Old Dog

Say Tanket. The Old Dog's persitance FINALLY paid off. I found the thread . Now if this doesn't answer your/our questions, I don't know what will. Tons of pics/explanations especially in posts #41, #58 and #66. You will notice two methods for installing. One guy glues on a tab to hold it in place at the back (firewall).

I truly hope this does the trick for your install, because if it doesn't, then I'm at a complete loss. I hope you'll keep the Old Dog posted on your progress (with pics too, if possible, of the finished product would be great!)

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...light=grommets

Good Luck my friend

Tanket

Great, thanks! I think we went a little further into the install here in this thread. They didn't seem to know about some of the other parts that make this a better, more OEM fit. I like the screw idea that they used instead of rivets, going to try it. It would be nice if someone who had these covers intsalled from the factory would take a look and tell us exactly what parts are there. Thanks again bud.

Old Dog

You're welcome.

s4love

Crazy.. I was searching where to get replacement lug bolt covers and landed here.

Is this still working for the dipping issue? I've started calling my car 'Blinky' because of this unacceptable behavior. The good news is that it's usually reset with a simple restart of the headlights.

I usually say no to engine hats, but if this works... I might give in. Anyone care to update with their luck on the covers fixing the dipping?

Thanks!

ArthurK1

Although your fix for water entry near the battery is very cleaver and important, it is not a fix for HID/Xenon headlight flickering/problems. The flickering headlight issue is an electrical and component problem that can be the cause of wires, ballasts, ignitor, vibration, etc. I haven't figured out my dipped headlight issue, rain or shine.

Ritz

I've been getting the "left dipped headlight" on occasion lately too. My battery cover is missing (I'll probably get a new one "just because"), but I suspect it's the ballast or bulb.

Best,

SilverS13

I had the same problem and it turned out to be the bulb itself. Doesn't make since to change one so I changed both and haven't had any problems since then. I got my bulbs from ECS tuning. Good luck!!!

wadsworthcity

!!!!

Brandy Goddard

[QUOTE=A4QuattroGuy;23992049]Hello everyone,

I know we've all seen this issue a million times it seems...Lord knows I have. But I feel compelled to explain my solution to this problem, since Audi doesn't seem to have a true answer to it, in the hopes that maybe my solution will work for someone else out there with this problem. Also, please keep in mind I'm a newbie Audi owner, and this is simply a timeline of events that led to mine being fixed.

I have a 2005.5 B7 A4 2.0T MT6, with adaptive HID lights. About a month ago I noticed my passenger side headlight would flicker, mostly while taking off in 1st, braking hard, or around bumpy turns. Then it progressed to flickering, going out and getting the dipped light message on the display. Re-firing the lights with the switch corrected it every time. A week or so later the drivers' side light started acting the same way. Soon, either one would flicker at any given time, or both at the same time. This wouldn't happen every day, some days they would be fine, no flickering at all.

So I hit up the forums and of course found many similar issues out there. What seemed consistent however was that bringing the car to a dealer to figure out was an adventure to say the least, and if you're out of warranty, like me, an expensive adventure. And more often than not people would leave the dealership only to have the problem still arise again in the near future, but with lighter wallets. Needless to say I was determined to figure this out on my own, or at the very least, exhaust all possibilites I could try myself before bringing to a dealer.

After searching through many many forums, I decided to first check all my wiring connections to the headlights. I unplugged each one, including the seperate connection inside the back of the housing that leads to the HID bulb itself. They seemed fine, but plugged them back in securely.

They still flickered and dipped.

Next, I read that someone had been told by their dealer that an overfilled power steering resevoir can cause this...mainly to the drivers' side light because it's right up against the back of it. Apparently the fluid expands so much it can cause excess vibration around there. It seemed odd to me but I figured I'd have a look. Well, checking the PS fluid dipstick revealed someone (I'm assuming previous owner) had filled the resevoir to OVER the max line. But the fluid was fairly clean, as though this had been done recently. So I proceeded to take a drinking straw and just took some fluid out by placing my finger on top of the straw after dipping it in. I brought the level down to just under half-way between the min and max lines. Perhaps the fluid was leaking out, splashing onto the HID housing and somehow getting inside and hitting the wiring? Who knows, but after doing this, my drivers' side light would still flicker, but not as intensely and for less time. Also, it would not not go out, and I wouldn't get the "left headlight dipped" message. So I'm thinking, OK cool, some progress. But of course, the passenger light still had issues, and the flickering was just generally irritating. So back to the forums I went.

After some additional reading, I noticed one poster that mentioned his dealer told him that water was getting into the ballast, and that's what was causing the flicker. That person seemed to dismiss it, but it got me thinking. I thought back on the past month and tried to remember when I was having the issue. As it turned out, 99% of time they would start flickering during or after a rain storm, or just after I washed the car. So hmmm...maybe water is playing a big role here. Because on dry days, I would have no problem at all. So the next nice day I washed my car, and just kinda held my hose on the windshield for a little while and around the hood. I popped the hood immediately after and noticed water all over my battery and terminals... and water all over everything back there. I thought to myself, "this can't be right...there has to be a battery cover or something I'm missing." Sure enough I was right. After searching online OEM parts catalogs, I found...rightly named....the Rain Tray and Battery Cover. Why they were missing, I have no idea. So anyway I ordered them, came in a week or so, installed them. They just snap right in. I've now been through 4 rainy days, 1 of which was raining literally all day, and have not had a flicker yet.

I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet. But this, so far, seems to be working. I'm assuming water was maybe hitting the battery terminals causing issues, or water was hitting wires somewhere below back there. So whether it was simply this rain tray and battery cover, or a combination of that with the PS fluid and checking connections, I don't really know. But those are the steps I've taken thus far. Remember, I haven't had the car very long, and I'm new to Audi, so please don't rip on me for not noticing the missing cover. Surely this is not the end all solution as bad bulbs, ballasts, control units, etc. could still be the problem. I simply wanted to get my story out there in hopes it'll help someone else in a similar situation. If the flicker comes back, and all this was for naught, I'll post an update.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.[/QUOTE
After a month of researching and trying to replace different parts on my 03 b6 - right dipped headlight - flickering nightmare. I finally found that the ground and power source wires to the ballast are being cut by the zip tie holding them out of the way. Fixed mine and so far so good. Hope this helps.

S4CherryBomb