Headlight auto leveling problem..help..

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Jun 16, 2008 | 05:55 AM

B7Quattro Pete

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Joined: Nov 2002

Posts: 4,645

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From: Hunt Valley, MD

Headlight auto leveling problem..help..

Please help guys: the dealer replaced some components on my left headlight last week (flickering issue) and now the programming for the auto-leveling is screwed-up! Instead of just doing the recycling/scanning the road to set the light level at start-up, the lights are doing this every time I'm on the brakes and get below say 15 mph. The shop says the lights are supposed to do this; I've had the car for a couple years now and I know it's not right! Besides, how screwy is it when everytime you slow down, your headlight dart straight down to the ground basically cutting off forward vision for that period? Not only that, but drivers in front of me think I'm flashing my lights at them. The dealer says they have to contact the Audi help line in Germany since there's no fault and they don't know what to do...crazy!

Anyone else had this issue?

Jun 16, 2008 | 06:30 AM

Umlaut

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Joined: Apr 2006

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Your dealer techs are wrong

My car does the "initialize lights" routine only on start-up. It never does it again, certainly not when you slow down. You need to have your lights looked at by another dealer.

I have, on occasion, gotten an odd "adaptive light" indicator on the central display. It looks like a fog light, with a leftward pointing arrow on the corner. It's not covered in the manual. However, when it goes on, my adaptive lights no longer "move", but stay lit. If I shut the car down and restart, it resets itself. It's happened a few times, each time it reset by shutting the car down. Never brought it to dealer. It seems to have happened on very bumpy roads, or hitting an expansion joint.

Jun 16, 2008 | 06:39 AM

B7Quattro Pete

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AudiWorld Super User

Joined: Nov 2002

Posts: 4,645

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From: Hunt Valley, MD

Thanks.....

I can't believe they don't know this. They're getting one more shot at fixing it since they're convenient to my work but I'm not feeling real confident in them now.

Jun 16, 2008 | 08:14 AM

Sveke21

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Joined: Jul 2007

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^^^^^mine does the exact same thing, but def not at slow down.

somethings wrong

Jun 16, 2008 | 08:05 PM

white ABanT

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Joined: Aug 2007

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Is your car lowered? Mine is and I had that problem after getting the flickering issue fixed.

Two weeks ago I brought my car in to get fixed, at the same time I asked them to look at the flickering xenon issue. They told me there was a TSB out regarding this so they flashed my ECM.

What happened after was that the car needed to do an initial adaptation for the height of the headlights (this is not the same as the start up dance when you turn on your car).

Here is when I got into trouble. My car was too low and it couldn't adapt. I took my car back and my lights were constantly adjusting over every bump I went over. On the highway, my lights were aimed about a meter in front of the bumper. I couldn't see a damn thing.

Your techs can help you. Mine did. Apparently there is some special coding, you need to alter some of the codes using vag com.

I'm sorry I don't have the exact solution for you but if you don't get it resolved soon I will ask my tech for you.