whansen

My 2002 A6 2.7T Q lists the following in the Vehicle Data sheet I obtained from the dealer who sold me the car (CPO):

Serial no. 89/No. 8EH/Origin P/Family HSW - bi-functional headlight with gas discharge lamp for driving on the right (US design

Serial no. 91/No. 8KO/Origin L/Family FLS - without special low beam mode

When I looked at the lights, one was a kind of projector beam shape that emitted a very cold blue light; the other was a more conventional looking light which emitted a warm yellow light.

I had always assumed that the yellow light was tungsten or halogen, and that the more "tech" looking light with the cold blue appearance was Xenon.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Particularly if you have the same car.

Does anyone with this year and model car have a situation in which both headlights (high and low beams) are cold blue color? From factory of course, not after-market modifications.

Thanks,
Warren

nm3210

I'm not really sure what you're asking. Yes the 'yellow-ish' headlights are halogen and yes the 'white/blue' are xenons. I believe the word you are looking for is bixenon which is when the xenon lights are used for both the high and low beams (usually done by simply moving the cut-off inside).

Are you saying that one of your headlight enclosures have two 'blue/white' lights in one unit while the other side has one xenon and one halogen? Could it be that some of the bulbs are not the same from one side to the other? Again I'm not really sure what you're trying to ask.

From google searching it looks like some of the 2002's indeed had bixenon headlights, but they might have just been for the 4.2s? Link here. Search for part number 4B0941004BM.

whansen

First of all -- I quoted the Audi Vehicle Data sheet verbatim for the two items related to the headlights. The Audi text says "bi-functional" not bixenon.

Second, I'm saying that my car did NOT have low beams and high beams of the same color light; the low beams were projector-type and looked cold blue (which I associate with Xenon), and the high beams looked like typical tungsten or halogen warm yellow light.

I'm trying to understand whather the second item that I quoted -- "without special low beam mode" in fact establishes that I DID NOT have what you are probably describing as "bixenon" in which both high beams and low beams appear the cold blue color.

This is important because my car caught fire and burned to a crisp three weeks ago, and if both sets of lights were xenon that shouldn't have happened because the xenon lights apparently had an in-line fuse which prevented a fire by breaking teh current. But the halogen lights did not have that feature, and therefore, by definition, should have been covered by the recall and an appropriate remedy implementd.

The fire which destroyed the car originated at the headlight switch, shich iw where I first saw the flames, which within a matter of seconds erupted in a fireball. I was lucky to escape with my life, which might not have been the outcome if teh fire had occured as little as three minutes later, when I would have been barreling down a busy major intersstate in the left lane, and possibly not have been able to pull over to safety.

So far Audi is saying that my car was not covered by the recall because it had the so-called bi-xenon lights. An engineer will be looking at the car shortly. Hopefully the wreckage will still reveal the truth about what lights were on the car, which may very well not agree with the Vehicle Date sheet.

(Thanks for the link, but it clarifies a bit and muddies the water a bit!)

Warren
Owner of 2002 A6 2.7T (for toast)
[See pics in Album under "2.7T (for toast)]

nm3210

You're asking an online forum for legal/insurance evidence?? Seriously? We have a passion for our cars here and you may be barking up the wrong tree, but anyway...

Why can the dealer who gave you the data sheet (which I am assuming came from the VIN) not tell you the details on what "without special low beam mode" means? How do we know that's not some really terrible lingo for DRLs that are required in other countries? Yes. I assume "special low beam mode" is referring to bixenon, but wouldn't the dealer know their own lingo the best? Call a random dealer across the country if you need to.

4Driver4

Why don't you just look at the headlight housings and see if the ballasts are there?

Not sure what you're trying to do, but if you think Audi is going to give you anything, forget it. How do you know that the headlights weren't changed out?

Just Me

Your build sheet should say what you have.

Are you aware that there was a light switch recall ( i think there was) at one time?
Did you have it addressed?

G