Poor Audi Q5 xeon headlights!

[Grandfondo]

Had car 5 years and never any complaints about headlights until it went to dealership for cam belt change (could be total coincidence) but since then the headlights have been ste!

Is there adjustment on headlights because the car is now dangerous to drive at night?

[Sheepshanks]

Someone's swapped them for standard halogen units.

[shtu]

A couple of little-known things,

The bulbs wear out. They still work, look white, etc., but the output tails off over time.

The projector lenses get covered in a thin "film" over time, that reduces output.

Have a hunt for one of my posts on this - replacement bulbs, and cleaning the projector lenses restored the lights.

[Grandfondo]

shtu said:

A couple of little-known things,

The bulbs wear out. They still work, look white, etc., but the output tails off over time.

The projector lenses get covered in a thin "film" over time, that reduces output.

Have a hunt for one of my posts on this - replacement bulbs, and cleaning the projector lenses restored the lights.

Cheers for that but it seems to have been a sudden loss of light as if the lights are pointing down instead of into the distance!

[Sheepshanks]

Grandfondo said:

Cheers for that but it seems to have been a sudden loss of light as if the lights are pointing down instead of into the distance!

That would suggest a fault somewhere with the self-levelling system. Do they cycle up and down when you turn the ignition on?

[Grandfondo]

Sheepshanks said:

Grandfondo said:

Cheers for that but it seems to have been a sudden loss of light as if the lights are pointing down instead of into the distance!

That would suggest a fault somewhere with the self-levelling system. Do they cycle up and down when you turn the ignition on?

Will check that!

Cheers.

[bigjobbo]

Have a look in the dash insert for travel mode, I know on a VW it's in 'lights/vision' in the mfd and will drop the beam height a touch.

[Grandfondo]

So spoke to a VAG tech bod today of the record and he says that they disconnect the lights when doing the TB so the "it had nothing to do with the TB change" line from service receptionist seems a bit less probable now!
Will be having further discussion with them Monday.

[catso]

The self-levelling system broke on my A3 and the lights 'dropped' down so that they illuminated like foglights. Initially I manually adjusted them until at the right level but they didn't adjust any more.

A linkage from the levelling motor had broken and I got this replaced at the next service but the dealer didn't re-adjust the (minimum) height that I had set manually so the headlights shone into the trees...

[Grandfondo]

Ok, software fault and £30 later all is well!

The service receptionist told me that they didn't disconnect the lights when doing the timing belt the tech "did it from the back".

[Dr G]

Sounds more like the auto levelling needed resetting - normal for a flat battery. Battery probably disconnected for your belt, hey presto.

[Grandfondo]

Every time the car goes into the dealers they "find" something broken or needs fixed even though it goes in trouble free but you will never get them to admit liability so it always costs more than the menu service price!

[Grandfondo]

Ok,so replied to customer satisfaction txt with a No I was contacted very promptly from service department.long story short they admit no liability for lights but as a good will gesture will be refunding my card!

Now onto the disks and pads that they told me 6 months ago needed changed!