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About Those Headlight Adjuster Kits…
Update by Henry Christoff,
Pres. BMW CCA E31 Chapter
This is in reference to the following kit & part numbers:
North American BMW E31 8 SERIES Headlamp Adjuster Repair Kits
BMW Part numbers 63210153655, and later 63210302322
The quest for new headlight adjustment kits is on ongoing one.
What follows is a chronology of actions to date and the latest update.
Note: North American (USA and Canada) E31 headlamp assemblies have the capability for headlight alignment (aiming). Euro and JDM cars are not fitted with this engineering characteristic.
August 1992
BMW of North America, Product Engineering, in Woodcliff Lake, NJ issued a technical letter to dealers regarding E31 8 Series cars called: “Headlight Adjustment Loose”. In this technical letter, the loose lamp adjustment situation was explained and a course of correction outlined, along with warranty defect codes to use for the repair. (Click here to read original letter.)
November 2002
BMW of North America issued a formal letter to 8 Series owners stating they have been made aware of difficulties with headlamp alignment, in many cases due to worn out adjuster wheels. Owners were directed to contact their local BMW dealer if their vehicle experienced a headlamp alignment problem. The dealer would inspect the vehicle and cars found with worn out adjuster wheels would have them replaced at no cost.
June 2003
BMW Service Engineering issued a three page “New” Revision bulletin change notice regarding this issue, but did not change the S.I. number which remained S.I. B630492. The June 2003 S.I. Bulletin indicated use of BMW part number 63210153655 headlamp adjuster kit to adress the customer complaint that one or both of the vehicle headlamp beams could not be adjusted and that the headlamp was loose in the housing.
Late 1990’s
Many E31 owners in the U.S. were complaining to BMW dealers that it was becoming impossible to align their vehicle headlamps when going through a vehicle state safety inspection, and their cars were failing the safety inspection. At that time, there were no service parts from BMW to address this safety issue.
December 2002
BMW of North America issued a Service Information Bulletin S.I. B630492 to dealers to address the adjustment issue.
March 2003
BMW Service Engineering issued a two page Installation Instructions for the E31 Headlamp Adjuster Kit, part number 63210153655.
Approximately 2015
It was becoming apparent that the headlamp alignment problem was an issue again, with E31 owners complaining they were finding it difficult to pass mandatory state vehicle safety inspections. The BMW headlamp adjuster repair kits were, at this time, no longer available from BMW.
In April, 2016, Roger Wray, then President of the BMW CCA E31 Chapter, wrote a full page letter to BMW of North America to outline the ongoing issue with the adjusters, and requested that the DOT mandated mechanically aim-able headlamp adjuster repair kits be made available again to owners.
Sadly, BMW of North America never replied to Roger Wray’s letter.
October 2020
Current BMW CCA E31 Chapter President Henry Christoff receives an email from former chapter President Roger Wray advising Henry of the headlamp adjuster issues.
November 2020
Henry Christoff sends an email to his contact at BMW Classic regarding headlamp adjuster kits and asks for assistance. BMW Classic replied that they do not have any info on the repair kits as it seems to have been a special part from Hella USA.
December 2020
Hella USA is contacted regarding the headlamp adjuster kits – and are asked if they can help with this issue. Fred Snow, president of Hella USA and long time BMW CCA club member, responds that Hella are interested in helping with parts for classic automobiles. He will investigate the BMW part numbers supplied to him and respond.
Mr. Snow replies that Hella USA have no record of these kits and has reached out to Hella Germany, who are unable to cross reference the BMW part numbers to Hella production part numbers.
BMW Classic responds again to advise that the adjuster kits were produced exclusively for the BMW North American market. BMW Classic will reach out to Hella Germany.
E31 Chapter president, Henry Christoff, sends an email to Tom Pluccinsky, BMW of North America Manager Group Communications. That email includes copies of the 2016 letter to BMW North America and the November 2002 letter to all North American BMW 8 Series owners and a copy of the BMW S.I B630492. Along with those documents, the email outlined the issue E31 owners were having today with headlamp adjustment and asked if the adjustment kits could be made available again to owners. He replied promptly and advised he had forwarded this email to his colleagues that might have information on the kits.
January 2021
Tom Plucinsky advises he has not had any success with our inquiry. He suggests Turner Motorsport may be a possible source to machine or 3-D print new gears.
BMW Classic follows up that they have contacted Hella Germany who now advise BMW Classic that these repair kits were originally only ordered from the USA. The kit has four components. Hella say they need kit component part numbers to further investigate.
February 2021
BMW Classic have more questions from the supplier (Hella) with regard to the dimensions of the components.
April 2021
Photos of the kit components from several E31 owners have been forwarded to BMW Classic.
December 2021
No further updates from Hella Germany or BMW Classic.
October 2022
There are several factors that may be stumbling blocks to getting the headlamp adjuster repair kits back into service parts inventory at BMW. These may include the following:
1) The E31 is an antique in the eyes of BMW Service Parts Group. As such, records for the adjuster kits could have been lost, but as a DOT safety issue, this is at question.
2) The tooling to manufacture the original parts kit 63210153655 and later kit 63210302322 is most likely no longer available. New tooling to manufacture these parts will be expensive and could take one to two months or longer to produce.
3) Each kit is made up of several parts and corresponding part numbers. There is the complete kit part number, then the individual part numbers of the kit components. We do not have the individual component part numbers to give Hella or BMW Classic, making our push to produce the parts difficult. One could conclude or speculate that if BMW Classic have the kit part number, they could determine the individual componet part numbers of the kit. They have not shared this information with the E31 Chapter.
4) A financial cost analysis of the tooling costs, initial production run costs (most likely the supplier will insist on a large quantity minimun run of parts) compared to the quantity of kits that could be sold……. from an accounting standpoint not a viable spend. Remember, this repair kit only fits North American E31s. The number of those cars on the roads today are likely less than in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Thank you to those who helped in the assembly of this information: many E31 Chapter members who shared tips and info; kit assembly photos from E31 Chapter member Ron Acher; E31 Chapter member Roger Wray who provided kit component photos as well as the BMW of North America service information, the kind people at BMW Classic, Fred Snow at Hella USA and Tom Pluccinsky from BMW of North America.