How to get rid of ABS dash lights after fitting HIDS.

[krisavant]

Fitted my hids the other night then straight away ABS etc warning lights come on.
What I've learnt, expensive hids, cheap hids it's pot luck whether they'll throw the abs lights up.
Moving the ballasts works for some people for me it didn't.

The ground to the near side headlight shares the same ground as the abs sensor along with other grounds.

So to remove the headlight ground to another place made sense not to interfere with the other grounds.
Here's some pics and a rough guide what to do.
Only do this if your confident in not messing it up and can put back to original setup if things go wrong.
In other words 'Don't blame me if you balls it up'. Lol

So I removed near side headlight, turned hids on and what do you know, no dash lights! That's a start, so it's defo this side that's causing the dash lights.

Unplug the headlight plug and the wire you need to cut is wire 10.

Cut the wire about 3 inch from plug.
The wire coming from the car, cover up and forget about it.

Find a wire roughly the same thickness (14 gauge) and solder/clip onto ground coming from the plug.

Ground the other end of wire to the windscreen washer bolt. I added another washer onto the bolt to sandwich the wire in.

Tighten.

Fit headlight back in, making sure to cover any exposed wire.
Get in car, turn hids on. Hey presto no dash lights.

Works for me and other people I know but I can only hope it works for you.
My ballasts are under my headlights for any one wanting to know.
Like I said, just a rough guide, but you get the idea.
Kris

 

[leegsi]

Will be doing this when I fit mine.

Thanks for the pointers in the right direction.

 

[deano1978]

Mine used to do this,so just turned ignition on and off. Worked for me.
But has stopped doing it now?
Cant complain.

Good thread for some

 

[quattrojames]

Nice write up, I'll add it to the DIY stickies.

 

[benjie]

Mine are located in the same place as yours... sometimes I get the warning, other times I don't. It's about a 20/80 split (don't/do). I'm going to do this as it seems to fit with my intermittent warning lights. Thanks a lot!

 

[krisavant]

Unplug or take out near side headlight first, then turn lights on.
If abs lights don't come up then you know its more than likely the earth that needs relocating.

 

[benjie]

Only thing is that they don't always cause the warning then I turn them on, so there's no way to be sure. I'll just do it anyway, it's only a 10min job.

 

[BRILLO]

Done this earth mod yesterday and all seems fine now. Ten minutes work if that. Good solution to a nippy problem. Cheers kris.

 

[deano1978]

Guys have you all been doing the nearside headlight (passengerside)

 

[krisavant]

Yes.

 

[Deeming77]

Has anyone had problems with high beam staying on after fitting hid lights? I've fitted two kits both main and high beam. But not moved the earths yet.

 

[BRILLO]

Yes.

. Also yes.

 

[krisavant]

Has anyone had problems with high beam staying on after fitting hid lights? I've fitted two kits both main and high beam. But not moved the earths yet.

Haven't fitted high beam myself.
Is the main beam turning itself off or staying on after you've switched them off?

 

[Deeming77]

They are switching off when switched off. Its just the high beam won't stay on when push the stalk forward but flashes when stalk pulled back. And soon as the head lights turn on all fog lights go off. Even though they work with the side lights.

 

[krisavant]

Read this, may help...
VWVortex.com - High Beam light stuck on, and no foglights after HID- kit install.

 

[Paul_TDi]

I fitted HID's yesterday.

Fitted everything inside the headlights like the DIY guide.

And as expected the ABS light flashed up. So did the earth relocation and when started last night it sorted it fine.

Started up this morning and it didn't do ABS, but then next time I turned it on it did ABS. Not sure if it was because I turned car on then flicked lights on quickly as restarted at the lights and it went.

So even with the earth relocated maybe need to let the car settle for at least a few seconds before switching on?

 

[krisavant]

Couple of checks..
Disconnect passenger headlight then turn ignition on. Do abs lights come on?

 

[Paul_TDi]

Yer before I had done the earth mod the ABS light came on when Passenger light in and then ABS went once headlight out.

 

[krisavant]

Was no. 10 on the plug deffo your earth & the raw end of wire coming from car taped up?

 

[Paul_TDi]

Yep all done as guide.

 

[krisavant]

Can't understand how the hids is inter fearing with the abs earth?? I can only suggest moving the earth well away from the wing and wrap hid wires in an inner tube or something similar to stop interference.

 

[Paul_TDi]

I'll double check everything and run for a few days and see what happens.

maybe see if theres a bolt on the chassis legs i can piggy back the earth onto?

 

[deano1978]

This started happening on my 1st pair of hids,what i kep doing was turn ignition on (1st turn) then if lights errors flashed,turned off,then turned on again,full ignition on. No probs.

Thing is its as if its learnt about the problem because it doesn't do it anymore??

To prove it again,got my 2nd pair of hids,repeated above...now at point it doesn't do it. Again!
Strange, but happy.

 

[BRILLO]

I've had no problems at all since doing Kris's mod. I think every a4 has a different temperament to hids. Lol. Mine as well as Kris's were 100% error free. Not so it would seem. Lol.

 

[Paul_TDi]

Well had some time to work things out and although not fixed I've learnt how to avoid the warning.

If I turn the switch to dipped beam before I start the car. When I start the engine the HID's come on no issues.

If I start the car and turn on HID's within say 10 seconds I get the warning.

If I turn the HID's on after 50 off metres..... no warning.

Bizarre I know but thats what seems to work.

I don't know if it has anything to do with me screwing up the mod to begin with. I originally soldered the relocation wire to the earth going into the car loom. Was a frantic 20 mins swapping HID bulbs about thinking I had blown one, until the penny dropped. I left the car loom wire with 2cm stripped with solder on it but wrapped in gaffa tape. Maybe if I trim it back it could help?

 

[krisavant]

The car loom you wanted to avoid because that's where the abs earth is grouped with.
You need to insulate the exposed wire with electrical insulation tape.

Where have you earthed the wire coming from headlight plug?

 

[Jimmy TDI]

Getting this into my posts for when I do my hids in the new year.

 

[Greeny233]

I just moved the ballasts as far away from the ABS unit as possible, worked a treat not had a problem in over 12 months.

 

[nefA4]

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showpost.php?p=2045844

 

[nefA4]

Do you have to do this in both sides or only the driver side?

 

[S4_dan]

Only the passenger side unless your car is a left hand drive? The ABS unit shares the same earth wire as the passenger headlight.

 

[nefA4]

Only the passenger side unless your car is a left hand drive? The ABS unit shares the same earth wire as the passenger headlight.

Thank you, and yes my car is a left hand drive.the earth wire has to be exactly the sme thickness (14 gage) or it could be a little more thicker?

 

[blazedani]

I just moved the ballasts as far away from the ABS unit as possible, worked a treat not had a problem in over 12 months.

Yes, that's the solution.
High voltage cables & ballast as far away as possible.

I was able to avoid this issue just by moving the ballast & cables. Also by shielding the high voltages cables with aluminum foil.

If the earth wire was the problem, moving the ballast or using aluminum would do nothing.

 

[S4_dan]

You can use thicker wire if you wish or the same. Just don't too go much thinner.

 

[benjie]

I did this a month ago and no warning lights, so guess it's all sorted. Thanks!

 

[nefA4]

The car loom you wanted to avoid because that's where the abs earth is grouped with.
You need to insulate the exposed wire with electrical insulation tape.

Where have you earthed the wire coming from headlight plug?

Sorry, whats a car loom?

 

[nefA4]

Sorry, whats a car loom?

And i screw the earth wire exactly in the same place where u show on the mod, and i did the sandwich just like u show i think thats the wiper washer screw.

 

[krisavant]

Sorry, whats a car loom?

I was referring to the wiring coming from the car at the time of conversation.

 

[krisavant]

And i screw the earth wire exactly in the same place where u show on the mod, and i did the sandwich just like u show i think thats the wiper washer screw.

Are you asking for advice?
Or you saying this is what you have done?

 

[nefA4]

Are you asking for advice?
Or you saying this is what you have done?

Yes im asking for advise, if posible