jbwcfp

My '01 S4's HID headlights no longer project down the road the way they used to. They still seem very bright, with no flickering. The outside lens covers have a few stone chips, but still seem very clear. Is it possible the inside lens needs cleaning or do I just need new HID bulbs. I have read numerous issues with HID's and don't want to purchase new bulbs it the problem is the inside lens. I have not read any posts on cleaning the inside lens, has anyone tried that?
Thanks,
Jim

Chris's S4

If your bulbs covers are on, and have always been on. Then do not touch the inside of the lens. There's no need. If your lights are pointing up at the sky.. thats a different problem. Could be your level motors have gone out of whack, or one of your level sensors on either the front left arm or left rear arm is dying or dead. Thus sending the level motor out of whack.

Could also be that maybe the bulb jumped out of its socket housing if ya hit a fairly hard bump and the spring that holds them in, wasn't latched all the way. Anything is possible, just giving you a few idea's of what to check. Um.. may also be coding in the headlight leveling system, may need to be recoded.

Check it this way, go into a dark parking lot, preferably industrial that way no one bothers ya and/or cars dont keep driving up messing with your eyes. Park you car about 20 feet or so away from a white wall. turn on your headlights and watch for two things, first look for the lights to self adjust. stand outside of the car, either with the window down and door closed or not.. if ya do, then you'll be able to hear the motor's respond. Shut off the engine too... no need to have it on. But ign does need to be on, duh. lol So shut the door, hit the first notch in the lights lever, running lights. then hit the headlight notch. Now listen real close you'll hear zzz zzz... thats it. it's real quick too.. while doing that, look straight at the wall without moving your eyes or you'll blow it. Eyes play games with they move. Your looking for the top fine line edge of the lights to turn on, then move up then back down. Maybe only be about an inch or 4 inches at the wall. So again you may not even catch it. Hence why I say keep your eyes stilll. I notice on mine you can see it... my bros a4... showing him was hard cuz they barely move. So.. my point.

If they move up then down.. then that's good...

Now the next step, you'll need to walk in front of your car with the lights on, and stare/(use a hand)(eyes work better) into each light independently to find the "focus" point of that headlight, the idea is to see if it's in fact pointing up.. or if it's at a downward angle towards the ground and about 25 ft in front of the car. At 20 feet away you'll be reallllly close to the ground trying the see that focal point. You can also see it on the wall, but it's not as precise. Do the same to the other headlight and get an idea of where they point and if they match. If they're pointed at the sky, you could try to manually adjust them down, with the adjustment screws under the hood, or try recoding the headlight leveling module with vag-com.


Now here's a kicker.. I recently asked the shop foreman at Audi here, and he said manually wont matter because the module knows where level is from the previous coding, so the motors will compensate for that adjustment. So you'd have to adjust the level of the lights with vag com no matter what. Here's the funny part... The explanation I just gave you, is exactly what I did for adjusting my lights... didn't do it in vag-com (cuz i dont got a lic for it lol).... manually worked for me, and it stayed where I adjusted it to, and since then it's still there.

So I guess take your pick. lol Good luck.. It's fairly long, but better to have more info than not enough.

Chris

Let us know the results...

EuroXS4

My s4 has one headlight that isnt bright.I have taken it apart and found that the chrome coating that the reflector is coated with has burned up in the area that gets the most light and heat causing less light output because of it.However this is only on one headlight not both.I dont know if you have the some issue.The only reason why something like this would happen is if you had moisture in the headlight.It is possible that the bulbs are worn.Alot of people think that bulbs dont wear its a electrical part.But they do indeed wear due to being turned on and off numerous times and so on.

Chris's S4

I do agree with EuroXS4, When I got my S4, the lights sucked.

Ten bucks later had brand new d2s bulbs, put one in and man you could tell the difference in broad day light.

It's possible yours maybe worn out, or just maladjusted.

EuroXS4

yeah you should make sure the bulbs are sitting properly in the headlight they only fit one way.If they aren't in right they will seem dim because they are scattering the light instead of projecting it out.

jbwcfp

Thanks for your response. It must just be the bulbs, the leveling motors are working and they are not pointed up or down, on my garage door I can see clearly the cutoff.
Where is a good place to get new bulbs, ebay?
How difficult is it to replace the bulbs?
Thanks to everyone.
Jim

Chris's S4

D2S bulbs here... I trust this guy, good bulbs, and got em wicked fast. Literally the next day. Then again, I live about 20 miles from them. hahah I went from dim shotty bulbs, to day light! It was very odd driving my S4 with practically zero headlights before these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-X...Q5fAccessories