2003Quattro1.8T

Ok audiworld techs, i used to be a regular here because my dang audi would always give me little knick knack problems, but it has been a little over a year since i have been on until now! I come back begging for your help!

So i turn on my headlights last night in route to go see the hangover and i get the "right dipped headlight" message in my service indicator. I get out and i notice my passenger side headlight is dead (Xenon one at that). Everything else works perfectly. I notice if i restart the car and leave the light off i dont get the message(i can even drive around without message coming on) until i put my headlights on.

So i get on here do a little research on the issue. Come up with alot of answers. So i try to take the simplest and easiest route by replacing the headlight bulb with a factory xenon bulb. (Great right ups on this site on how to do it by the way. VERY SIMPLE!) NO GO! Message still showing. Now though it shows it no matter what. Before it was just went i turned on the headlights, now its on as soon as i turn on the car...

What should i do next? I read about ballast and stuff like that but where is that located? would just changing out the whole headlight unit itself help? or no? I really need my car since i work at night time so any help WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

On a side note when i turn the car on and check under the hood, i hear a buzzing sound on the driver side, from where the xenons are powering on but then it goes away, i dont hear it on the passenger side, but not sure if im suppose to.

Also i bought 2 headlight lamps so if anybody is interested in an unused unopened bulb, i will sell my for $120. Heck i bought these for $250 at audi dealership and they go on ecstuning for $170.

Please AUDIWORLD masters, please help....where are you diagnosticator1?

2003Quattro1.8T

forgot to mention, only selling bulbs for so cheap because my girlfriend accidently threw away the darn receipt...and audi didnt want to take it back with out

2003Quattro1.8T

Drove to the store, and the right dipped headlight problem was no longer showing. Once i turn on the light again of course it comes back, so its back to acting how it was originally. VAG-COM ed my car and ironically, I'm error free.

I really am convinced now that this could be my ballast or igniter? Anyway to test both? is it hard for a DIY?

2003Quattro1.8T

LOL looks like im helping myself solve this problem...so i think i narrowed down the culprit...Did a switch of headlight bulbs from non working passenger side to driver side, and it worked! So bulb is fine....

So it looks like the culprit is the ballast...is there anything else that i have missed that could be the culprit? Like i said all the other lights on the passenger side work well...

This is the Part Number on my ballast LAD5G
Valeo Dot...

Wish me luck guys going to buy that part and replace it myself and hope for the best!

2003Quattro1.8T

ok guys so it was a dreaded BAD BALLAST! I want to thank everybody's post because with them i saved me tons of money in parts and labor. Thanks again!

**FYI: You can also see if your ballast is bad by not taking it off. Turn your car to on in the key ignition (but dont turn the car on) and turn on your headlights. You should hear a slight humming coming from your headlights, from the ballast powering up. My passenger side (which was bad) had no hum. After i switched it out, it did....

Hope this helps somebody else down the road..

Cfringo

I have a right dipped headlight on a 2013 Q7. Audi diagnostic result was bad ballast/bulb. I replaced both bulbs. Right still wouldn't work. Put back both original bulbs, on opposite sides though, both sides wouldn't work. Swapped them back to original sides, only right off again. The audi tech did say something about resetting the side with the error. I'm guessing that's why it still wouldn't work with the new bulb. Did you have to reset or program the headlight after putting new parts in?