[MikesBMW]

I hit a badass pothole last night and then noticed later that night that my drivers headlight was pointing sky high. When I got back home to my garage I shined the lights on the wall and noticed the drivers was indeed way higher. I found the manual headlight adjustment level and used a screw driver to try and adjust it, unfortunately it won’t adjust in either direction, tried screwing it both ways a number of times. The passenger side manual level screw works fine and adjusts up and down.

Does this mean my whole headlight would need replaced or just the level mechanism?

My insurance covers pothole damage on the collision part of the plan ($1,000 deductible). Wondering if I did go through insurance if I could have them pay new wheels and tires though... I think all of my wheels are bent slightly. The pothole was massive and may have scratched just under the front lip too.

Car is driving fine otherwise though, just the headlight is pointed too high.

Really don’t want to spend a ton of money here, but looks like it’s going to cost me at least something. Wonder if my insurance rates would go up if I made a claim…

Any thoughts you guys have would be great. Do you know where I could find a cheap used 2007 335i e92 xenon headlight? What would install cost?

[Screwball]

mine has been like this for more than a year.... im interested in a solution to this as well. i was gonna black them out so i figured id try to fix it then..

[tony20009]

Only way to know for sure how best to proceed is to visit the dealership and find out what they'll charge. Then you can shop around to find out if someone else can do it correctly and for less money.

All the best and hope the situation resolves to your satisfaction.

EDIT:
FWIW, Xenon lights, if they must be replaced can be expected to run around $1K give or take.

[BlackBB6]

Are you comfortable with removing the front bumper and removing your headlight assembly? If so, you can take it out and try to get the servo back on track. There are some instructions floating around for E90 xenons.

[MikesBMW]

I probably wont try to remove the bumper and diagnose it myself... too busy, not enough tools, etc..

[Monster900]

It can be done as long as nothing is broken, I did it. You will need to take off the back cover of the headlight like you would do so to change xenon bulb, remove the xenon bulb and force the bracket up or down for servo motor arm to pop back in. Search forum for DIY for this issue.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41184

[MikesBMW]

anyone in the NYC area that would want to help me out with trying to fix? definitely could compensate you for your time

[Castle]

If you hit a pothole that bad, you should be concerned about your wheel, tire, and control arms. The car might drive fine, but I'd get them checked out...

[DanielGonz]

I have a set of E92 headlights for sale. $600+ shipping. lol

[nitrojunky]

i'd sanity check the sensor or linkage which attaches it to the suspension arm isn't broken. not sure why that'd cause only one light to point high tho.

[fazman]

Yea its the servo's that popped off from the hard hit. If your under CPO... I think they will cover that (just don't tell them you hit a pot hole). If your auto insurance covers the damage, than you might always want to take that route. Those headlights new are about $1500 each i believe. You will also need to fix the Bent/cracked rim, bubbles/damaged tires, wheel alignment, inspection time for looking for other damaged parts, etc...

[blacknbean]

remove bumper, remove headlight, and then pop the back of the projector into the socket. ive had to do it twice :/

[Tiago@VRSF]

The only way to fix this kind of issue is to remove and disassemble the headlight unfortunately assuming you have the adaptive HID's

[JayVee]

Popping the servo arm back into place can be done from the wheel well area by jacking up the car and removing the wheel and wheel well liner. The bumper and headlight don't have to be removed. But in this case I'd go to the dealer first and see what they say.

[MikesBMW]

thank god I'm friends with the guys at the bmw dealer, they said normally they would just replace the headlight, but instead they will try to fix it for me, and just charge for a couple hours of labor.... bringing it in on wednesday for the appointment.... The guy also reserved me an F10 5 Series as a loaner car for the day, sweet!

[MikesBMW]

couple hours of labor ended up being a grand total of $481 after tax... at least they fixed it without me having to buy a brand new headlight assembly