Headlight Alignment

[tonedef]

Just got back to Singapore after a week at home polishing and driving the S3 my wife bought since I was here, brilliant fun and very addictive performance. It's costing me a small fortune already though, a pair of Michelin Pilots and Tarox brakes for the front came to almost £600, registering the Tracker another £140, a spare key as the car only has one £200+, impending service to include cam belt and water pump etc £???

One problem I did find apart from those already listed, the driver's side headlight seems to have a mind of it's own. The first time I went out at night the beam was aimed about 15 feet in front of the car so adjusted it roughly against the garage door. Next night it was only lighting up the trees so adjusted it down again. Seemed OK for a couple of days then it's back down in the weeds again. Is this a known problem and if so what is the fix? I really don't need to hear that it's a headlight unit!

Another two months here and I get to have another trip home, hopefully just buying Optimax and driving it this time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[col6821]

This happened on my car, but only once. Before I could mess about with the alignment it resolved itself. It appeared to be something to do with the auto alignment motor (being Xenon's they are required by law to be self levelling (and washable)).
Apparently you can't adjust the lights manually without the Audi tool, so it's probably best to have someone with the tool re-align both lights for you.

 

[Buster]

My car has also suffered from this problem as well as many others on here.

The problem was solved by fitting new xenon motors, I got mine under warranty but I think they are about £40 each, it is a known problem but I haven't had the problem since the new motors were fitted.

 

[jcs356]

I've got this too - and find turning the lights off and back on again after waiting for a few seconds normally sorts things out.

 

[Buster]

Doesn't always sort it out, few people told me to give it a try but still never worked, for the sake of £40 or so for a motor you are just aswell fixing it

 

[tonedef]

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll try a new motor then as £40 sounds like a much better fix than I could have hoped for.

I'd tried the whole turning it off and on again thing after adjusting the aim, seemed to work fine and stayed that way for a couple of days as I said but then went bad again just before I came back east. I'll post the replies to my wife and ask her to get one ordered ready for the monster service in May.

 

[dickys3]

You need to put the lights into "learn mode" using vagcom. then you can adjust them. If you adjust them without going into learn mode they won't adjust properly.

Its a common problem with the motors failing so you can either pay the cash to get the new part or remove the adjustment connection and allign them manually (the good old fashioned way!)

 

[tonedef]

It really has come to something when light have a "learn mode"???

The more I read the forum the more it seems I need vagcom in my life, what hardware/software do I need, how much money and can I put it through the business as PLC programming sofware for my forthcoming project in Qatar? There are no tax men reading I hope /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif