[g4gav]

afternoon people,

now I'm looking at some little upgrades for my car, nothing to over the top, iv come across the DRL's, mine don't have them but has the option for them in the idrive control.....

now i see them on eBay but I'm not sure when it come to these as they come from china, are they any good?
i know bmw will charge a lot for them but with bmw they surely come with guarantee .

any good suggestions guys, and are they easy to set up myself on the car or do they need to be programmed ?

[Peter_R]

I was under the impression that all Second Generation (F25) X3's had DRL's in one form or another even the ones with the dreadful halogen headlights.

What year is your car and how long have you had it before being aware of the lack of them?

[g4gav]

2012 model, i have the auto lights but lack the drl's.

unless they was removed before i bought the car from the second hand dealers. i got a list from BMW just after i got the car to find out what extras my car come with , i was quite shocked , it comes with a bit...... just not DRL's lol

[Peter_R]

Check your car with the BMW VIN Decoder first.

https://www.bmwvin.com/

Then take it from there.

[g4gav]

thanks for that link, like i said before it has a few extras even drls! now i wonder why they was taken off?
bit of investigating to do i thinks......

[Peter_R]

Originally Posted by Peter_R

What year is your car and how long have you had it before being aware of the lack of them?

Further to this, but how did you purchase the car? Private through a dealer? Was it a Approved Used Car from a BMW dealer then you should be chasing him, because it could be said that it is not up to specification (been DE modified) perhaps because of a problem.

Does the car have Xenon or Halogen headlights?

[Lurcher]

Now we get to this part:

[Peter_R]

g4gav

As you can see from the above, if you want detailed help to solve your problem, you have to give forum members all the information.

[g4gav]

sorry guys,

i bought the car from a company called used cars of bristol for 16K and it is a halogen bulb fitment, now i believe the car DRL's should be in the bottom grills either side of the bumper, but i don't have anything there other than the plastic grill with bump sensors in, i have photos on my phone but using the computer to type this, i will add in next post

[g4gav]

sorry again guys my photos are too big, how do i down size for here?

[Peter_R]

I have Xenon lights on my late UK spec 2013 X3 xDrive 30d MSport vehicle and cannot give you a definitive answer on DRL's on halogen headlight cars. Having said that, I have the feeling that there are DRL's in the housings along with the halogen headlights. I had this set up on my F31 2012 320d that had halogen head lights. Remember you said it was on list for your car against the VIN number.

Somebody with the halogen set up may be along to confirm/deny this.

DRL's are a standard fitment in the UK after 2011 to comply with a EU directive, so there should be headlight housing bulb holders for these different wattage bulbs.

It could be that the bulbs have been removed. However, I would have thought (just speculating) that you would get an iDrive error message.

Have you looked in the Owners Handbook page 94? This describes the lighting switch position for them to be illuminated.

If your car is to a standard where they can be deactivated, be aware that if you have 2 separate keys, one key profile can have them deactivated in the iDrive menu and the other one activated.

My advice to you is to find a main dealer and call in and ask them what the situation is. You might be surprised.

Lastly but not a silly question, are you sure they are not just deactivated in the iDrive menu? I deactivate mine when doing electrical work (fitted a dash cam recently) to stop running the battery down when switching ignition on for prolonged periods.

[DBU]

Originally Posted by g4gav

sorry again guys my photos are too big, how do i down size for here?

Use "Paint" program to re-size the pictures.

[g4gav]

i hope this works !

this is the options on my car, and i can see daytime running lights

[Peter_R]

Yes...option number S8TNA

As it says "Daytime run.lights adjust.via light menu"

As I stated previously read page 94 of the user manual. If no joy speak to an authorised main BMW dealer.

[g4gav]

Originally Posted by Peter_R

Yes...option number S8TNA

As it says "Daytime run.lights adjust.via light menu"

As I stated previously read page 94 of the user manual. If no joy speak to an authorised main BMW dealer.

you a star, thank you matey

[Smithy2014]

Originally Posted by Peter_R

DRL's are a standard fitment in the UK after 2011 to comply with a EU directive

Incorrect, only cars designed after 2011 had to have DRL's, existing models even it built after 2011 were not compulsory to have them fitted. I bought a new Landrover in 2012 which was from a design dating back to 2008 - it did not have DRL's.

