xenon motors

[glen_jai]

Hi,
I'm having still having some trouble with my headlights. The driver side light just points to the ground. When adjusted manually to the highest position, the high beam just shines into the sky. Plus when I switch my lights on, the problem headlight makes a tapping noise, like the motor has reached the limit of its travel.

Took it to an Audi specialist in my area (Burwell Audi Specialists), who had a look at it and said they needed to take the headlight out to figure out what the problem is, which includes removing the bumper (3 hour job).

Obviously, being relunctant to pay for the labour charges, I'd quite like to see if it's the motor that are causing the problem.

So does anyone how I can replace the motor myself?

Cheers,
Glen

 

[themanthatcan]

It's a 15 min job to remove the front bumper and headlights. There was a guide on here recently on how to do the bumper. The headlights are held in by 3 bolts..two on the top and one underneath. The one underneath isn't immediately obvious, but can be accessed through a hole in the metalwork above the light (between the headlight and the wing).

I'd suggest you take a look yourself before paying 3 hours labour to get the fault diagnosed.

 

[simch]

Bumper takes 30 minutes to remove tops!

My xenon does this too, I find if it is pointing at the ground, I just stop, turn off lights, turn off ignition, restart car, leave for a few secs, turn on lights and its all working ok!

Xenon ligjht motors is a common problem, the motors are available seperately but arer a bit pricey, like c. 100 quid! IIRC

 

[jonS3]

shamless plug I have a pair of facelift Xenon headlight motors for sale if anyone needs them, and can sell seperately if needed.

pm me if you're interested

 

[glen_jai]

Thanks for all the useful comments guys.
30 minute to remove the bumper? Is that all?

So the Cambridge audi specialist claiming 3 - 4 hours labour are probably taking me for a ride then.

Jon, how much do you want for one of them motors?

 

[jonS3]

pm sent mate

 

[Blunteh]

You should be able to replace the motors without removing the bumper (AFAIK). I had one changed by Reading Audi and one changed by Fontain (failed a few weeks after the 1st one was fixed).

If it's only one side dropping it's almost certainly the motor, there's loads of posts on here about it.

~£50 for the part and half an hours labour tops....

Audi Dealers (both Amersham and Reading) told me is was a bumper off job and the headlights are a closed unit. If I'd have trusted them it would have cost me £1300 (£650 each) to fix... ****** stealers....

 

[glen_jai]

You should be able to replace the motors without removing the bumper (AFAIK). I had one changed by Reading Audi and one changed by Fontain (failed a few weeks after the 1st one was fixed).

If it's only one side dropping it's almost certainly the motor, there's loads of posts on here about it.

~£50 for the part and half an hours labour tops....

Audi Dealers (both Amersham and Reading) told me is was a bumper off job and the headlights are a closed unit. If I'd have trusted them it would have cost me £1300 (£650 each) to fix... ****** stealers....

That's exactly what the Burwell Audi specialist told me too.... but I don't fancy spending over £600 to find out it was just the motor.

I have someone I can buy the motor from for a very good price
But now, I need to know how to fit it... Any suggestions anyone?

Thanks,
Glen

 

[alijames]

Hi,

Check out http://audi.lanzz.org/A3electrical.pdf

Section 94 has the details for both pre and facelift Xenons, but it does not cover removing the bumper though, and I have not yet found the exterior fittings manual...

Cheers,

 

[jonS3]

here's how:

1. Remove washer bottle black cover. (2 screws)
2. You'll see the xenon motor nearest the wing side, in the back of the headlight, with a connector on it.
3. unplug this connector.
4. this is the only tricky bit. The motor has a ball type end on it which slides into a T-bar (in the same plane as the headlight, i.e horizontal.) piece of plastic inside the headlight.
5. You need to twist the motor about 30 degrees one way to undo it (it will only go one way) but it still won't come out because of the ball and T-bar. try carefully to move it to one side as far as it will go to un-hook it but don't force it as they are brittle.

refit is reverse of above but getting the new ball of the headlamp motor into the T-piece can be tricky. the trick is to remove the bulb cover on the back of the headlights and pull it towards you (thus making the T-piece as near as it can be.

hope this helps, it really is easier than you think

here's a pic of the motor to help you understand

 

[glen_jai]

Hi chaps,
Thanks for the replies. The pdf does cover a lot of stuff.

Thanks Jon for the description.
Can anyone tell me if it matters what the manual screws are adjusted to. Because I had it a backdraft recently, and the screws on the headlight were basically adjusted to lift the headlight beam as high as possible. Not sure if this will hinder getting the motor out, and the new one in...

Plus, I don't know what the screws should be set to now....

 

[adigraham]

Anyone know a part number for this motor please? I got same issue!

 

[NHN]

The issue isnt usually a faulty motor, its usually where someone has adjusted the manual lense adjusters to much & pulled the motor ball joints of the end of the track on the lense itself, so the motor isnt connected to the headlight internals anymore which inturns makes the lense either drop to the bottom or if the motor end is under the track then holds its up high, you have to remove the headlight & have a look inside with torch to see if the ball joint has come out of the locating track, if has then you have to just adjust the headlight fully in with manual adjusters then locate the motor properly, when done I would adjust the manual screws halfway then refit headlight & test if you can hear the motor working & the headlight moves, also if you adjust it manually to much it actually pulls the manual adjusters of there rubber mounts aswell, this is also a problem you have to look out for, trust me I've done these things many a time when upgrading my headlights on my old S3

 

[simch]

Anyone know a part number for this motor please? I got same issue!

my facelift xenon one is 8lo 941 295B