BMW dipped headlight (non) fault

I thought I’d throw this at the hive mind, as I can’t get on E90post at the moment.

Started my ’06 E91 320d yesterday and immediately got a “dipped beam fault” error light on the display. Which would normally indicate a blown bulb.

Except both are working fine, the levelling adjuster does what it should and the leveling self-test it does on startup does its usual nod too.

They’re bog standard halogen lamps – no xenon or LED. No angels eyes. Simple old-skool tech.

I’ve not had chance to go poking around the wiring today and it’s now dark again. Neither lamp looks any dimmer than the other, so I wouldn’t expect corroded/high resistance contacts, and if there was a short somewhere in the wiring, I’d expect a fuse to blow.

Damp is potentially an issue – its obviously been pretty manky recently, and I did wash the car since I last drove it, although there’s no signs of condensation inside the headlight, which I’d expect if it has got wet in there (the access hatch has a rubber seal on it).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Disconnect and reconnect the bulbs? Could be damp in the connector block, spray them with a bit of gt85.

I spent ages trying to fix a ‘water in fuel filter’ warning light on my old 306, before eventually giving up and taking it to a dealer .
‘Just a dodgy warning light there mate, nothing to worry about
Could be the same with you

Any other repeater / sidelights / tail lights/ number plate lights on that circuit?

I’m having a similar intermittent error on my F11; I get a sidelight and adaptive headlight warning which is eventually followed by a failed indicator warning (oh, the irony…) always on the same headlight cluster. I had the codes read but nothing came up, possibly because the fault had cleared itself.

I think that warning light covers factory fog or driving lights as well as dipped beam. If you’ve either of those check for a blown bulb or bad earth.

edit: on the E90/91, don’t know about the F11

Had this on an E90, cause was the footwell module.

Not bmw in particular but some these bulb out warnings are caused by the bulb filament breaking and melting back together changing the resistance but still working. You can normally see it when you compare the bulb filaments.

Update – looks like its one of the front foglights. (which I can’t recall having actually used in anger in the 12years I’ve owned the car).

…and for which I don’t think I have spare for in the boot either…

Oh well. Thanks all!

eventually followed by a failed indicator warning

The manual says not to turn them on!