down behind the housing at all. Leave those screws in, just put a 5mm socket over the hexagonal shaft that pokes out the front and rotate the white ball cup 90 degrees and it releases from the housing. Way easier than trying to get to the T20 screws in the back.
Thank you for the great and detailed repair. I did two of these in a couple of hours thanks to your instructions AND the Harbor Freight tool availability recommendation. Now, I could sell the ones I bought on Ebay with all broken adjusters in good faith. I never did install them on my car because of the broken adjuster pieces.
Also, the correct way to remove the black socket is to rotate it until the protrusion on the receiving face contacts the surface next to it, keep twisting until the tab/clip it is a part of is depressed, then you can press in on the two tabs 45 degrees opposed and it should pop out.
One tip, you don't need to unscrew the level motor you can just rotate the white socket on the end of the motor, just get a pair of pliers and turn it 90 degrees.
Exactly, makes the job much easier, just turn the post that sticks out the front and it disconnects.... Also you dont need to remove the black ball socket, I just break apart the remaining ball piece its pretty easy because it will be brittle. I have dont 2 sets of these in the last month, one xenon like this year 2000 and one old style 98 without xenon
The size of that socket you use to turn the white thing is 5mm. Turn it to the left (lefty loosey) 90 degrtees and the entire assembly slides right out.
Where did you buy your adjusters from? Did you do metal ones or go back to plastic? Also, did you clean the lens when you had them off? Thanks for the help.
Excellent detail in this video & some great tips, thanks very much. Just have one question about closing up the light assembly and whether you had any subsequent issues with water ingress? Do you know if it is possible to buy the new rubber seals for these lights, I am guessing not, but would be interested if anyone knows of a source.
You can buy the rubber seals. You can go to the dealer or you can get it online www.fcpeuro.com/BMW-parts/540i/?utf8=✓&year=2000&m=20&e=188&keywords=Headlight+gasket+
Hey! nice video, learned a lot. Some questions I have though and if someone could answer it that'd be great: My new adjusters were so snug so my gear teeth got messed up. Where do you order new geer teeth, and maybe I should also buy new adjusters as these were really snug? Thanks :)
