I put stupid parts in my e30 and broke it.
Vehicle: US Late 1989 325i with Depo Smilies.
Issue: Passenger side low beam is out (not just bulb)
Story:
I have been running Depo smileys with traditional H1 halogens for a few years without issues and decided to upgrade/try something new. First mistake lol.
Got these bulbs because at 30w per bulb, I thought the wattage would be low enough to try them out without doing much harm.
So I put in just the passenger side bulb (not the drivers) and turned the low beams on. The low beam LED did not work, I didn't see it come on at all, but when I pulled the switch I got an immediate little pop and figured I blew a fuse—but none were blown. The driver's side low beam, both city lights & turn signals, and both high beams still work fine. But the passenger low beam which I installed the new LED into is not working and the check panel gives me a low beam code. Maybe I just broke the new LED bulb. So I put the working halogen bulb back in, but it does not illuminate. All other lights are still working.
Next I swapped in new 7.5amp fuses (same as before) for both low and high beams but the passenger low beam was still out.
So I inspected the wires in the engine bay and found nothing wrong with them. (will do again to be sure)
Then I pulled the low beam relay; looked okay from the outside, no burn or char on the prongs. But shaking it there was a slight rattle. Like a single very small piece of something came loose. So maybe that’s it? It blew the relay? That's my best guess for now.
And in putting this post together I found out that the bulbs I got were actually 32v
So I am going to order a new relay, but is there a way to test to see if the relay is actually the issue? I don’t have any extras of the low beam relay on hand, not even any duplicates in the fuse box. I am searching for my multimeter too, but I don't actually know how to use it for this scenario.
Any other diagnostics I could do? Any idea what the issue is? All help appreciated!
Vehicle: US Late 1989 325i with Depo Smilies.
Issue: Passenger side low beam is out (not just bulb)
Story:
I have been running Depo smileys with traditional H1 halogens for a few years without issues and decided to upgrade/try something new. First mistake lol.
Got these bulbs because at 30w per bulb, I thought the wattage would be low enough to try them out without doing much harm.
So I put in just the passenger side bulb (not the drivers) and turned the low beams on. The low beam LED did not work, I didn't see it come on at all, but when I pulled the switch I got an immediate little pop and figured I blew a fuse—but none were blown. The driver's side low beam, both city lights & turn signals, and both high beams still work fine. But the passenger low beam which I installed the new LED into is not working and the check panel gives me a low beam code. Maybe I just broke the new LED bulb. So I put the working halogen bulb back in, but it does not illuminate. All other lights are still working.
Next I swapped in new 7.5amp fuses (same as before) for both low and high beams but the passenger low beam was still out.
So I inspected the wires in the engine bay and found nothing wrong with them. (will do again to be sure)
Then I pulled the low beam relay; looked okay from the outside, no burn or char on the prongs. But shaking it there was a slight rattle. Like a single very small piece of something came loose. So maybe that’s it? It blew the relay? That's my best guess for now.
And in putting this post together I found out that the bulbs I got were actually 32v

So I am going to order a new relay, but is there a way to test to see if the relay is actually the issue? I don’t have any extras of the low beam relay on hand, not even any duplicates in the fuse box. I am searching for my multimeter too, but I don't actually know how to use it for this scenario.
Any other diagnostics I could do? Any idea what the issue is? All help appreciated!
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