2004 BMW 330I: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Jan 5, 2023 · Lights · WA

This car has factory HID Xenon projector headlights. Over time the reflector bowls burned and melted from the heat of the light bulbs, causing some wire insulation to melt, and a brown film to cover all surfaces inside the headlight assembly. The brown coating makes the headlights dangerously dim. From various online searches, it appears this is a common failing of these headlights. BMW has not recalled these headlights, and replacements nearly exceed the value of the car.

Filed Sep 15, 2020 · Lights · 210,000 miles · MI

Right front low beam headlamp cuts out intermittently and eventually stops working due to cracked wiring inside the adjustable headlamp unit. For awhile, my headlight would stop working while making a right turn but then turn back on when straightened out. After two right turns, the headlight would cease to turn back on. Now (after several weeks of this happening) the headlight does not function at all, and I can see broken wiring if I look inside the headlight unit causing the issue.

Filed Jul 24, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 145,000 miles · LA

The interior wires of the bmw e46 headlight assemblies have insulation material that readily breaks off of the wire, causing the bear wire conductor to be visible. This results in a failure of the headlights as the wires conductors are allowed to touch. This is also a possible source of a vehicle fire.

Filed Jul 22, 2020 · Lights · CA

Cheap wiring was used in the headlight units for specific cars with adaptive bi-xenon headlights. The wiring for these cars now has fallen apart, and disconnects. Bmw's only way of fixing it is to replace the entire headlight unit, which costs around $2000 to replace a few wires that should cost less than $10. There are many cars on the road that this affects, which is a serious safety concern. Car owners are soldering wires by hand in an attempt to fix it but there is no long term solution.

Filed Mar 2, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 120,000 miles · CA

Passenger side headlight assembly wires break and cause the headlight to stop emitting light or otherwise working. Repeated attempts to repair the wiring harness eventually fail. This occurs with mere normal use of the car and passage of time. The headlight assembly and bulb are still intact, but simply receive no power due to the broken wires. The assembly can fail at any time, whether stationary, in motion, or on back roads or highways. When this issue is googled on this particular car, a 2004'2006 bmw 3 series e46 coupe with bi-xenon adaptive headlights, many many users report the same issue. No matter the condition, location, and service history of the car, the headlight assembly on the passenger side will always stop working simply because of the wiring. See: https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1073501 if repaired enough times, the assembly becomes unrepairable, at which point the user is stuck driving without a headlight, a dangerous situation to be in. Ordering an incredibly costly $1500 part to replace it is not only costly, but will eventually result in the same critical issue re-appearing because the design is inherently defective. This is a serious safety issue. Other costs include mechanics who insist to customers that the issue is both wiring and the bulb too, causing unsuspecting users to be charged extra for replacement bulbs and the associated labor as well. First occurrence on my car was april 2019, second was october 2019, and third was february 2020 at which point the part was deemed unrepairable. 2004'2006 bmw 325ci and bmw 330ci with adaptive bi-xenon hid headlights

Filed Feb 17, 2020 · Lights · MA

There is a manufacturing defect in zkw xenon projector bowls used in e46 bmw cars. My headlights have become so dim that I constantly run fog lights at night to be able to see. Driving at night, especially in the rain, is very dangerous for me and other drivers. Zkw projector bowls are made of plastic, which are unable to stand up to the heat of xenon bulbs. Over time, they have become brown and cracked and do not reflect light on to the road. Al xenon projector bowls, also used in e46 bmws, do not have this issue. Zkw seems to have realized that their plastic bowls are not sufficient. The zkw projector bowls for e90 bmws are made of metal and do not have this issue. There is no affordable and sufficient oem repair for this issue. Bmw only sells whole headlight assemblies, not just the projector bowls, which run hundreds of dollars each. Even then, replacing with zkw lights would eventually cause the same issue because of the insufficient design of the plastic bowls. The community is well aware of this issue. The only remedies are replace entire assemblies or retrofiting the headlights with aftermarket parts. Headlights are critical to driver safety and should not be this costly to keep working. These have failed prior to the life of the vehicle (mine is at 138k). This thread goes into detail for many people with this same issue: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?3598-the-zkw-burnt-bowls-thread there should be a recall for this dangerous issue caused by neglectful manufacturing of these headlights. The attached picture shows the damage of my headlights.

Filed Jan 16, 2020 · Lights · SC

Cheap plastic used in headlight projectors melt due to heat from oem xenon bulbs. This poses a fire safety hazard as well as low and eventually no light onto the road.

Filed Sep 10, 2018 · Lights · WA

The stock zkw projectors have burnt out and significantly reduce the quality of light emanating from the headlights. In order to have any true visibility, I have to hold the "flash-to-pass" lights on while I'm driving (a manual transmission). This is obviously a dangerous situation. The replacement assemblies are over $3,000 for the pair. That cost cannot be justified. I purchased the car a couple of months ago, but I, of course, did not test drive it at night (since it was summer). So I had no way of knowing about the deteriorated condition of the headlights. I cannot say for certain when this happened, but, based on internet searches, it appears to be a known issue that dates back to at least 2011.

Filed Jan 10, 2018 · Lights · 178,000 miles · WA

The oem xenon zkw brand lights had completely burnt reflector bulbs that caused low light to be emitted. This defect is due to plastic bowls being used instead of metal or another material. The damage could have caused a fire hazard or worse. I was forced to replace the lights at my own expense. I have attached photos of the damage and light output to this complaint. This occurred simply by having the headlights on.

Filed Dec 2, 2016 · Lights · 125,000 miles · NH

Zkw brand xenon headlamps have defective reflector bowls. The lights burn off all of the reflective surface causing the low/high beams to be so dim that driving at night is impossible. The part (reflector bowl) is not available as a replacement part, it can only be purchased as a whole headlight assembly for $1300 each light. This is a major safety issue, that I have just found out about. As we have been getting into winter and the daylight saving change cause earlier sunset times, I noticed my headlights were not very bright on the road. It hasn't been an issue that I noticed in past years due to my <1 mile commute, but this year I purchased a house 25mi from work and the amount of night driving has increased dramatically. I first adjusted the alignment of the lights to try to correct what I thought the issue was, and also have replaced one of the head light bulbs with no change. I found out about this issue on bmw forums all over the internet, and it seems to be extremely common. There needs to be a recall, or at least an oem replacement part available.

Filed Nov 6, 2016 · Lights · IL

Low beam hid headlight projector made by zkw for bmw are poorly designed/made, unable to handle the heat output from the oem xenon bulbs, the part becomes severely scorched and degraded, reducing light output to unsafe levels. To compensate, fog lights have to be used to safely see the pavement. This is a very well documented issue with this manufacturer's product (zkw). Bmw had another manufacturer, al (automotive lighting), which didn't suffer from this problem.

Filed Oct 30, 2016 · Lights · 106,000 miles · GA

I recently purchased the vehicle and immediately noticed the poor light output from the factory xenons. I went online and found out that many people with the e46 sedan with xenon headlights manufactured by zkw have an issue of the projector bowls burning slowly over time due to poor material choice that cannot withstand the heat generated by the factory bulbs. Upon inspection of my headlights, I noticed that the bowls in my headlights were indeed both burnt and cracked and as a result of this, it is extremely difficult to see at night due to poor light output. I have resulted to using my fog lights as a supplementary light source just to see in the evenings and I find this unacceptable and negligent of bmw considering complaints have been made for years.