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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums General 5-Series Sedan and Wagon (F10 / F11) Forum Headlights water inside
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      12-16-2012, 08:35 PM   #1
528imsport
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Headlights water inside

Got the car last week and twice that the headlights had water build up. It only happens on the driver side.
Has any of you had this problem?
I took it back to BMWHK to see what they can do about it, hope they will change the headlight.

Last edited by 528imsport; 02-05-2014 at 06:56 AM..
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      12-17-2012, 12:03 AM   #2
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it happens to me about 3 months ago on driver side as well. it eventually dries up but few days after, the lights when off and warnings pop up, which says

Adaptive headlights faulty
Turn indicator front right
Headlight vertical aim..

Soon i restart the car everything back to normal, but it happen 2/3 times then lights eventually gave up and I brought my car to dealer and they replaced the headlight module. It resolve my problem until this morning .. the whole thing happens again

few hours ago left my car at the dealer, again.. and told them that the module replacement might only the effect of the real problem and told them to check further on this issue.
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      12-17-2012, 12:16 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enzeru View Post
it happens to me about 3 months ago on driver side as well. it eventually dries up but few days after, the lights when off and warnings pop up, which says

Adaptive headlights faulty
Turn indicator front right
Headlight vertical aim..

Soon i restart the car everything back to normal, but it happen 2/3 times then lights eventually gave up and I brought my car to dealer and they replaced the headlight module. It resolve my problem until this morning .. the whole thing happens again

few hours ago left my car at the dealer, again.. and told them that the module replacement might only the effect of the real problem and told them to check further on this issue.
This happened to me today. Same warnings, and to top it off, my angel eyes kept flashing very quickly. This happened for the whole 2-hour commute I had and were still on even after I turned the car off, about 10 minutes. Both lights have condensation in them.
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      12-17-2012, 06:46 AM   #4
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I had the same problem/issue (fine mists covered about 1/4 of my headlight) when I picked up my car on day1, but yours seem to be much worse than mine. There was no fix or replacment of entire headlight as the condensation issue will slowly disappear after the car is broken in. Mine took about 1-1.5 months for this issue to go away on its own. This pic shown is considered to be relative minor. On the day of my pickup, about 1/2 of the headlights (on both sides) were heavily covered with mist/condensation. Funny & odd thing was that the condensation on both headlights were symmetical. Go figure.
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Last edited by bobblehead; 12-17-2012 at 06:53 AM..
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      12-17-2012, 07:17 AM   #5
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Thanks for the info guys, the car is at the dealer so I will wait and see what they say and have done, will keep you posted.
If they have not changed it then I will leave it for a few months and see.
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      12-17-2012, 07:22 AM   #6
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^ I see you are in HK. The temp variation should not be a factor of the condensation to form.
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      12-17-2012, 08:17 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
^ I see you are in HK. The temp variation should not be a factor of the condensation to form.
it was 23c when this happened so don't know why it did.
I did not wash the car before so don't know where the water is coming from
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      12-17-2012, 08:22 AM   #8
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Mine was around 0 deg Cel in daytime and -10 deg Cel in nighttime.

Colder air outside and warmer air inside the housing unit. moisture formed but will dissipate gradually thru the vent hole at the bottom of the unit.
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      12-17-2012, 08:24 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
Mine was around 0 deg Cel in daytime and -10 deg Cel in nighttime.

Colder air outside and warmer air inside the housing unit. moisture formed but will dissipate gradually thru the vent hole at the bottom of the unit.
if this is normal then this is very bad coz after a few year it will start to get cloudy and imposable to clean inside.
Why cant they design it like the E60 which is sealed and no out side air can get in
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      12-17-2012, 08:36 AM   #10
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All factory HID headlight units need a vent hole to dissipate heat as the headlights are on. Otherwise, the heat will melt the polycarbonate housing over time and this would be even worse.

Let's see what your dealer say in HK and go from there.

btw, after my break-in, the moisture never came back. Funny thing is that I had changed car since and my current F10 (3 moths old) does not exhibit this moisture issue from day 1 at all.
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      12-17-2012, 09:07 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
All factory HID headlight units need a vent hole to dissipate heat as the headlights are on. Otherwise, the heat will melt the polycarbonate housing over time and this would be even worse.

Let's see what your dealer say in HK and go from there.

btw, after my break-in, the moisture never came back. Funny thing is that I had changed car since and my current F10 (3 moths old) does not exhibit this moisture issue from day 1 at all.
even funny is that no of my last 3 BMW had this.
Just to let you know our lights are not HID. They are Xenon which light up much faster than HID.
Yeah let see what they say tomorrow
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      12-17-2012, 12:12 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M_528i View Post
Just to let you know our lights are not HID. They are Xenon which light up much faster than HID.
I think you mean brighter than Halogen, Zenon lights are HID. HID stands for High Intensity gas Discharge, Zenon is the gas in this type of HID arc light.
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      12-17-2012, 06:46 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OzDriver View Post
I think you mean brighter than Halogen, Zenon lights are HID. HID stands for High Intensity gas Discharge, Zenon is the gas in this type of HID arc light.
no they are not the same.
In HK it is legal to have HID but OK to have Xenon.

here is the difference

High-intensity discharge lamp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-in...discharge_lamp

Xenon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon
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      12-17-2012, 10:35 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M_528i View Post
no they are not the same.
In HK it is legal to have HID but OK to have Xenon.

here is the difference

High-intensity discharge lamp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-in...discharge_lamp
Read the first article a little further and you will see it says -

"Types of HID lamp include:

Mercury-Vapour lamps,
Metal-Halide (MH) lamps,
Ceramic MH lamps,
Sodium-Vapour lamps,
Zenon short-arc lamps."

.

Last edited by OzDriver; 12-17-2012 at 10:43 PM..
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      12-17-2012, 11:32 PM   #15
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:-)
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      12-18-2012, 03:48 AM   #16
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update
BMWHK has change the head light for a new 1 so I will see if they have fixed it.
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      12-19-2012, 05:37 AM   #17
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Same thing happen to my 1 year old car
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      12-26-2012, 07:46 PM   #18
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I had fingerprints inside of both of my headlights. Replacement took time since they didn't know to order the foam or goo.
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      12-27-2012, 01:55 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lindros2 View Post
I had fingerprints inside of both of my headlights. Replacement took time since they didn't know to order the foam or goo.
Me Too!!! How did you get your dealer to replace? Mine keeps saying it's not a mechanical issue and the lights are working fine otherwise. My issue is I paid 70k for this car and I want as little and avoidable mistakes as possible.
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      12-27-2012, 08:05 AM   #20
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all depends on how hard & willing your dealer to go the extra mile and have the lights replacement approved by BMWNA.



Quote:
Originally Posted by dblock2151 View Post
Me Too!!! How did you get your dealer to replace? Mine keeps saying it's not a mechanical issue and the lights are working fine otherwise. My issue is I paid 70k for this car and I want as little and avoidable mistakes as possible.
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      12-27-2012, 03:32 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dblock2151 View Post
Me Too!!! How did you get your dealer to replace? Mine keeps saying it's not a mechanical issue and the lights are working fine otherwise. My issue is I paid 70k for this car and I want as little and avoidable mistakes as possible.
Have you determined whose fingerprints they are?
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      12-27-2012, 04:12 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by raleedy View Post
Have you determined whose fingerprints they are?
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