Greetings-

I've combed the web for assistance to no avail so now I turn to you "insiders" for some help!

Long story short, I took the 840ci to the dealer to get the adjusters replaced under the warranty. They called me and said that there were some parts missing/damaged on the headlight assemblies. They think that the previous owners (or his mechanic) may have attempted to fix/replace the adjusters and in the process, damaged/lost some of the headlamp assembly pieces.

Bottom line, I need to purchase both a right and left headlamp assembly. I wanted to check if anyone had an inside source I haven't come across yet that might charge less than $1200+tax for the parts.

Thanks in advance guys!

Frances

p.s. I already contacted the earlier poster re: 850i for parts.

Have you tried Bavarian recyclers, they are a site sponsor?

Greetings-
They called me and said that there were some parts missing/damaged on the headlight assemblies. They think that the previous owners (or his mechanic) may have attempted to fix/replace the adjusters and in the process, damaged/lost some of the headlamp assembly pieces.


That is BS. Most of the time the tech do not know what they do and break the damned bucket. Contact Jon Nelson at jnelson@hrsa.gov and tell him that Faisal asked you co contact him. He has some special adjuster and endcaps that will take care of this and are much better than the BMW OEM plastic ones.

If you are nice, he may even walk you through the process of DIY.

My sister lives in Ft. Worth. I was there 2 weeks ago. Wish I was there to help you. It would have been an hour job at the most.

Good Luck.

Thanks for your posts....I did check with the site sponsors already.

Faisal - The dealership says that they can change out the adjusters under the warranty program for free and will do it if I want them to but that will not solve my headlight issue since there are problems with missing pieces from the assembly. I figure if I need to replace the headlight assemblies anyway, I might as well do it all at once rather than have the car in service two different times.

As for trying to do it myself, unfortunately, I am not that handy and since the dealer will do it for free under the warranty program, I'd rather go that route. I have a good relationship with the dealer as they have serviced three of my vehicles.

Can you ask your dealer for a list of the missing pieces? Also what was the issue with the lights to begin with? I bet Jon can still help a bit.

The dealer said the missing/broken pieces cannot be purchased individually - they are only sold under one part number, which is a headlight assembly including the bucket. :(

I am sorry I missed you when you were in town to help me also! Perhaps you could have identified if the pieces were crucial or not to correcting the headlight aim, which is my original issue - headlights are dim and pointing downward.

Ok Then. Call or E-Mail Al at Gault BMW. Tell him I refered you. He will give you the best price possible. Then you can have your dealer install them under warrenty?

Alan L. Shattuck II
Parts Proffesional
Gault Auto Sport BMW
2507 North St.
Endioctt, NY 13760
Toll Free: 800-777-5508
Direct: 607-321-4252
Fax: 607-748-4429
al.shattuck@gaultauto.com

Oh my gosh! You weren't kidding that Al had the best prices! The dealer offered me a 10% discount on the parts....Al's prices were $322 LOWER than than the dealers discount. Thank god the E38 is under extended warranty so I'm not paying for the dealer's gouge on that car.

I appreciate the referral - I mentioned that you sent me. I am going to see if there is anyone in the DFW area who knows anything about the E31 headlights - maybe they can give me a second opinion before I take the plunge and buy replacements.

Thanks again Faisal!