Driving A3 with Xenons in Europe - Advice

ianhowell

ianhowell

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Has anyone driven in Europe with Xenons? If so did you get them adjuusted by Audi for driving on the wrong sidfe of the road or just left them alone. A friend of mine has a Honda S2000 which has the Xenons and he recently went to the South of France. He checked the manual and it said that he did not need to change the setting???????
I am going to the Ring on the Bank Holiday Weekend and want to get it sorted before I go. My Local dealer said they can adjust them the morning I go for £50!!

Any advice welcome on this subject.
Ian
 
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Any advice welcome on this subject.


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Yeah, tell the dealers to feck off /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

The non-xenon lights have a swith in the heallamp to change between right/left hand drive, if xenons are the same it's a fiddly job, but easy once you know how.

If it's more complicated to change then just buy some deflectors.

Kev.
 
Just to put the record straight. The 'old' A3 (8L) has a small metal lever in the headlights to change non-xenon headlights for continental driving. The new A3 (8P) does not have such a switch and you are required to fit black patches to the headlights as in the old days as stated in the A3 Owners Manual. Audi suggest that you buy plastic headlight protectors and attach the patches to these rather than directly to the headlights. Not sure if there is a technical reason for this but the plastic headlight protectors are very easy to fit and come complete with the black patches in the box. The protectors also have marks on the outside indicating where the patches shown be attached. The actual headlight do not have any such marks.

I puchased and fitted a pair before my recent holiday to Austria, driving through France and Germany on the way. They cost £28.94 from my dealer and took me about 10 minutes to fit. They do also protect the main headlight glass from stones etc. The part no of the protectors is ZGB8P0072100 and are incidently made in Australia !

Telling the dealer to 'f off' is not always the best way to get co-operation from them! especially when you do not know the correct procedure yourself. When I asked my dealer about the headlights they knew exactly what was required. I know that, if I did have xenons fitted, my dealer would do the change for me with no charge.

Not sure of the procedure for Xenon headlights, but driving, even during the daytime in some European countries with non-adjusted or black patched headlights is illegal and could easily result in a fine, especially from the French police. In Austria all the traffic now drives with headlights on at all times.
 

There was a post onhere detailing how to change the xenoms over. I'm assuming you've done a search? It could be one of the threads/posts lost during the recent problems though although I am sure the author will be along soon to give us the details.

J.
 
Having now looked at my copy of the ElsaWin - electronic workshop manual, the procedure for changing xenon headights for european driving does, unlike the procedure for non-xenon headlights, involves moving a lever inside the headlights. The reason that the Owners Manual suggests that it be done by a dealer is because of the 'stuff' that has to be removed to get at the back cover of the lights and the very high voltages involved in the xenon headlight units.
 
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Telling the dealer to 'f off' is not always the best way to get co-operation from them! especially when you do not know the correct procedure yourself. When I asked my dealer about the headlights they knew exactly what was required. I know that, if I did have xenons fitted, my dealer would do the change for me with no charge.

Not sure of the procedure for Xenon headlights, but driving, even during the daytime in some European countries with non-adjusted or black patched headlights is illegal and could easily result in a fine, especially from the French police. In Austria all the traffic now drives with headlights on at all times.

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David,

My point may have been blunt, but I don't see why a dealer should charge £50 (which must equate to about 45 mins work?) for what is not a very tricky job.

First time I tried to change mine over I stuggled, so I took the car to my dealer who showed me how to change the lever, for this there was no charge, and they would have changed them for me any number of times, no charge.

Ian does not make mention, but was that £50 to change them and to change them back, or £50 each time?

If your dealer are prepared to do it for free, and my dealer is, why is Ian's dealer charging £50? Hence the feck off comment.

My manual for the 8L also said take it to a dealer BTW, even for standard lamps, but then again it also says take it to the dealer to replace the side lights! Probably because it's so tricky.

I'm interested in your point about black patched headlights being illegal. Do you mean light deflectors or just where people have taped their lights off?

Kev.
 
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Thanks for the Advice, I will go with my Dealers initial advice and get them to do it on the way to the ferry.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ian,

If you going from Dover or from Folkestone let me know and I'll post the dealers number that I use.

Give them a call and see if they can do it for you FOC on your way past...

Kev.
 
To change over zenons for driving on the continent costs about 60 euros in Germany, takes about 20 minutes to do and the local dealership to me said they would swap it back free of charge next time I went in.

TBH I drove around for a month and when I had them swapped over didnt make that much of a difference.

(Although I do realise the reason for changing it is so you can spot pedestrians more easily)

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/book.gif
 
Probably, but I dont think the A3 has that problem, the A3 headlights have a very straight forward narrow beam, I nearly didnt have to get them changed at all, theres a test for cars belonging to the British military personnel/contractors in Germany (who I work for) for the lights etc.... and the testing guy said it was very close to the german setup.
 
That would explain why the S2000 does not need adjustment then.

TBH, if it's that close I'd not bother with the dealer, just use some deflectors.

Kev.
 
audi upgrades
I recently added "cool blue" sidelight bulbs to my Sportback to match its xenons. However, with the back of the headlight cover off, I can't say I saw anything inside there that could be adjusted!

Interesting topic though - I'm considering driving down to the Geneva motorshow next year (as part of a weeks' holiday), so this topic is helpful. Will have to search for the previous thread on how to adjust the xenons yourself.
 
Shamelessly (sp) stolen from HTC.

This pic is for xenons on an 8L, but it should be somewhere near... as I say fidlly until you've got the knack.

headlightlever017df.jpg


headlightlever022de.jpg


Kev.
 

Just a quickie!

The plastic covers aren't recommended for Xenon lights though are they? Or has it now changed, I know on the mkIV golf they said no to use them I think it was something to do with the heat of the lights possibly crakcing the lense it the covers where in place.

I did have a seton my R for the whole time I used it without and problems though...

J.
 
The back of xenons for the 8P A3 are nothing like the diagrams posted.

For the equivalent ones see the following: A94-0578 A94-0588

The item indicated as 1 on A94-0588 is the lever that is used to change the headlights for continental driving.
 
" The 'old' A3 (8L) has a small metal lever in the headlights to change non-xenon headlights for continental driving. "

I have a 1999 A3, but I could not see any adjusting levers when I took a quick look the other day..?
 
They were there on 1998, 2000 and 2003 models because I used them each year to change my headlights before driving to Austria. The rear covers have to be removed in the same way as you would to change bulbs to gain access to the levers.

If you still cannot find them, re-post and I will try and post the diagrams from the workshop manual.
 
Ok, thanks. I can't imagine they would have skipped the 1999 model so will have more of a look later. Thanks again.
 
Just came back from France and nobody flashed me (old A6 had the levers, new one doesn't).
 
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