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      07-08-2019, 12:59 PM   #1
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F15 2016 to 2018 LED headlight retrofit question

Well i was going to do a full DIY for the LED retrofit and have the headlight in hand and now just have a couple questions.

With prices falling for the LED headlights their becoming more of a possibility vs buying new.

So far what I've gathered is the 2014 to 2015 LED headlights are good for only those models and the 2016 to 2018 model year LED headlights will only work with the model year 2016 to 2018 as real OEM showed a change in the design up till the beginning of 2016.

Now the harness 61119353016 shows the HID and LED being the same. So it looks like the wire harness between the two headlights are the same and just coding is required?

If you counter the two models where you use 2016 to 2018 headlights in a 2014 to 2015 model or vise Vera's then re-wiring is necessary.

Does this make sense to who have done this?
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      07-08-2019, 04:37 PM   #2
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Change in design or just updated part number for another reason?
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      07-08-2019, 04:45 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turboawd View Post
Change in design or just updated part number for another reason?
Change in design, in my investigation lots of parts changed on the back as well as the back black bucket of the headlight changed.

If you look at the drawings on real OEM you can see what parts got omitted and changed.

As well as looking at the lights from eBay. And you can see the back is of a different design from the early models vs the newer ones.

Also I've heard the wire connections have changed between the 2014 - 2015 and 2016 -2018 hence you have to get the correct model headlight for the correct year and the people showing 2014 to 2018 headlights on eBay are wrong as they are saying they fit all years because they look is the same even though the internals won't work correctly. But some do list them correctly as a 2016 to 2018 only. Or 2014 to 2015 only.
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      07-08-2019, 06:19 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
Change in design, in my investigation lots of parts changed on the back as well as the back black bucket of the headlight changed.

If you look at the drawings on real OEM you can see what parts got omitted and changed.

As well as looking at the lights from eBay. And you can see the back is of a different design from the early models vs the newer ones.

Also I've heard the wire connections have changed between the 2014 - 2015 and 2016 -2018 hence you have to get the correct model headlight for the correct year and the people showing 2014 to 2018 headlights on eBay are wrong as they are saying they fit all years because they look is the same even though the internals won't work correctly. But some do list them correctly as a 2016 to 2018 only. Or 2014 to 2015 only.
That's interesting. If the connections were changed, I wonder why.
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      07-08-2019, 07:12 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
Well i was going to do a full DIY for the LED retrofit and have the headlight in hand and now just have a couple questions.

With prices falling for the LED headlights their becoming more of a possibility vs buying new.

So far what I've gathered is the 2014 to 2015 LED headlights are good for only those models and the 2016 to 2018 model year LED headlights will only work with the model year 2016 to 2018 as real OEM showed a change in the design up till the beginning of 2016.

Now the harness 61119353016 shows the HID and LED being the same. So it looks like the wire harness between the two headlights are the same and just coding is required?

If you counter the two models where you use 2016 to 2018 headlights in a 2014 to 2015 model or vise Vera's then re-wiring is necessary.

Does this make sense to who have done this?

I believe that there is more to it than just a swap and coding. I recall monkiboy doing it successfully, maybe he can offer some advice.
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      07-08-2019, 07:55 PM   #6
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      07-08-2019, 08:51 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Violator View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
Well i was going to do a full DIY for the LED retrofit and have the headlight in hand and now just have a couple questions.

With prices falling for the LED headlights their becoming more of a possibility vs buying new.

So far what I've gathered is the 2014 to 2015 LED headlights are good for only those models and the 2016 to 2018 model year LED headlights will only work with the model year 2016 to 2018 as real OEM showed a change in the design up till the beginning of 2016.

Now the harness 61119353016 shows the HID and LED being the same. So it looks like the wire harness between the two headlights are the same and just coding is required?

If you counter the two models where you use 2016 to 2018 headlights in a 2014 to 2015 model or vise Vera's then re-wiring is necessary.

Does this make sense to who have done this?

I believe that there is more to it than just a swap and coding. I recall monkiboy doing it successfully, maybe he can offer some advice.
Correct and I spoke with him and from what we talked about is he had the wrong years for his model so he had to change the wiring. And from what we talked about and from what I'm seeing from the parts and looking on the cars in the yard. It may be as simple as getting the correct headlight for your model year and coding. But theirs still some diagrams I'm going to look into.

It's just not a big mod as it's an expensive exercise but if it's really that simple that would be a great mod for people who want the led light package.

If the repair looms between the two lights for the correct years all show the same part number for HID and LED then it's possible it's just a coding exercise with the correct year headlights for the X5 model.


Again I'm just trying to find all the info I can so I can get to the bottom of how difficult it is. You never know.

I remember for the cooper S many years ago, people said the new design HID projector headlight had to have a new harness and coding and it turned out it was a simple swap their was no need for the harness. Not saying this is that easy but if all that you need to worry about is getting the correct year headlight for your X5 and coding that would be great!
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      07-08-2019, 09:04 PM   #8
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You can see from what I gathered here, their is a definite part change mid year as well as harness change depending on your build date.

