Pablo3

I recently bought (December 2018) a 2007 A6, which has option codes 8EH and 8Q5. As I understand it, this means I have the HID lights that adjust both vertically (in response to how the car is loaded), and horizontally (adjusting as I turn the steering wheel).

I've not been impressed with the lights so far. I changed the D2S bulbs which has made a positive improvement. But now I have some questions about aiming the lights.

Is there a way to check that the automatic adjustments are working? I realize it is a 12 year old car, and things wear out/fall out of adjustment.

Before I get into the workings of the adjustments, how does the lighting system get it's information to decide if the lights need adjusting? I understand that to adjust the aiming of the lights, you need to turn off the system via software, adjust the lights, then tell it to relearn the current settings. Before I do that, I would like to find out if there are any linkages I should check first to make sure the system is getting the correct information to adjust. Right now, my lights seem to be set too high.

Thanks for any help or thoughts you may have.

kelisko

What do you think is too high? The low beams only, the high beams only, or both?

Pablo3

It looks as if both may be high. Right now, if I turn on the High beams I see no extra light on the road.

kelisko

It is known for the high beams on the C6 to be a little high. It seems it's been configured this way. The high beams do not make the road ahead more visible but seem to rather illuminate further, past the low beams range, as opposed to some other cars. If you can't see clearly with your low beams, your high beams won't make it any better because they project further.

Besides, what I noticed is when you start the car, the headlights adjust vertically based on the position of the car. If your car's front pointed downwards, the beams projection would be higher. If your car's pointed upwards, the beams projection would be lower. You would get the best results if your started the car on a flat surface with no incline. The position does not seem to automatically adjust as you drive on different angles. Not sure whether a component involved in automatically adjusting the headlights vertically as you drive is there but has failed.

Pablo3

Kelisko - any idea if it is possible to adjust the high and low beams independently? At this point, I suspect that there may be a linkage not operating properly to tell the lights whether the car is level or not. I am also trying to find out if there is a way to make the lights cycle through the range of adjustment to make sure things are working in the automatic adjusters.

I had a light problem on my previous Audi (2000 A6) where the lights were adjusted down. That turned out to be a broken linkage in the driver's wheelwell. After I replaced that, those lights were great! I'm hoping to get the same kind of performance out of the stock HIDs on my current car.

kelisko

A C6 manual says the following:
"The high beam pattern is built into the reflector design and cannot be adjusted separately.
If you believe your high beam pattern is way out of adjustment, inspect for reflector damage or replace reflector if needed."