Anyone know where I can get new wiring harnesses for my headlights? I changed the bulbs in my wife's R50 a few weeks back and saw where the insulation on both headlights had deteriorated and has become brittle. There are several spots an inch or two long where the copper is exposed.

Has anyone else notices this?

 

Mind has done this as well. Mind is a March 2004 build R50. Not sure what to do. My wires get really hot and have "heat cycled" through the plastic clip that goes on the light bulb itself as in the black plastic clip is no longer there.

 

Yes...sounds like a common problem. My son's 2000 Volkswagen Bettle TDi has the same problem. Hopefully someone else here has dealt with this problem too and knows how to fix it. I guess I could make my own wiring harness but it would sure be a lot easier just to buy one ready made .

 

Try AllMagAuto in the marketplace.

 

If they are H7 or similar halogen/xenon bulbs, any parts store has the connectors - $5 or so. Try to find the ceramic, rather than plastic, ones.

Does the car spend much time stationary with the headlights on? Stuck in traffic? I have 80W low beam bulbs & no issues, but fortunately rarely idling.

 

I've seen this on the short harness that is inside the light housing and the only way to fix, short of trying to disassemble the housing to get at the wires was to replace the entire housing.

This was the conclusion I reached and later was verified by a pretty good MINI mech' who gets paid for his work - I donate my time!

I saw this with a guy who'd just bought a used MINI and the headlights went flakey. All the insulation on the wires inside the housing was cooked and flaking. I SUSPECT previous owner tries some after market bulbs that got hotter. Guy replaced with some knockoffs for much less than genuine MINI parts.

 

Mine are still good on my factory Xenon headlights, but I could see over time and some heat they could get very brittle. I would re wrap them.

 

I thought about just using some heat shrink and a little tape but would rather replace with good wires and insulation. We've had the R50 for about 6 years now and it only 26K on it when we got it...never changed any of the bulbs until recently when she had two go bad. Now I've got all new bulbs on both headlights.

 

2009 base model 50k miles normal driving average tempature is 85°F. Driver side headlight burned out. While replacing the bad bulb (I did both sides) found both wire harness cracked and fell apart more while replacing the bulbs. Ive owned many different older/new vehicles and i've never encountered any wiring issue like this especially for a car only 10 years old. Is there any service recall? I would consider this a safety issue since the wires can short out while driving.

 

Bringing this thread back up because I'm having problems with the passenger side low beam Xenon bulb on my 2006 MC S. The high beams work on both headlights. I noticed the low beam light was out and when taking the Xenon bulb out to inspect I found cracked and missing insulation/covering on the wires going to this low beam Xenon bulb. I covered each wire with shrink tubing and plugged in a new bulb. It still didn't light up. With bare wires does anything short out/burnout? Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot this? I did move the igniters side to side and the passenger side was out with either. Buying a used replacement headlights will likely have the same problem and I would rather not spend the $$ on new headlights because I'd want to replace both sides so they match. Thanks

 

The short version:
My (salvage yard find) passenger side xenon projector, low beam stopped working
The wires to the low beam were practically/completely bare inside the housing. I thought for sure they had made contact and shorted something out...
I spliced in/rewired and soldered the old internal connections with new (more robust) 18/20 gauge wire.
It worked out great!

The long version (of course):
Like all others here; I discovered the crumbling wires the hard way.
It took me years to finally find a pair of salvage yard facelift xenon projector headlights to upgrade my (non projectors) pre-facelift '04 R53 .
Needless to say I was ecstatic to have pulled and only paid $40 for the pair from a local P-A-P.
A few days later - Happiness was short lived when the passenger lowbeam stopped working.
After swapping out bulbs, igniters, ballasts to no avail I pulled the headlight and discovered the deteriorated wires.
I truncated the old wires as deep as I could reach inside the housing, with long barber scissors, tweezers and a modified tip on a soldering iron.
It was a (PIA) long, tedious and teeth grinding surgery but I was successful in the end.
IIRC; that was back in late 2022(?)... The headlight has continued to work flawlessly since then.
I'm sure I'll have to do the same to the driver side headlight at some point when it will, also, eventually fail.

One bit of a reminder (if you choose to attempt this); Remember to slide your shrink tubing over the wire before you finish up soldering your connections. (don't ask me how i know )

I wish I could be of more help troubleshooting...

Best of luck.

 

Maybe, maybe not… there are 1st gen projector xenon’s that have harnesses covered with some type of braided insulation/shielding. Not sure if this prevents the crumbling insulation problem or just covers it up. Also not sure how to know if the headlights will have this braided shielding other than by looking inside the headlight.

This thread has a pic of a factory FL xenon with the shielding in post #6. It says it’s a “Euro” version, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them in used US headlights. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4625480

One of the posts also shows some titanium braided shielding that might help prevent the deterioration if you rebuild a damaged harness.

 

Great info.
I had never seen that thread before my repair. Very informative.
My (salvage) projectors also came from two different R52s - an '05 & '06. Despite the crumbling wiring issues; both were a close/identical match.

It's good that this thread has been revived

 

Continuing my trials, I moved the right ballast to the left side and the light worked. So both ballasts are good. Then after scratching my head a little I decided to try to the right igniter in the left headlight (again?) just to make sure it worked and it did not. I thought for sure I tried the right in the left but maybe it was the other way around. Bottom line, I found that I have a dead igniter and need to get a replacement. Hopefully with a new igniter, new bulb, and recovered wires I will be good to go again.