[theoforest]

Hi

(E90 pre-lci adaptive xenon)
Im at the point of fixing my headlight and I can't get the adaptive part to work properly. Im trying to fix the right one.
I can visually see the headlight « start »(going up down and side to side) but when it stop, the right one is stuck to the left.
I took the SMC from another headlight and I think I need to code it(?)
But even tho I follow step from YouTube or forum. I always get an error on NSCexpert.
Can the SMC be faulty ? Frm?
Thanks you

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by theoforest

Hi

(E90 pre-lci adaptive xenon)
Im at the point of fixing my headlight and I can't get the adaptive part to work properly. Im trying to fix the right one.
I can visually see the headlight " start "(going up down and side to side) but when it stop, the right one is stuck to the left.
I took the SMC from another headlight and I think I need to code it(?)
But even tho I follow step from YouTube or forum. I always get an error on NSCexpert.
Can the SMC be faulty ? Frm?
Thanks you

The error

[Serf27]

Try factory coding the frm.

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

Try factory coding the frm.

Im trying to find how to do that on google but I seem to just get short circuit reset. And I don't think your talking about that ?

[Serf27]

No, it’s 2 different things. Factory coding restored the frm to factory settings.

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

No, it’s 2 different things. Factory coding restored the frm to factory settings.

Is the only way of doing that with protool?
I don't have a android and I don't wanna buy one and the liscence just for that

[Serf27]

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=625111

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1184199

With NCS expert according to the second thread, but I don’t know how.
I use the app for a lot of e chassis things, so it was worth buying a cheap tablet and the license.

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=625111

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1184199

With NCS expert according to the second thread, but I don’t know how.
I use the app for a lot of e chassis things, so it was worth buying a cheap tablet and the license.

Thanks for the answer

The first post is for short circuit reset ( at Least from what I understood) and I check to be sure if I had any and I didn't.

Second post I've been able to recode the frm but I still can't factory code my headlight motor and I still get the same Error

[Serf27]

Recode the frm to what?

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

Recode the frm to what?

I meant factory recode.
It's just LSCM and RSCM that doesn't work.
Can the module be dead even if it move ? Since my right one is working I was expecting the RSCM to work at least

[Serf27]

One of the motors may be bad.
Possibly binding when the leveling initiates.

My E90 had this issue.
It has the up/down motor and side/side motor.
It’s 2 different motors.

I enabled side to side movement with coding and the light would go up/down and then left to right and freeze and gave me an adaptive error.

I had to default code the frm so that the side to side movement coding option would be erased.

And from what I remember on other cars, coding the new adaptive modules to the car is not really required, if the adaptive motor works, it will work even if module isn’t coded.


Some things you can try:

You can try a new adaptive/SMC module, If it still doesn’t work, the motors inside are probably bad or the plastic arm is binding when moving the projector housing.
Maybe some grease can be added to these arms to make things move smoother..?

You said the light stops when moving side to side.
You can try to disable side to side motion to see if that is causing your issue.

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

One of the motors may be bad.
Possibly binding when the leveling initiates.

My E90 had this issue.
It has the up/down motor and side/side motor.
It’s 2 different motors.

I enabled side to side movement with coding and the light would go up/down and then left to right and freeze and gave me an adaptive error.

I had to default code the frm so that the side to side movement coding option would be erased.

And from what I remember on other cars, coding the new adaptive modules to the car is not really required, if the adaptive motor works, it will work even if module isn’t coded.


Some things you can try:

You can try a new adaptive/SMC module, If it still doesn’t work, the motors inside are probably bad or the plastic arm is binding when moving the projector housing.
Maybe some grease can be added to these arms to make things move smoother..?

You said the light stops when moving side to side.
You can try to disable side to side motion to see if that is causing your issue.

Okay thank you!

I know the up down is not working properly since the wire to the front height sensor are cut (wich I will fix).

So I guess out of my 4 headlight either the motor or the assembly have some sort of problem.

I know with INPA you can control both motor at the same time but is there a way to control only one?

And I think the side to side motor is not replaceable right ?

[Serf27]

The motors are replaceable, but you have to take the headlight apart.

[Andystobbs]

Do you get the same error from LSMC?

[sabino56]

I recently chased fixing/replacing Smc modules. Below is what I think I learned. I’m a beginner at coding so…

First, it seems that if either of the SMCs are faulty you can’t code the good one. One side worked and the other didn’t. I wanted to swap my good side to the other to verify it was the module and not wiring or something else. You have the code the good to the other side - left to right or right to left, whichever. I always had a communication error attempting to do this.

