Jake Onken

My 3.2 B7 just rolled 156K miles and I have had it since 2015. The car has been absolutely fantastic (besides a leaky water-pump i replaced a few years back). Most recently I was driving at night and i noticed that the passenger-side light was flickering when i had my brights on. At first i thought my headlamp was just going out, but after taking the light out, i realized that the headlight system is much more intricate than i ever imagined.

From what i understand i have bi-xenon lighting? I don't know if its adaptive lighting (cuz honestly i've never noticed my lights turning with my car, but maybe its just really subtle?) If i am mistaken please correct me, but i believe there is a shutter that goes up and down which permites my beams to be high or low. So its essentially 1 bulb. After i realized the bulb was not burnt out i realize it must be a problem with the shutter. The weird thing is that when i turn my car on my lights kind "wink" at me, meaning the shutters open and close. This is a cool feature i noticed when i first got the car. Well they still do this, which tells me maybe the shutter isn't completely broken? Regardless, the only issue i am having with the whole assembly is the brights on the passenger side simply don't turn on. At first it was a flicker, but at this point i don't notice the shutter working at all. Anybody ever have any experiences like this? I know the 3.2L engine is less common, which makes working on this car that much more challenging, but id appreciate any insight anybody might have on the issue.

Id hate to replace the whole assembly because it is like $1200 for one assembly at the dealership. If it does come down to it i would probably buy a aftermarket assembly (knowing that it wouldn't be as good and probably not have the adaptive lights which i have come to love).

Thanks everybody!

Onks