headlight problem, PO has p*ssed me off!!!!

[bullyd]

i was travelling at about 80 on my way home last night, and the headlights went out! 20ft skidmarks later and not a mark on the road! i bang on the mainbeams and slow down, i phone the missus and she comes out with the trailer and we tow her home. i take a look this morning and find the PO has cut the wire to the LH head light and run a jump wire to the RH headlight,:( i check the fuses and they are fine on both, i cant find why the hell hes rigged 2 lights into 1 feed? anyway i can see no problem other than 2into1 lighting so i try the lights and they come on! when i turn em off and on again nothing,no lights, i leave it 5 mins and try em again and they come on! so my problem is:- my lights work when first switched on but if i turn them off i have to leave them off for at least 5 mins before i can turn em on again, also if i put on mymain beams the dips go off, and i gotta do the 5min wait,before they will come on again, anyone got any ideas? thanks in advance

[dacoyote]

i was travelling at about 80 on my way home last night, and the headlights went out! 20ft skidmarks later and not a mark on the road! i bang on the mainbeams and slow down, i phone the missus and she comes out with the trailer and we tow her home. i take a look this morning and find the PO has cut the wire to the LH head light and run a jump wire to the RH headlight,:( i check the fuses and they are fine on both, i cant find why the hell hes rigged 2 lights into 1 feed? anyway i can see no problem other than 2into1 lighting so i try the lights and they come on! when i turn em off and on again nothing,no lights, i leave it 5 mins and try em again and they come on! so my problem is:- my lights work when first switched on but if i turn them off i have to leave them off for at least 5 mins before i can turn em on again, also if i put on mymain beams the dips go off, and i gotta do the 5min wait,before they will come on again, anyone got any ideas? thanks in advance

A relay maybe... my first suggestion would be change it back to stock wiring...

-Charles

[Phil Sanderson]

...and do the LKM soldering fix. Maybe the PO had light problems caused by the LKM and was able to fix it (temporarily) by bastedising the wiring. If you fix it properly it will almost surely be the LKM which the PO did not know about.

regards
Phil

[Paul in NZ]

yep i reckon lkm,he did this to try and fix it

[bullyd]

i will do the lkm fix tomorrow, i did a search on the light problem and came up blank but now ive searched lkm there is a mine of information and lots of people with my problem :D fingers crossed and ill update thread tomorrow!

for future searches link to lkm fix
http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Maintenance/Electrical/LKM.htm
thanx bruno ;)

[bullyd]

lkm fix solved all! removed jump wire and both lights working well!!

[dacoyote]

lkm fix solved all! removed jump wire and both lights working well!!

Cool beans man... fastest way to fix a problem is to not do some sorta hack work arround...