Help! Headlight / Electical Issue

[SurfaRiver]

Hello,
I was driving home in my 06 325xi on Saturday night and a headlight warning came on (looks like a yellow D with a '!' in the middle) and low and behold, neither of my low beams worked.

The fog lights work, the daytime runnings work, the parking lights work, the "flash to pass" works. While the "flash to pass works", the high beams will not stay on when I push the level out (they have intermittently since Saturday, but they are not working now).

I checked the 3 fuses in the box that are supposed to be wired to the lights and they all work. I replaced the passengers side low beam (the old bulb looked fine) and it still didnt work.

I bought the car new in 10/05 and have done no mods. They are regular bulbs, not the HID ones. Any thoughts? I'm starting to think I'm in trouble and am going to have to take it in to BMW and pay $130/hr to get it fixed.

Thanks!
Mark

[SurfaRiver]

ouch! 31 views and no replys, thats probably a bad sign.

2nd question: This will be my first service since its been out of the warrantee. Should I take it back to the dealer to check this problem checked out, or can someone recommend a good shop around Boston (metro west / south shore)?

Thanks!
Mark

[FCPGroton]

Sounds like the low beam relay went bad on you. I don't think I would take it to the dealer unless there are no good BMW indy shops around you.

You could probably replace the relay yourself, but I am not sure where it is located in the 325.

[witeshark]

I would think the first things to check would be the switch and in line circuit breaker.

[SurfaRiver]

Awesome, so it sounds like it should check the low beam relay, switch or in line circuit breaker.

I have a great deal of experience working on my 79 mustang, but obviously this car is a whole different story and I've got to say I'm a little bit intimidated.. Should I assume that I can access those 3 items from under the dash? The "light switch" itself is on the left of the consol under one of the vents.

Thanks!

[witeshark]

You may be able to narrow it down on realoem.com

[CanadianWraith]

Originally Posted by FCPGroton

Sounds like the low beam relay went bad on you. I don't think I would take it to the dealer unless there are no good BMW indy shops around you.

You could probably replace the relay yourself, but I am not sure where it is located in the 325.

+1
should be under the dash, drivers side

[SurfaRiver]

alright, I've got the switch out, since that was the next easier thing to get out of the car. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about testing the switch.

Its got 12 pins and if I knew which pin did what, I'd just use a paperclip to make the connection on the harness and see if the low beams worked.

That realoem is great, I now know where to order the switch if that turns out to the the problem.

Where might i find a pin diagram for the switch?

Thanks!