Headlights problems of the 2004 BMW 3 Series

Headlights project almost no light. Just paid $130 to have lenses cleaned, no improvment. I thought it was my eyes and complained to opthamologist twice but my eyes are ok. I've read tht the reflector bowls in this model melt from the heat of the bulb. I need to remedy this situation ASAP so I will not be able to wait for an investigation.

Headlights very dim when compared to original brightness.

My zkw headlights do not reflect light anymore. BMW offer no replacement reflector bowls for the headlight, so no fix is available except replacing the headlight assembly with the same faulty assembly from the same manufacturer. Headlights produce too much heat and melt the reflectors deeming them useless and an extreme danger. Recall needed for extreme safety reasons. I can't drive my car at night anymore.

My bi-xenon headlights have been slowly fading resulting in extremely poor visibility during normal nightime driving. This degradation has been occurring without my knowledge until it became obvious after driving another vehicle. As it turns out, my mechanic has advised there is a common issue with certain BMW assemblies that the projector lenses literally burn due to heat resulting in the need to replace the entire assembly. This loss of headlight intensity resulting in poor visibility is a significant safety situation and request someone look into why no recall has occurred as this is obviously a safety concern. I have entered today's date as incident date as I am not sure when degradation of the projectors began.

The vehicle came equipped from the factory with bi-xenon auto leveling headlights manufactured by zkw. The past couple months, the light output has steadily decreased. Brown scorch marks are visible in the projector when the headlight is on. On the driver's side, the xenon bulb burned off all the reflective material in the projector bowl. The light output from the projectors has been reduced to a thin beam of light. It is becoming very difficult to see while driving at night. This problem is getting progressively worse.

My 2004 BMW 330 equipped with bi-xenon headlights is experiencing greatly reduced light output. Upon research on BMW forums, the problem is due to plastic reflectors in the light housing manufactured by zkw. This is a safety issue as the light output decreases slowly over time as the heat from the xenon bulb burns the coating off the reflector and leaves a burnt amber color as the plastic degrades. BMW refuses to replace the defective part under goodwill or cpo warranty, and classifies it as a wear item, which is incorrect. Bulbs are wear items, not any non-moving part in the housing. This is a serious safety issue, especially for owners who are not aware due to the gradual degradation of lighting quality.

Front optional hid (xenon) headlamps were noticed a being extremely dim. The headlight has a replaceable plastic lens. Lens was first polished and then when no light improvement was observed, both lenses were replaced. Light output remain very poor. Bulb were ordered to replace original however when beginning to replace the bulbs it was noticed that the bowl had an observed scorch or burned spot on the projector bowl and I ceased changing the bowl. After reading forums it appears this is a common manufacturing defect involving a safety items that reduces viability and may possibly burn through on this model year with this option. A photo is available if necessary.

The bi-xenon projector headlights on my car do not produce the focused light that they did when the car was purchased. Investigation has produced evidence that the plastic xenon reflector bowls have lost their reflective material and that the plastic reflector bowl is now deteriorated and brown. The pattern of where the reflective material has disappeared indicates that the vapor deposited reflective material has failed due to the heat generated by the headlight bulb. Other headlights in the BMW 3 Series line have metal bowls and do not display the same problem. I've spoken to my BMW dealer and BMW of America and registered a complaint but received no assistance. If the projector bowls were available as replacement items I wouldn't be as un-happy unfortunately that's not the case and to rectify the problem it requires the customer to purchase headlight assemblies at around $1200. 00 per side. As I am an engineer by profession I would consider this a design defect due to a poor choice of material capabilities and/or material compatibilities. I consider this to be a safety issue due to the fact that this occurs over time leaving the owner operator with slow deterioration of light quality. I would appreciate your assistance in holding BMW responsible for the safety of their customers and others on the our highways. I had notice the reduced light quality but was blaming it on the condition of my headlight lenses. But after having my headlight lenses reconditioned the lighting condition continued. Leaving me to investigate and find that this is a common issue with other BMW 3 Series automobiles.

Headlights have gradually lowered light output to the point that the vehicle is unsafe to operate in dark conditions. This condition has apparently happened to many other vehicles of the same make and model, and may have something to do with the low beam reflectors on 2003-2004 zkw hid headlights were made of some material that degraded when subjected to the heat produced by oem xenon bulbs.

The zkw projector bowls are burned out on the headlight fixtures, reducing light output and visiblity. After some research, it is evident that this is not an isolated incident. BMW needs to address this safety issue.

On 2003-2004 BMW 3 Series e46 sedans with oem zkw manufactured xenon (hid) headlights, the reflective bowl for the headlights will become discolored and non-reflective after normal use with oem bulbs. Over time, the heat from the oem bulb will scorch the reflective bowl and dramatically reduce light output to unsafe levels for night time driving. BMW has not notified owners of the design flaw, and no replacement parts are available other than the entire expensive, new headlight assemblies that will suffer from the same problem in time. Though BMW refuses to acknowledge that an issue exists, BMW changed the xenon headlight reflector design for later model years to a metal reflector assembly that does not degrade when exposed to the normal operating temperatures of the oem xenon bulbs. These newer designed headlight assemblies to not suffer from any reduction in light output with use. Updated ivoq 07/26/11.