Going back to the thread, I believe the X3 came in 3 versions:-
1- xenons with led DRL rings
2 - halogen with halogen DRL
3 - halogen without DRL

Seeing as though your spec states it has been selected as an option is seems strange that they are not functioning as I don't believe there is a way in the i-drive menu's to deactivate them,I wonder if a previous owner has coded them to not come on (not sure why they would not want them on though..), are they a different bulb to the main beam? Have they blown?

[Peter_R]

Originally Posted by Smithy2014

Incorrect, only cars designed after 2011 had to have DRL's, existing models even it built after 2011 were not compulsory to have them fitted. I bought a new Landrover in 2012 which was from a design dating back to 2008 - it did not have DRL's.

I was doing my best to help the guy. Nobody else appeared to be joining in to help. Remember what I said about somebody with halogens might be along? It is easy to correct when there is a typo or something is slightly wrong with the wording in a shortened version that came from the UK government site. What I said for this situation is fine and holds good and helps the OP for the questions being answered. To be technically correct, it is the type approval for DRLs that matter and that date is 2011.

Originally Posted by Smithy2014

Going back to the thread, I believe the X3 came in 3 versions:-
1- xenons with led DRL rings
2 - halogen with halogen DRL
3 - halogen without DRL

Seeing as though your spec states it has been selected as an option is seems strange that they are not functioning as I don't believe there is a way in the i-drive menu's to deactivate them, I wonder if a previous owner has coded them to not come on (not sure why they would not want them on though..), are they a different bulb to the main beam? Have they blown?

Incorrect! They CAN be deactivated in the iDrive menu. I do it often. In fact I had forgotten to reactivate after having done some work the other day that necessitated having the ignition on for a long time.

The following is from the BMW X3 owners handbook page 94.

Daytime driving lights

Halogen light: The daytime driving lights illuminate with ignition switched on in position automatic (icon with headlight on with A embedded).

Xenon light: The daytime driving lights illuminate with ignition switched on in position 0 or automatic (icon with headlight on with A embedded).


Activating/deactivating
In some countries daytime driving lights are compulsory, which is why the daytime driving lights cannot be deactivated. See *.

1. "Settings"
2. "Lights"
3. "Daytime driving lights".

The setting is saved for the remote control currently in use.

See * My notes.

* My daytime lights can be deactivated as stated previously. Naturally because type approval was 2008 or thereabouts and my car is late 2013.

* The Original Posters options are S8TNA Daytime run.lights adjust. via light menu. Because they were not mandatory on his build but were a selectable option he CAN switch them off (light switch position 0) and have them off with one key setting and have them on with another key setting.

Now you can see why I said to the Original Poster in my earlier post, " If no joy go speak to a main BMW dealer" This statement still holds true.

I said that because a guy in my village had a similar problem when using the different keys he had in his possession and we went to the main dealer (North Oxford BMW) for clarification. Even then (2 years ago) the BMW Genius was confused.

It is a minefield. In fact you could call it a mindfield.

Note. The later car version is called the Life Cycle Impulse (LCI)

[g4gav]

right then guys, i thank you for all the info you gave me and i feel like a right plonker !

my DRL's are actually my halogen bulbs! i don't have the nice DRL's fitted in the plastic grills, I'm sorry if i caused any tension between others on here but i really should of looked before commenting.. i really thought DRL's was the nice crisp white lights you can see coming at you from distance, mine works permanently from the headlights. DAMN !!!!!!

[Peter_R]

Originally Posted by Peter_R

Yes...option number S8TNA

As it says "Daytime run.lights adjust.via light menu"

As I stated previously read page 94 of the user manual. If no joy speak to an authorised main BMW dealer.

Yes. Precisely that!

I am glad we finally got there.

[Lurcher]

Pictures of the actual lights would have helped, as I think you were thinking the "angel eyes" (lighted rings: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZpJyFtOHpnw/maxresdefault.jpg) are the DRL

[g4gav]

the drl's i was looking at and thought i should have are the one that sit the the plastic corner grills at the front off the car with the the bump sensors in, they are either straight line or a tick looking ones i have seen. now I'm not sure if these are standard or aftermarket, but iv always seen drl's as a brighter light that the halogen.

[Lurcher]

Ahh - ok - these are aftermarket. BMW only does the angel eyes and (i think) started the trend. In your picture they are visible circling the individual headlights.

On many models they are harder to see in the daytime due to the bulbs being used (halogen - old style) or yellow'ish (bulb temp). You can also adjust the brightness on the newer models in the idrive menu, and turn on/off for DRL function.