Fault: Vehicle Lighting

[Rtype]

Afternoon All,

Having a bit of trouble with the station hack.

Started the vehicle today (2013 mk 3 Leon FR 2.0tdi 184) to be greeted with an Error message: "Fault: Vehicle Lighting" - now helpfully, this error message doesn't actually tell me where the fault lies although quite irritatingly leaves quite a large orange warning triangle on on my dash.

I've had a visual inspection, including front fogs (have to check the rear fogs and brake lights later although I doubt it is these being LED lights) and I cant for the life of me see what the issue is. All seems to be working fine?

I've had a look on the trusty internet but am unable to find a solution and find myself puzzled. Is anyone able to shed any advice on this error?

Thanks

[Dr G]

In my experience that warning tends to point more to a fault with Adaptive, Matrix, or levelling. If a 'bulb' was out it would say as much.

Wouldn't be surprised if an 'assistance' system had a fault and the headlamps were simply working as 'dumb' lights if that makes sense.

[Dolf Stoppard]

Have you checked your number plate bulb and the fogs which light when you turn a corner?

If you have self levelling lights, do they do the normal 'dance" when you start the car up?

Are all the lights as bright as they should be or is one perhaps on the way out?

[SAS Tom]

Granted it’s a newer model but my 2016 Fabia says which bulb is out so as others have said it may be a different fault.

[Rtype]

Hi All,

Thank you for the response, it is appreciated.

All lights seem to be working and operating correctly ( I will check again when it is darker, including checking the self levelling of the LED lights).

Front fogs operate correctly, this model hasn't got the fog illumination whilst turning or at least I haven't noticed it since ownership in late 2015 although will check this none the less. Brake lights operate correctly as do indicators & both numberplate lights are illuminated correctly.

Think Dr. G might be correct and it could be a light assistance system. A friend has a code reader so shall plug this in tomorrow to see if this sheds any 'light' on my issue!!

Starting to get pretty confused now!

Edited by Rtype on Wednesday 27th December 14:37

[Dolf Stoppard]

Would be surprised if the fogs didn't operate when turning. I thought most VAG cars had this and would expect a Leon to have this feature.

Good luck anyway.

[xjay1337]

Use a code reader if the MFD doesn't display a fault.

Usually it's a bulb out. Sometimes hard to find.
May even be an interior bulb or number plate .

[DanSkoda]

Not knocked the light switch dial in have you? Comes up with something like that on the dash on some audis if you catch it with your knee. Or if you've been lazy with switching the dial and been between settings for a few seconds.

[Rtype]

So I have now managed to plug the car into an obd reader.

Annoyingly no fault related to the light fault and one fault code related to abs has been historically picked Up, error code 16401 which from googling seems to relate to the tyre pressure monitoring system which on occasion we have had to recalibrate.

Puzzled is not the word especially when the warning is as big as this



I've identified that it isn't the cornering fogs, apparently you need auto lights for that particular system and this model doesn't have auto lights just the cluster leds.

Any further ideas before I take it to the dealer? Disconnect battery etc for an hour? Or will that in itself cause further electrical gremlins?
Thanks in advance.

[SteBrown91]

Find a good vw specialist with vcds - normal code readers can only read codes covered under the obd2 standard - vcds is written to read vw systems similar to vw’s own systems.

Don’t pay dealer prices - a good Indy will charge no more than 50 quid to hook it up to vcds and will probably be able to fix much cheaper than a dealer. I doubt it is a bulb as my d 2011 golf told you which bulb was gone not just a generic message. I suspect it’s going to be the self levelling mechanism or a sensor linked to it or similar.

[Rtype]

Sad times, due to work commitments and local specialists availability I have booked into the dealer for next Thursday.

I have called a couple of specialists to see if they have seen something like this before and everyone thought the error message would display a particular bulb which isn't the case here.

I've only found two (2) threads online where somebody had a similar problem within the VAG umbrella. The persons in question said "I took it into the dealers, don't know what they did with it and it came out and hasn't resurfaced its head" which isn't particularly helpful.

I will update the thread with what the exact problem is upon official dealer diagnosis so that hopefully should anyone have a similar problem there is a conclusive thread for them to locate.

[xjay1337]

Prepare for the £80 bill just to plug the car in :-)

[Rtype]

xjay1337 said:

Prepare for the £80 bill just to plug the car in :-)

Ugh, I know, It is frustrating. Part of me thinks that it probably needs something incredibly simple, maybe a software update of some form (didn't go dealer for servicing it went to local garage) who I won't be using again. They messed up the MOT and the mileage & I had to return to get them to correct it.

[Nickbrapp]

FYI if your leon has LED headlights then it won’t have the cornering fogs, it’s deleted on all the Leon’s with LED headlights for some reason, mine doesn’t have them either.

Does your car auto level properly, I have a leon and I’ve found that when it’s cold ( under 5 Degrees) that the drivers headlight goes to its lowest setting, but as soon as the engines warm and you turn the lights off and on again it will level back to normal. Very very odd.

Have you got auto high beam? If so is it working correctly? Maybe he camera has gone out of alighnment?

I’ve not had a fault code though. But when you have a bulb out on the outside of the car, it will tell you which bulb, I found this out though unplugging one of the rears then it gave me the code “ rear right light fault”

Have you checked all your interior bulbs too? Including the footwell bulbs, strips in the door etc?

[Rtype]

Nickbrapp said:

FYI if your leon has LED headlights then it won’t have the cornering fogs, it’s deleted on all the Leon’s with LED headlights for some reason, mine doesn’t have them either.

Does your car auto level properly, I have a leon and I’ve found that when it’s cold ( under 5 Degrees) that the drivers headlight goes to its lowest setting, but as soon as the engines warm and you turn the lights off and on again it will level back to normal. Very very odd.

Have you got auto high beam? If so is it working correctly? Maybe he camera has gone out of alighnment?

I’ve not had a fault code though. But when you have a bulb out on the outside of the car, it will tell you which bulb, I found this out though unplugging one of the rears then it gave me the code “ rear right light fault”

Have you checked all your interior bulbs too? Including the footwell bulbs, strips in the door etc?

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your valuable contribution.

Lights all autolevel with no apparent problems, both do their dance and neither sits at a low level regardless of temperature. No auto highbeam on my vehicle it is a manual action to get full beam.

Both footwells, both interiors and front doorstrips (only these two have ever lit up on my car - I'm not sure there is LED's in the back doors and these have not lit up since car ownership with no errors)

As far as I can see, literally no problem with my vehicle lighting!

[Nickbrapp]

I’ve done a bit more looking around and mk7 golf and mk3 Octavia owners have been having the same phantom issues, some have it cleared by the dealer never to return and some change the battery which also sorts it.

Is it the original battery? Could be causing the issue

[Rtype]

Nickbrapp said:

I’ve done a bit more looking around and mk7 golf and mk3 Octavia owners have been having the same phantom issues, some have it cleared by the dealer never to return and some change the battery which also sorts it.

Is it the original battery? Could be causing the issue

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your time / comments on this.

Yes, I stumbled across some of those comments on the Golf & Octavia forums. The vehicle is on its original battery, whilst it doesn't appear to have any fault I understand from reading some of those forums that if the current alters even slightly sometimes it *might* ping up this error. I did consider trying another battery but due to it being a S/S battery, I think I'll take the chance that the dealer and the £80 diagnostic might resolve the issue 'magically' as per some other threads before forking out the £199 for the battery.

It is a frustrating issue, as you said, if it were a bulb the car would tell you it were a bulb. If it were the ABS the car would tell you the ABS. This error doesn't say anything and the manual says - if all looks ok with your lights go to the dealer!

[shtu]

Dr G said:

In my experience that warning tends to point more to a fault with Adaptive, Matrix, or levelling.

Most likely is that a ride height sensors has died.

IIRC the headlights will still "dance" at switch on, but will set themselves low(er), and not adjust height at all when driving. A VCDS\Dealer tool should say so if that's the fault.

If it is, check the little linkage between sensor and suspension - these can seize up, force the sensor arm in funny angles, and cause the failure.

[Rtype]

shtu said:

Most likely is that a ride height sensors has died.

IIRC the headlights will still "dance" at switch on, but will set themselves low(er), and not adjust height at all when driving. A VCDS\Dealer tool should say so if that's the fault.

If it is, check the little linkage between sensor and suspension - these can seize up, force the sensor arm in funny angles, and cause the failure.

Thanks Shtu for your input.

Is this a reasonably easily viewable item for someone who is inept (me) to locate if anything looks out of the ordinary? Having a google these are at the rear of the car?

Should this be the error should it be a 'quick' fix/replacement?

[shtu]

-IF- that's the problem, not a major job - unbolt and unplug sensor, replace, put car on level ground, reset ride height sensor values.

Don't swap them on the offchance, even a used one is £50.