Somewhere in INPA you can test/activate the SMC modules and point headlights up/down/left/right. In this, I could see the good one was communicating and the bad was not. You can turn on tracing somewhere and I was able to see lower level communication when it was able to successfully communicate and when it couldn’t.

Went back to trying to code LSMC and RSMC to the correct sides. On my system, I turned on tracing and I could see that the coding of an individual smc always started with checking communication to both. If one failed, the coding failed even if the bad one was not the side which you were trying to code.

So, bought a used Smc off eBay from same year/car which looked good, no corrosion. Same problem with new “good” smc. Then bought a new, non-OEM smc (don’t remember the brand, a Chinese repo) from FCPeuro and it worked fine. Coding worked, all good.

If my time was worth a $1/hour it would have been cheaper to take it to a dealer. But, I like the puzzle and hopefully the experience will help on other problems. Good luck.

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

The motors are replaceable, but you have to take the headlight apart.

I found some used one but don't wanna take the whole thing appart :/

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by sabino56

I recently chased fixing/replacing Smc modules. Below is what I think I learned. I’m a beginner at coding so…

First, it seems that if either of the SMCs are faulty you can’t code the good one. One side worked and the other didn’t. I wanted to swap my good side to the other to verify it was the module and not wiring or something else. You have the code the good to the other side - left to right or right to left, whichever. I always had a communication error attempting to do this.

Somewhere in INPA you can test/activate the SMC modules and point headlights up/down/left/right. In this, I could see the good one was communicating and the bad was not. You can turn on tracing somewhere and I was able to see lower level communication when it was able to successfully communicate and when it couldn’t.

Went back to trying to code LSMC and RSMC to the correct sides. On my system, I turned on tracing and I could see that the coding of an individual smc always started with checking communication to both. If one failed, the coding failed even if the bad one was not the side which you were trying to code.

So, bought a used Smc off eBay from same year/car which looked good, no corrosion. Same problem with new “good” smc. Then bought a new, non-OEM smc (don’t remember the brand, a Chinese repo) from FCPeuro and it worked fine. Coding worked, all good.

If my time was worth a $1/hour it would have been cheaper to take it to a dealer. But, I like the puzzle and hopefully the experience will help on other problems. Good luck.

Do you know if they would still initiate when starting the car even if they're bad?

I can't do anything on inpa either.

Im wondering if I'm spending the money to fix it or upgrade to some LCI one..

[sabino56]

I’d get it sorted before changing to LCI. If problem in wiring or elsewhere changing to LCI won’t fix it. I also think you reuse existing smc modules when upgrading to LCI? so if they are bad, same problem.

On mine, the good side would move on start, the bad would not.

There is a menu somewhere in INPA where you can activate and point each headlight in the various directions. Find that and see if what works and what doesn’t. I don’t recall where it is in INPA but remember I had to hunt around as my version is German and had to do a lot of Google translate to find it.

[Serf27]

Lci uses different modules.
I wonder what’s the deal with my lights then.
The smc modules work fine for up/down, but as soon as I code the side to side movement, the lights do the little dance in start up and then they get stuck.
I really think the motors are binding somewhere and locking it in place until it resets. At least on mine.

Trying to move the headlights with INPA sounds it will show if the motors are bad or something else.

[theoforest]

That's true.

Mine both self level when start but only the right one goes side to side. But I can't communicate with either via INPA and NcsExpert.

I feel like it's a coding issue since it work when starting but I'm not too sure.
I guess it can also be the smc but I'll have to get a new one to try

[theoforest]

Originally Posted by Serf27

Lci uses different modules.
I wonder what’s the deal with my lights then.
The smc modules work fine for up/down, but as soon as I code the side to side movement, the lights do the little dance in start up and then they get stuck.
I really think the motors are binding somewhere and locking it in place until it resets. At least on mine.

Trying to move the headlights with InPA sounds it will show if the motes are bad or something else.

It seems like I can't connect to them with inpa.
I just get error and they're not even moving.

[Aang]

Originally Posted by theoforest

It seems like I can't connect to them with inpa.
I just get error and they're not even moving.

Slight thread revival, but so relevant to my problem! Did you ever figure this out? I’ve got the exact same error with the new eBay module pointing the left light all the way to the left. I’m swapped the smc over so both lights point straight, put the fried smc controller back and on the brink of coding out the adaptive lights. But I would still like to sort it properly.