Should a broken plastic tab cost me $800 new xenon unit install?
 

The Xenon headlight chassis (the one inside the gasketed housing, forming the reflectors) has a flat, horizontal plastic tab that extends rearward. That tab mates with a female slot at the forward end of the manual adjustment mechanism, which (when the hex socket is rotated) pulls or pushes on the tab.

This was a lease car had been in an accident at 11k miles (original owner) and repaired. It is under warranty for 6 more months, but the dealer is denying it as a warranty claim, saying that the accident broke it. I wonder how that owner spent 2 or 3 years driving with the one headling shining uselessly (and obviously) down, the beam not reaching more than 20 feet beyond the front of the bumper.

Anyway, is the dealer shining me about the need to replace an entire perfectly good lamp assembly, just because a plastic tab broke? He has nearly 2 hours of labor estimated to replace a headlight unit (I suspect I could do it myself.)

I wish I could find a cheap assembly (right side) that was sitting around with a dead lamp, and do some transplant surgery to create a good unit that I could reinstall.

If anyone has a scan of the appropriate Bentley page, it might help me to plan surgery, or to even effect a repair of my unit.

If not, is there decent resale for the good lamp components (or keep them for when one of my own burns out?)

If a repair or surgery is feasible, I would welcome any advice on how to remove the whole unit (or is it a can of worms I should let the dealer do for $128/hour(!)?)

Meanwhile, I wedged a rag scrap in the housing below the floppy/loose reflector/chassis (not near the bulb or ballast) to make the lamp essentially level and usable. If it had been like this when I took delivery, I'd probably would never even have tried to level the lamp, and been happy.

Thanks for any advice.

ECSTuning sells a tab repair kit for only $10 per side...
 

check it out here...<ul><li><a href="http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/pagebuild_v2.cgi?make=Audi&amp;engine=4.2&amp;mode l=C5%20A6&amp;submodel=Quattro&amp;category=Lighti ng">scroll down to the repair kit section for headlights</a></li></ul>

Thanks! (Still may need guidance on removal and reinstall...)
 

Will getting a Bentley manual answer this question?

I presume that things come out the front, but not sure how much needs to be unbolted.

(This is an incredibly valuable forum!)

Here you go, written by "nene" from the RS6 forum...
 

No pics, but he describes everything fairly well.<ul><li><a href="http://www.rs6.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&amp;threadid=3862">nene's headlight removal without removing bumper</a></li></ul>

here's a write-up
 

<ul><li><a href="http://www.modifieda4.com/web/tech/tab-repair.html">http://www.modifieda4.com/web/tech/tab-repair.html</a</li></ul>

Thanks. Unfortunately, I have a different broken tab INSIDE of the housing...
 

It is the white tab is part of the reflector, which connects it to the elevation adjustment mechanism.

Looks like I spent $20 on a kit that fixes the wrong tab.

Fortunately, the rag scrap is holding up the level nicely for now!

ouch, yeah, the headlight tabs are ususally considered the mounting tabs..