DIY - Euro Ellipsoid Headlight Installation

[King Luis]

yes...can some one move this to faq since i will need it in a few weeks and that there are lots of questions about it.

e30 wagen: post pics if you can so it can help the e30 community

[DarkWing6]

or just move it to faq

[JPbmw]

this write-up should be a sticky

BTW: thanks for the write-up

thank you very much for your help!

[James Crivellone]

Will Work fine.

Here is a mini writeup I wrote awhile ago to help somebody else with it.


Look at the rear of your headlight assembly. You should have 3 sets of connectors


2 wires for the Running Lights (top of the elip)
2 wires for the low beam
2 wires for the high beam.

Next lets look at your bmw stock wiring.

for your high beam you will have 2 wires, those two wires will be spliced into the connector for the new elip high beam.

Do that for each side. got it? okay high beams are done =)

Now lets look at the low beam connectors that are on the car. As you have a 91, you have sealed beams, so you should see a connector that looks like this.



You will see 3 wires that come into this connector, this is because a regular sealed beam low has 2 filaments and a common ground, when you turn on your highbeams the bump switches filaments. This is no longer needed as the H1 bulbs that are inside the euro elip are a single filament.

Looking at the front of the connector as seen above, you will have a brown/black ground wire (I forget the exact color) and 2 other wires. Using a 12V test light, or a voltmeter (if you don't have one...BUY ONE) you will need to determine when 12volts is being sent down this line.

Turn on your cars headlights, and make sure the high beams are OFF, using your test lamp, connect one end to the ground wire on teh connector (black or brown usually) and tap one of the other wires, find the one that turns the test light on, these are the two wires that you will connect to the new low beam elipsoid headlight, the 3rd wire you can simple tie off (make sure its nicely insulated away from anything metal)

Now for the driving lights, you simply splice into your sidemarkers, pretty simple, 2 wires.

Now if you are not getting power, you screwed up somewhere, check your fuses, check your relays, and make sure you didn't pop anything, if you find a bad fuse...replace it.

Also remmeber that the headlights do not work unless the ignition is on, so make sure its set to ignition and not ACC.

any other questions?

will a pair of Hella euro smiley headlights work on my '86 325es (currently have sealed beams of course). I've searched and can't seem to find a direct answer to which kinds of headlights will work with different years. I've found a pair with the connections supplied, and was just wondering if it will be a hassle to wire up.

please be patient with my newbdom, i'm only here to learn.