So it makes it very important to get the correct headlight for your model year x5

Just for example 4 and 5 on the diagram are no longer used on the newer headlight.
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      07-08-2019, 09:13 PM   #9
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If you do the mod, do you plan to go all-in and do the auto-high beams/swap the stalk etc? Or are you thinking about just doing the headlights only?
I hope you get it figured out.
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      07-08-2019, 09:38 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Violator View Post
If you do the mod, do you plan to go all-in and do the auto-high beams/swap the stalk etc? Or are you thinking about just doing the headlights only?
I hope you get it figured out.
Probably, I'm looking at one thing at a time then will look at branching out. Once I have a plan for the one mod and see what it takes to complete I'll see at the time if it makes sense to do it at the same time or do it later with a new timing plan. I can't have the vehicle down more than a day as it's the family truckster.
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      07-09-2019, 11:46 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
Probably, I'm looking at one thing at a time then will look at branching out. Once I have a plan for the one mod and see what it takes to complete I'll see at the time if it makes sense to do it at the same time or do it later with a new timing plan. I can't have the vehicle down more than a day as it's the family truckster.
I’ve done the full retrofit xenon to LED, with fog lights as well. The newer lights use different modules than the old ones. You can retrofit either one, it really doesn’t make any difference, just changes how you wire it.

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      07-09-2019, 12:09 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwes View Post
I’ve done the full retrofit xenon to LED, with fog lights as well. The newer lights use different modules than the old ones. You can retrofit either one, it really doesn’t make any difference, just changes how you wire it.

gwes
Are the newer ones interchangeable into older x5?
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      07-09-2019, 12:11 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turboawd View Post
Are the newer ones interchangeable into older x5?
They are - but either way you go you need to do some wiring.

Edit: what I should have said is: I don’t see why not, but if you’re looking to do this mod make things easier on yourself and just choose the right lights for your model year.

Last edited by gwes; 07-09-2019 at 12:21 PM..
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      07-09-2019, 12:41 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwes View Post
They are - but either way you go you need to do some wiring.

Edit: what I should have said is: I don’t see why not, but if you’re looking to do this mod make things easier on yourself and just choose the right lights for your model year.
Are there any visual or functional differences between the new and older lights?
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      07-09-2019, 12:51 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turboawd View Post
Are there any visual or functional differences between the new and older lights?
No, visually if you were just looking at them installed in the car you can't tell the difference between them, functionally they are also the same. The new ones use the FLE2 module instead of the older LHM modules. The FLE2 module actually does the job of two separate modules in the older lights.

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      07-09-2019, 01:22 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Violator View Post
If you do the mod, do you plan to go all-in and do the auto-high beams/swap the stalk etc? Or are you thinking about just doing the headlights only?
I hope you get it figured out.
Possible to even do this without changing everything?
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      07-09-2019, 01:27 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferg View Post
Possible to even do this without changing everything?
I'd imagine he could do it without changing the stalk with the HBA button, but really for all of the other things you need to do it's probably the easiest part of the whole mod.

Last edited by gwes; 07-09-2019 at 01:33 PM..
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      07-09-2019, 02:06 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwes View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferg View Post
Possible to even do this without changing everything?
I'd imagine he could do it without changing the stalk with the HBA button, but really for all of the other things you need to do it's probably the easiest part of the whole mod.
I could do the stalk but I thought I need the camera in the windshield. I have HUD and connected drive but I need the camera and new windshield.


The stalk is a 15 minute swap so that's easy. But is their more needed?
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      07-09-2019, 03:33 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
I could do the stalk but I thought I need the camera in the windshield. I have HUD and connected drive but I need the camera and new windshield.


The stalk is a 15 minute swap so that's easy. But is their more needed?
Yeah, it really depends on how your X5 is optioned.
Do you have lane departure warning?
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      07-09-2019, 04:23 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwes View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
I could do the stalk but I thought I need the camera in the windshield. I have HUD and connected drive but I need the camera and new windshield.


The stalk is a 15 minute swap so that's easy. But is their more needed?
Yeah, it really depends on how your X5 is optioned.
Do you have lane departure warning?
Yea that's the big one I only had the driver assistance package not the extended package

So I have the comfort seats, hud and HK stereo.
But all the other teck stuff I'm lacking,

Led headlights, the auto cruise control and surround view and that good stuff don't have.

I know I want to install the

Led headlights,
The camera for the auto cruise and auto braking with Speed limit max on HUD
Surround view

Just to name a few.
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      07-09-2019, 04:43 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
Yea that's the big one I only had the driver assistance package not the extended package

So I have the comfort seats, hud and HK stereo.
But all the other teck stuff I'm lacking,

Led headlights, the auto cruise control and surround view and that good stuff don't have.

I know I want to install the

Led headlights,
The camera for the auto cruise and auto braking with Speed limit max on HUD
Surround view

Just to name a few.
You can do the lights without the stalk and HBA, just don't add 5AC to your FA when you code, this way you can wait to do the windshield and KAFAS when you're ready to do the speed limit and other cameras.
ACC can be retrofitted, you need KAFAS, and with your options you'll need to likely replace the ICM but based on your model (40e?) you may be fine with your DSC unit.
Speed limit will require an FSC code after you've retrofitted the camera, you can also add lane departure with an FSC code as well I believe.
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      07-09-2019, 09:48 PM   #22
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Subscribed, I was thinking about retro-fitting the G series steering wheel to the F, now this is tempting.
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