[Kansai12]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum as I've just recently purchased a 2016 BMW X1 25d M Sport. The car looks and handles great, but the lack of led lighting kind of bugs me.

I've just bought some Osram PY21W LED indicator bulbs and fitted them, I've coded the warm and cold monitoring to inactive, and the bulb type to LED, but for some reason both bulbs don't work. I'm thinking it might be a polarity issue, has anyone had similar problem and know of any potential solutions?

[Skyline2.0]

Are the nubs at the bottom of each bulb 150° apart? Are there only 2 nubs? If yes to both questions, the bulb itself should fit correctly.

You could try switching them around, but I doubt it's a polarity issue. Also, you need to make sure each bulb is installed and seated tightly in the housing socket. And, the housing socket is seated tightly and correctly back into the headlight assembly housing. If either fitments are off, it can cause problems.

If all is correct and you still have no flashing, theres a good chance the bulbs themselves are defective.

[Kansai12]

Originally Posted by Skyline2.0

Are the nubs at the bottom of each bulb 150° apart? Are there only 2 nubs? If yes to both questions, the bulb itself should fit correctly.

You could try switching them around, but I doubt it's a polarity issue. Also, you need to make sure each bulb is installed and seated tightly in the housing socket. And, the housing socket is seated tightly and correctly back into the headlight assembly housing. If either fitments are off, it can cause problems.

If all is correct and you still have no flashing, theres a good chance the bulbs themselves are defective.

Hi Skyline2.0, thanks for your response. Yeah, the nubs are 150 degrees apart as they are the PY bulbs, they fit correctly as I've had no issues taking them out or putting them in, currently the halogens are back in and working fine.

I'll try again tonight though, but I think it is strange that they both don't work, and I've had no issues with putting the halogens back.

[Kansai12]

After several attempts over the weekend, I've decided to return the Osram LEDriving SL PY21W BAU15s Amber Bulbs as both front indicators would not power on at all.

Strangely though, the Osram LEDriving SL P21W BA15s Cool White Bulbs for my reverse lights work perfectly fine, and the error codes on the dash were coded out with BimmerCode.

[kavatski]

Is there a chance of trying a different brand of bulb? I ordered some cheapo Chinese BAU15S bulbs from Amazon for my front turn signals and they worked perfectly with the same coding as you did, so it didn’t seem like there was any trick to it.

[Kansai12]

Yeah, I've ordered a different set and will try them out when they arrive. I usually prefer the branded stuff like Osram and Philips as they last longer when they work!

[Kansai12]

New set doesn't work either so I've given them to a friend for his 135i. Does anyone else have issues with retrofitting LEDs to the front indicators? And does anyone have links to ones that has worked for them?

[victorngcm]

Originally Posted by Kansai12

New set doesn't work either so I've given them to a friend for his 135i. Does anyone else have issues with retrofitting LEDs to the front indicators? And does anyone have links to ones that has worked for them?

may it be the polarity problem?

I got one bulb functioned and out of order later. Found out the polarity has been changed...
reason was unknown...

[Kansai12]

It could well be, but I'm not sure what the solution would be. Did you revert back to the halogen bulbs afterwards?

[kavatski]

These are the ones I bought and they’ve been working fine for six months now. I liked them enough that I bought a second set for my 2013 Mini - no problems there either.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07KXLLM1M/

[808X1]

Alla Lighting Brightest CANBUS... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVT4F2C...p_mob_ap_share

I bought these for my indicators and they've been working great.

[CajunBMW]

Originally Posted by Kansai12

New set doesn't work either so I've given them to a friend for his 135i. Does anyone else have issues with retrofitting LEDs to the front indicators? And does anyone have links to ones that has worked for them?

I'm not a coder, so I can't give you the specifics, but I also have 2018 3 series in addition to my X1 and I have seen a lot on the 3 forum about coding LED as one changes from halogens to LEDs. My recollection is that there are several key codes that need to be changed. The fact that nothing works suggests coding could be the culprit. Since my 3 has LEDs already I never worried about changing. I have been thinking about my X1 but have not got that far yet. Hope that helps, sorry I can't give more specifics.

[Kansai12]

Thanks for the help guys. I think coding is the culprit too however, I'm not sure why it would be any different to coding the rear halogens to LED. I assumed that the lights would just work and you code the errors on the dash out.

[kavatski]

The coding wasn't any different for me for the front vs. the rear. Bulb type to LED, disable warm and cold monitoring, nothing else. But like you said, that coding isn't necessary for the bulb to actually work; it just prevents error messages. I installed the bulbs and made sure they were working before I went to the trouble of coding the car.

[Kansai12]

I'm not having much luck with this. I've purchased another set on ebay with the same results. My friends who helped me previously with the coding says it might be the modules that power the indicators. No idea

[Skyline2.0]

Originally Posted by Kansai12

I'm not having much luck with this. I've purchased another set on ebay with the same results. My friends who helped me previously with the coding says it might be the modules that power the indicators. No idea

What are you using to code? I used BimmerCode and had no problems with my LEDs. If you're also using BimmerCode, make sure it's most up to date software as I ran into a DRL not turning on at all issue for a bit until I upgraded the software.

[Kansai12]

I'm almost 100% certain BimmerCode isn't the problem. In a normal scenario, I would plug the LEDs in, they would still power on but provide error on the dash. But on all 3 occasions the bulbs never power on at all. Bimmercode version is 2.11.1-6048.