any adjustment on S3 xenon lights?

[jediknight]

folowing my dad back home today and he thought my drivers side light was too high (was dazzeling the poor old guy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

i looked throung the handbook and it says they should auto adjust but i couldnt see anything else on manual adjustments??

thanks

 

[imported_ashs3]

That will be the well know fault of the leveling motors going in the xenon headlights, basically each headlight has a motor that auto levels (legal requirement in the UK) these were a bit suspect on earlier S3's, I had mine doing the same not long after I bought it, soon the other headlight will point at the floor so they will be all over the place. I had mine done at the Dealer I bought it from under warranty (if you have it) they should know about the problem, if not tell them to contact Audi UK and ask for the tech letter for this known fault on the earlier models. If no warranty then IIR they were around £43 each plus how ever long it takes them to do.
As I said they changed both motors and have not had the problem since. I will try and find my post on this fault. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[imported_ashs3]

Here is the link to the full post
http://www.audi-sport.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=1,10,15,105,200,900,1000&Board=a3s3&Number=105248&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

 

[jediknight]

i checked this morning. when i turn the lights on they BOTH move about (i guess auto leveling).. so the motor is working as far as i can tell.

 

[jediknight]

would audi charge me if i just went in there and asked them to check the lights out?

 

[dickys3]

I'm sure they could advise you before you agree to have the work done.

 

[jediknight]

im thinking of getting a warrenty anyway.. would the check the car over before issuing a warrenty and see that the lights are already faulty or could i just pay for the warrenty and then nip in there next week and get them do do the lights under warrenty.

ta

 

[dickys3]

You may get away with the lights. It depends on how thorough they are. If you are going to get the warranty then you may as well try.

 

[jediknight]

so basically there is no manual adjustment on the headlight unit itself?

i'll give it a try tomorrow

 

[imported_plexxi]

Yes there is an adjustment screw on each headlight. (at least on my pre-facelift) Its an inner hexagon screw made of white plastic, that you can adjust the nominal position with. Make sure you have the car on a level surface when you do this.

But if your adjustment motor is faulty it is no point in adjusting on this screw, since it will move out of adjustment anyway the next time the motor decides to.

 

[jediknight]

cheers martin... thats the thing.. i dont know that the motor is faulty.. it was just suggested that it was.

i will try the adjustment screw and see how that goes.

thanks (why doesnt the handbook show how to adjust this..wierd)

 

[AndybS3]

[ QUOTE ]
jedi-knight83 said:
park position? wont they be in the park position if im on level ground?

[/ QUOTE ]


park position is the adjustment starting point when the car perceives the lights to be at their central position but as Mike and Khufu say they could be pointing anywhere, you then adjust the lights with the screws then when you log out of VAG-Com the car learns the new control point

 

[jediknight]

well it wont do an damage to just try adjusting it on level ground..then when i meet up with my friend with vag com tomorrow i can try the park position thing.

where is the vag com port by the way?

 

[Welch]

jedi
did u buy the car from audi?
if not then you will need to put it through a full 400 point check with audi before they will warranty the car,.
I just done this with my car and the only thing they found was a fault on the headlight washer alignment so not covered.
if they find a fault with the lights then they won;t cover it sadly!!

warranty cost me 450 for a year but unlimited mileage so got to be worth it!!

Nick

 

[jediknight]

NLW
no car was private sale.
they quoted me £540 for the warrenty.. where did you get £450 from? is yours a newer car? mine is 2001 Y plate.

 

[dickys3]

[ QUOTE ]
jedi-knight83 said:
well it wont do an damage to just try adjusting it on level ground..then when i meet up with my friend with vag com tomorrow i can try the park position thing.

where is the vag com port by the way?

[/ QUOTE ]

OBD port is under the stearing wheel column. If you are sitting in the Drivers seat, its near where your right knee would be. If you open the drivers door and kneel down outside the car, you'l easily see it! Its PINK!

 

[jediknight]

which plug do i undo then to disconnect the motors, then i can get the lights set using those screws and then just forget about them... a bit like a normal car!

 

[ajmackie]

yeah but if you've got them as standard with self levelling, you might as well get a new motor. I've retrofitted lights on mine. Not hard to change the motor, but you would have to remove your headlight from the car for access.

When you get the new motor it will seem as though it won't fit. You need to turn the motor at the end with a screwdriver to make the thing that sticks in the lights longer. You'll see it if you do it yourself.

 

[Little_Si]

I had a similar problem on mine recently. Nearside headlight was pointing at the sky.

On the adjustment motor, there is a shaft with a ball on the end. The ball should be popped into a plastic rail within the headlight unit. On mine, the ball had popped out. This made the lights point upwards and made them not self adjust. I too have vag com and could see that the nearside light would not adjust up and down.

You should be able to check this quite asily. The motor removes by turning about 45 degrees and then pulls out. If the ball has come out then the motor will easily come out. If the ball is attached, the motor will only come out a few mm and you will see the headlight moving with the motor.

If it has come out, you need to pop it back in by holding the headlight intenals in position ang giving the motor a good hard shove until the ball pops into position.

Not the best explanation in the world, but take a look and I'm sure you'll get the idea.

 

[jediknight]

so is it easy to get the head light out?

is there a haynes manual for these cars?

ta

 

[Little_Si]

[ QUOTE ]
or tip the motor to one side and slide the ball into the retaining runner as intended


[/ QUOTE ]

That's easy when the headlight is removed. I spent ages trying to do this (I had an old broken headlight unit off my old A3 to practise on). I just couldn't get it to slide in. Popped in nicely with a good bit of old fashioned brute force though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif