XENON HEADLIGHT FLASHING PROBLEM

jusw

jusw

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Hi Guys,


I'm new to the site and was really hoping someone might be able to help me out on this issue, I've recently bought and fitted some genuine Audi Xenon headlight to my 2006 A3, they look great... only one problem when the headlights are turned on when the engines running they flash ON and OFF very fast, like a strobe light effect.

The only way I can get them to work is if I turn them on in the following sequence:

  1. Ignition On
  2. Turn headlights On
  3. Wait for 10 secs
  4. Start the engine
Even this sometimes fails to work first time.


Also to add to the problem if I turn my main beam on or flash my lights whilst the headlights are turned on they start flashing (again like a strobe light) and I can’t stop them without pulling over and repeating the sequence above, I found this out the hard way when I was coming back from work on the A19 at 11 at night and went to flash someone out. Scary!!
The headlights came out of my mates 2004 A3 working except from the ‘dipped headlight failure’ warning on the dash, which I also have, he didn’t experience any of the flashing problems I’m now having.


I’ve read bits and pieces about people removing relays and bridging across because the headlights don’t get the correct voltage on start up with the car having halogens in originally?? Don’t know if that’s true or could solve my problem? Also I’ve heard getting the car plugged into VagCom and the settings changed may solve this??
I’m at a bit of a loss now and if anyone has any ideas on how to solve this or could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks, Justin
 
When you say fitted, did you just plug them in & away you go?
 
I just plugged them straight in, no modifications at all. its a tricky one.
 
What sidelights are they as they're fairly bluey.

You would be best to start with getting the car coded to tell it has xenons for a start, if the car supports them that is.

Where abouts are you?
 
Thanks for your reply, there an LED side light bulb, just what my mate had in when they were in his car, highly illegal Im thinking.

I'm 8 miles away from Newcastle Upon Tyne.

cheers
 
Check the list of vcds users link in my sig for people who will code these for you, alternatively I sell the cable that does this, PM if interested.

Nigel
 
NHN said:
Check the list of vcds users link in my sig for people who will code these for you, alternatively I sell the cable that does this, PM if interested.

Nigel
Click to expand...

Update... I took my car round the corner to the company who remapped my car as I remembered they had VCDS they plugged it in and coded the car for 'Xenon headlights', as you said.

Job done!! it also cleared the 'dipped headlight failure' warning on the dash.

clean dash, working headlights, well pleased!! thanks for all your help.

btw I will PM you about getting a VCDS cable as this will come in very handy in the future.
 
Hi guys,

I have just joined the foum after buying an Audi A3 2006 (56 reg) yesterday.

I apologise for digging up an old thread, but my car has exactly the same problem as listed in this thread.

I have since returned the car to the garage where I bought it from (a 1.5 hour journey) and have asked them to resolve this issue, mentioning that it could be that the vehicle needs 'coding for Xenon headlights', as they had removed the battery while fiting a new cambelt and thought that the coding may have been lost. They plugged the car into the computer and were unable to find any options to set xenon headlights.

I am now stuck without my new car, while they resolve this problem and have explained that they will have a "play around" to try and resolve it, otherwise they will fit the standard halogen headlights, which I would like to avoid if at all possible as I quite like the Xenons.

I am wondering if you can talk me through how to code the car for xenon headlights, so that I can explain this to them and get my car back this side of christmas?

I hope you don't mind me PMing a couple of you in regards to this, as I could do with an answer ASAP.

Thanks in advance for your replies,

Kind regards,

Jay
 
After a few hours of of googling the issue I think that I may have found something, hopefully someone can confirm if this is correct/ will work?

Open VCDS go to select control module, then select 09 central electronics, then select coding, then long coding helper and scroll through the options:
- Byte 00 Bit 4, Daytime Running Lights (North America) - DISABLE
- Byte 03 Bit 4, Xenon Shutter without Shutter Installed - ACTIVATE
- Byte 19 Bit 0, Cold Diagnosis Low Beam active - DISABLE

The above as far as I understand will disable daytime running lights (to preserve the xenons from burning out too fast), Fix the flickering problem and disable the bulb blow warning symbol on the DIS.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Jay
 
1st of all, its etiquette to 1st search the forum/search engine for your answer, which you clearly did after posting on the open forum & pm's, pm's asking people to tell you how to advise a garage how to do there work really isnt the way to do things, thats what you pay them for, in future please remember this & people will be happy to help when they have the free time.

Next, did the car come with xenons or did they/you retrofit these to the car.

Coding isnt lost when disconnecting a battery, modules retain coding until changed.

Its not just a case of coding these things sometimes, it may need wiring changed/added to make things work properly, but until we have a history it makes it harder for anyone to assist you.

What symbol is showing on your dis, an image is always best, from your car not someone else's.
 
Hi There,

I do apologise I had been searching various before I found this post and I just thought that if I could point them in the right direction I would get my car back sooner, rather than later. I am directing this information at the company I bought my car from (not the garage), as they were unsure of how to fix the issue and they can then relay it to the garage for them to fix it.

They say that they have attempted the coding explained in my previous post, which has not worked and they think that they may need to buy a harness adaptor to resolve the problem.

The reason I assumed that it was coding loss due to a removed battery was that the stereo was reset to factory defaults (eject button locked) which they manged to unlock with the computer and reading this post with exactly the same problem I thought that it may have lost the coding for the xenons.

The xenons are after market and did not come as standard with the car (but were on it when purchased).

The symbol showing on the DIS is a bulb out warning. The computer brings it back as being the dipped beam, which would make sense as the xenons essentially replace them, so the car would think the bulb was out.

As I say the first post in this thread describes my issue word for word, and drew me to the conclusion that it could be resolved with coding, as it doesn't appear that the car knows it has xenons but rather halogens.

Thanks for your reply, any help would be much appreiciated!

Kind regards,
Jay
 
ZxIRAX said:
The xenons are after market and did not come as standard with the car (but were on it when purchased).
Click to expand...

Game over, aftermarket xenons have no correlation with coding whatsoever, get them of & either fit oem's xenons or go back to halogens, the aftermarket xenons will probably blow your wiper motor, £300 bill later.

Next time you need help, provide all the info instead of 10%, it always help or we could be speculating all day long as to your issue.

If you search the forum there are many threads on aftermarket xenons & the wiper motor issue.
 
NHN said:
Game over, aftermarket xenons have no correlation with coding whatsoever, get them of & either fit oem's xenons or go back to halogens, the aftermarket xenons will probably blow your wiper motor, £300 bill later.
Click to expand...

That is interesting to know and if that is the case, I will be sure to ask for them to be removed. However I am only going on what I was told by the seller and he said that they were "aftermarket" but they could have been OEM xenons.

FYI - they look identical to these, which are apparently OEM xenons:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Audi_xenon_a3_sline.jpg - don't want to post the pic here as it is very large.

If they are indeed OEM xenons, what would be the procedure then?

Thanks again for your help.

Jay
 
Those are not aftermarket unless he has used the oem headlight casing with aftermarket xenons plugged in somehow, which now makes it even more fun for you to work out.

You need someone to check the wiring & coding for you, as we have no idea whats actually fitted to your car atm & I dont want to waste time speculating.
 
I doubt that they would have gone to that much trouble.

Everything on the car was working perfectly when I test drove it 2 weeks ago. I left it with them for days for a new cambelt and water pump and it ended up with a locked eject button on the stereo (factory setting) and fashing xenons when full beam are turned on.

I will leave it with them until they fix it. I just had my fingers crossed that there maybe an easy fix, such as the coding one that jusw mentioned above.

I will be sure to post back here when it's all fixed to let you know how it was resolved.

Thanks again for your help.

Jay
 
I'm getting my car back this afternoon... but it's still not fixed.

The garage closes for 2 weeks over christmas today, so they are bringing it back for me to use until they can have it back to resolve the issue.

I have contaced a few local VAG specialists, but they are also closing for christmas today and wont be able to fit me in until the first week in January.

I am going to try and find someone who can possibly slot me inbetween christmas and new year to have a look at the problem.. otherwise I will be without my car for another few weeks while they fix the issue.

Any help with the coding in the meantime would be appreciated (especially jusw) as I can give this to the VAG specialist as an example of how it was fixed.

Kind regards and merry christmas,
Jay
 
In 6 days they couldnt fix or give you an answer to hat the issue is, please thats just ridiculous.

Until we know what has been done with the headlights as in did they use adapters or just swap plugs hoping would work, then whats the point of advising coding, also we need to know if they moved the pins on the CE module & what version CE module you have as even if we provide coding, if your modules dont support the headlights, then it wont work anyway as coding wont be accepted.

Another thing is, we need to see your coding so we can advise what needs changing, as people have various options coded into there cars, its not all the same, so if we advise say one coding, then it may disable another option on your car, so back to square one.

You need to understand these things a little better chap, before asking these things, no offense.

Also if you are taking it to a vag specialist they will know the coding requirements, so you dont need these anyway, if they dont know the codings needed, then they are not a vag specialist.

If you are still stuck with the specialist, then I may be able to resolve for you depending where you are.
 
It was 10 days, not 6 - this is why I am getting a little annoyed. I have bought the car and had it less than 24 hours before I took it back to be fixed.

I would give you all the info you need, if I had the car - but it's still not been brought back to me. If you tell me what I need to look for I can come back with all the info.

I'm in Cheshire and had a look at your VCDS member list on google maps, but the labels did not show up - so am unable to see the list.

Can anyone recommend anyone in Cheshire who would be able to diagnose/ resolve this, sooner rather than later.. but I can wait until new year.

The 4 local specialists are finished for xmas, and wont be back until new year. If there is anyone who can do it before then it would be prefered.

Thanks,
Jay
 
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