MiniTorque.com banner

Genuine Xenon headlight retrofit - Help required! Scraggles?

18576 Views 21 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  scoubt
Hi Guys


First post so please be nice :D


I've got a 06 Cooper (R50) but I have a small dilema. I've bought a set of genuine and complete Mini xenon headlights (The facelift ones with projectors):




I've followed the instructions given by "Scraggles" in this the below thread but my xenon low beam lights still dont work properly. I've spliced the 1800uf capacitor into the yellow and brown wires of the input power in the lights access cover at the back (luckily i havent potted them yet as he did) All the other lights work fine but the xenon low beam is the issue :(

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f23/retrofitting-oem-facelift-xenon-headlights-03-car-12632/

When the engine isnt running you can switch them on and they work perfectly. If you turn them on and then start the car they go out (as on the cars with xenons as standard) and come back on again which is as they should do ...however....


If you start the car and then want to switch them on they strobe like mad. They only work properly when the engine is off or if you start them before you start the car up. So if you want to put them on whilst your moving they will just strobe and wont stablise. :scared:


I cant' see whats gone wrong, does anybody else have the same issue? Do i require a bigger capcitor like 2700uf? Scraggles said this one would be fine?


Any help would be greatly appreciated


Thanks


Grant
See less See more
1 - 7 of 22 Posts
Hey Grant, did you eventually get your xenons working mate? I've just obtained a pair n about to attempt installation! :-/
Cheers for your reply scraggles, much appreciated! Getting them in in the next few weeks as I'm taking them out my mates 06 cooper s before she sells it! Do u think I could even take anything else from her car to potentially eliminate the risk of flickering completely? And do u know if it's even possible to have the firmware backdated by BMW before installation?

And minionesam, when you say your lights are flickering, I guess this only happens when you switch them on whilst the engine is running, as in grants problem above? Do yours still function ok when the engine is off or if the lights are already switched on whilst you start the car?

And to everyone, does the manual adjustment level switch for the halogens always work when xenons are retrofitted?

Cheers guys! :D
You guys are ace man, cheers for all the help here!

Seen as I am taking the xenons from my friends mini, her car will obviously have her BCU programmed for the xenons as hers came with them as standard, so do you know if it is possible to simply swap her BCU for mine? A professional bodyshop will be doing the work so what do you guys think? What does a BCU look like also, and where is it located?

Many thanks again guys, esp [email protected] and, as always, famous mr Scraggles! ;)
And also Scraggles, when you say coded with GT1/Progman, can you elaborate on this please as I have no idea what that means, soz! :( is that something easily done?

cheers again!
[email protected]: apologies for more questions here! lol done a bit of research on BCU's n they seem pretty complicated parts as they apparently control ALL the cars electrics etc. I have a 2006 GP with the heated recaros etc, and the MINI i am getting the xenons from doesnt have the heated seats as an option for example, so does this mean, were I to swap the units, I would lose the heating fucnctionality? Or am I completely misinterpreting what the unit is and how it works here? :-/ I have a few good contacts as BMW, so could they maybe even reprogramme my BCU or supply a new one, with my current configuration PLUS the configuration for the xenons?

Cheers for any help you can give me here! :D
Again, cheers for all the info Scraggles, really is much appreciated! And at least now I have a much better understanding of the whole process so I can pass this info onto the workshop that will be doing the work!

It is also reassuring to know that there is a backup by using the trick you mastered, so hopefully, one way or another, the car will be running full xenons soon enough!

One last quick question for now if u dont mind lol is it only actual BMW / MINI dealerships that can programme your BCU, or do you think large bodyshop repairers will have that facility as well?

Cheers again :)
Hmmm think if BMW aren't up for remapping my unit then it's defo down the route you went for me! Any chance you could mail me very brief steps and / or pics as to how to ensure success that I can give to the bodyshop to help them get it right first time?

Any info would be massively appreciated! :D
1 - 7 of 22 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top