I own a 2004 BMW 3 Series sedan with optional bi-xenon headlights. About 10,000 miles into my purchase (or 57,000) I began to notice my headlight output deteriorating significantly. My girlfriend owns a 2004 BMW 3 Series coupe/convertible also with the optional bi-zenon and 60,000 miles. I compared our vehicles headlights side by side. My bi-xenon headlights in both low and high beam form were significantly dimmer and had a yellow tint when compared to her bi-xenon headlights. This is a common issue on BMW 3 Series sedans with the optional bi-xenon headlamps. The problem is that the bi-xenon reflector housing bowl in BMW e46 3 Series sedans is made from a different manufacturer than the coupes and convertibles. The headlights in my vehicle are made and classified under the title (zkw). The coupes and convertibles are made and classified under the name (al). The difference is that oem zkw headlights reflector housing bowls are made from a type of plastic. While the oem al headlights are made out of metal. The metal housing in al style headlights in coupes and convertibles are able to stand up to the heat of the xenon bulb, the plastic housings in my sedan are not. Due to this it literally gets too hot and burns the plastic reflective housing to a brown crisp, which is not a reflective surface and deteriorated my headlight output to an extremely unsafe level. The output level has dimmed so that when there is any oncoming traffic my lights get drowned out and I must put on my fog lamps to maintain any type of visibility. The output level is below any halogen lamp I have seen. This is extremely unsafe at any speed and is a known issue on all bi-xenon equipped BMW e46 3 Series sedans. BMW is aware of this issue and has done nothing to address this design flaw, which compromises the safety of myself and others. Pictures of the issue are available upon request. Thank you.

2004 BMW 325i with the factory bi-xenon headlights manufactured by zkw. The lights have extensive damage to the reflective bowls such that the light output is quite dim. This is apparently a weel documented problem with these lights by this manufacturer. No replacement is available other than complete replacement at $1000 per light or retrofitting another type of projector in its place. BMW refuses to recognize this very common problem.

Headlight output began to dim. Replaced bulb and had clear lens cover cleaned. This did not help. Car is now unsafe to drive at night. Dealership discovered that the heat from the bulb has melted and discolored the reflector for the headlight. Online internet search indicates this is a chronic safety problem with this model of BMW.

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 330. The contact stated that the plastic reflector bowl used for the headlights were burned and scorched by the heat of the bulbs used on the vehicle. The contact replaced the covering before and within a year, it burned through again. The contact stated that the brand covering that was failing was the zkw brand. The vehicle was not inspected by the dealer or repaired. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 71,000.

Xenon headlights are terrible. Very low visibility and impossible to see at night.

Headlamp bulb out and upon replacement it was noted the coated wiring to the xenon system to right and left headlight is brittle (the wires plastic coating is falling off)and in some places exposed wiring was found. Electrical tape need to wrap the wiring to avoid potential fire. Late notice to this site I was unaware to file a report. Others also have complained about the same issues.

Bought my vehicle brand new from BMW dealership & after about 5 years of having my car, I noticed that my xenon headlights were not shining as bright as they usually did. Over time I eventually had to use the high beams at night in order to see while driving. I had the passenger side headlight replaced after an accident in Nov 2010 & recently went to have the driver side headlight checked to see why it wasn't illuminating as it should be. It was found that the protective sheath covering the wires in the headlight had dry rotted/desintegrated & there was hardly any sheath covering the wires, due to the heat generated by the xenon light. In addition, it was found that the projector bulb reflector had melted & burned out, also due to the heat generated by the xenon light & is why the light no longer illuminates as it should. I contacted BMW due to my findings & because many other BMW owners with the same year and model vehicle have experienced similar issues & BMW has been unwilling to address the issue. There is clearly a defect in the light design given the number of owners who have had this same issue and the fact that zkw & BMW has since changed the design of the xenon headlight in newer models & the newer design doesn't have this issue. BMW need to be accountable for this design defect & replace the headlight with the newer design because replacing the headlight costs over $1200 dollars each light & being that the replacement lights have the same design defect you will find yourself having to replace the headlights every 4 to 5 years because it to will burn out and the projector bulb reflector is not sold separately & the entire lights has to be replaced. I can visibly see areas on the replaced headlight where the projector bulb reflector has already started to melt & burn & I have only had that light a little over a year.

Head lights are very dim. Reflectors are burned. Headlights do not project on the road. Cannot see at night.

My 2004 BMW 330i, with zkw produced headlight components, suffers from what appears to be a known issue with the projector bulb reflectors burning after approximately 50,000 miles of driving time. This results in a diminished light output, and is a definite safety concern. Please address this issue as I believe BMW is aware of the issue, yet will do nothing to remedy the issue with it's owners.

Zkw xenon headlights equipped on the car have a plastic reflector bowl for the low beam. The oem light bulb burns hot and melted the plastic reflector bowl. This causes a severe loss of projected light to the road. Many times I have to drive with high beams on to see more than 10-15 ft in front of the car cause me to blind other drivers. BMW nor zkw recognize this as an issue and my dealer suggested I buy a whole new headlight assembly for 1. 5k (each side) to fix the issue. This should be recalled because it is a design failure. The later versions on the zkw headlights use metal reflector bowls (not interchangeable with earlier version) so the issue is know to them.

The reflective material in the xenon headlamps has melted away due to the heat of the bulbs resulting in drasticly reduced headlight effectiveness at night. This causes an extremely unsafe condition when driving at night. I have discovered this is a common occurance in 2003-2005 e46 BMW 3 Series and I believe it should be recalled and fixed by the manufacturer. BMW knows this is a deficiency as they corrected it in their later models.

I find the halogen headlights on many cars very distracting. I am not sure but I think they are on german cars. I am told they are well liked by the drivers of the owners of these cars but I find them hazardous for the cars which are facing them. These headlights seem to me as dangerous as someone using there high lights against oncoming traffic. Have you heard this complaint before? is there anything to be done? thank you for a response. Edith r. Marks I found you on google.