Headlight Wiring Repair Dec 9-13, 2016

By November 2016 the high beams on the Z4 had been acting increasingly wonky to the point that it was hard to trust driving at night. They'd flip on at random times, not go off, not go on. Sometimes the dashboard indicator would light up, sometimes not. Really crazy.
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-001 By November 2016 the high beams on the Z4 had been acting increasingly wonky to the point that it was hard to trust driving at night. They'd flip on at random...
1 By November 2016 the high beams on the Z4 had been acting increasingly wonky to the point that it was hard to trust driving at night. They'd flip on at random…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-002 There was plenty of slack to pull out the headlight cable and you can see where the insulation was cut through and the wires shorted by rubbing against that...
2 There was plenty of slack to pull out the headlight cable and you can see where the insulation was cut through and the wires shorted by rubbing against that…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-003 Closeup of the damage done to the headlight harness. Seems to be a major design flaw since the driver side headlight cable is routed similarly. A web search...
3 Closeup of the damage done to the headlight harness. Seems to be a major design flaw since the driver side headlight cable is routed similarly. A web search…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-005 I peeled back the harness outer wrap to reveal the true extent of the damage. Hard to believe that the only symptom from all this was just the high beams going...
4 I peeled back the harness outer wrap to reveal the true extent of the damage. Hard to believe that the only symptom from all this was just the high beams going…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-006 Yep, looking mighty nasty. Separated the damaged wires to make a temporary repair to get me through the week until it goes into Mark Aunger at Northeast...
5 Yep, looking mighty nasty. Separated the damaged wires to make a temporary repair to get me through the week until it goes into Mark Aunger at Northeast…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-007 Electrical tape and butt connectors will get me through for a couple of days.
6 Electrical tape and butt connectors will get me through for a couple of days.
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-008 Instead of letting the cable drop back down to rub against the same metal plate, I tied it up out of the way as a temporary kludge. I'll let Mark figure out how...
7 Instead of letting the cable drop back down to rub against the same metal plate, I tied it up out of the way as a temporary kludge. I'll let Mark figure out how…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-009 One week later and it's time for professional repair by Mark Aunger at Northeast Motor Werks . First step is to cut out the damaged section of the wiring...
8 One week later and it's time for professional repair by Mark Aunger at Northeast Motor Werks . First step is to cut out the damaged section of the wiring…
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-010 All of the wires in the headlight harness have now been spliced back together and the connections sealed with heat shrink tubing
9 All of the wires in the headlight harness have now been spliced back together and the connections sealed with heat shrink tubing
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-011 Next step is to re-wrap the wiring harness
10 Next step is to re-wrap the wiring harness
Z4HeadlightRepair2016-012 The final step is to prevent the damage ever happening again by putting the harness inside a corrugated wiring loom. You can see in the middle of the photo...
11 The final step is to prevent the damage ever happening again by putting the harness inside a corrugated wiring loom. You can see in the middle of the photo…