Headlamp issue?

[LordHefner]

Hi,

My levels of desperation at the point of writing this are extremely high and I'm looking for help from anyone anywhere who can tell me why Audi can't get a bulb D2s lit in my car! Yes I have non adaptive headlamps in an adaptive car but they've told me I need to buy headlamps at the reduced cost of £1,800 despite one of them still shining brightly in their face! They are clearly em competent and after a £300 bill for doing nothing! I'm desperate for anyone that can help! At this point I'm prepared to drive a fair distance to meet up with anyone who can help! Cash payments for getting them working would be my pleasure.

Regards, Mark.

[Conquistador]

Have you tried new ballasts and/or new igniters? I'm sure you won't need new headlights!

[LordHefner]

Originally Posted by Conquistador

Have you tried new ballasts and/or new igniters? I'm sure you won't need new headlights!

Hi Conquistador, Well tonight it was brought back after being with Audi for two whole days after me kicking off when they broke my electronic handbrake. I originally took it to them on Wednesday booking it in for six small issues of which I had read on Vag.Com and told them all problems, they then charge me the £65 to write on my report Customer Complaint Confirmed ("Yeah thanks for that, no worries!" ) only to not fix my headlight issue despite it being there for 4 hours and 45 minutes and after arguing with them that the whole ideal of me telling you what was wrong and you ordering in the Ballast for the car was so that I could drive home after paying your huge bill with two working headlamps! despite leaving annoyed I get in my car to instantly find that my handbrake no longer works, and to remember that it only went in to be notified of how much mm of pads were left on the car! They have since replaced it with a new one (which I still believe I don't need) and whilst it's been with them the last two days, they claim that today they've spent three hours on it, only for them to call me telling me the headlamps are the wrong ones for the car and I need to replace them a reduced cost by 30 percent of £1,850!!! the fact that the drivers headlamp that is also apparently wrong and would have been lit up the entire time, or the fact that I've had the car two months of which for the first five weeks it worked absolutely fine was lost on them!

The way I understood it is the Bulb goes into the headlamp and is held there by the frame of the headlamp but should I wish to I should be able to hold the bulb on the end of it's loom and it still work? So I really don't know what drugs they are on but the last three days has cost me £320 ish quid to have my intelligence insulted and still no working headlamp!

I have a pair of bulbs, as well as the original that looks blown, I have the original igniter as well as a replacement neither of these combinations have resulted in the bulb coming to life! The keep telling me that their computer won't talk to the car, and when I asked... "has someone checked with a volt meter to see if their is power to the loom?" and all I'm getting is I'm not sure as they're in the workshop and I'm in the service centre! well Yes of course you are, but that is why you talk so that as a Liaison person telling the customer the good or bad news with their car, they can feel reassured that the information that you are passing on is in fact correct! But nope he couldn't tell me that!

So I'm here with an immanent trip to an airport and very early start for Sunday morning lurking and I don't fancy doing it with only one headlamp. I'm at the point of desperation and will happily meet whoever knows what they are doing so I can get this relatively simple issue sorted!

Regards, Mark.

[David's8]

Oh boy, i can feel your pain and anger. You sometimes wonder where they find these people. I'm sorry to hear that the problem is becoming a lengthy and costly mess but have no explanation or help to offer I am afraid.

[LordHefner]

Originally Posted by David's8

Oh boy, i can feel your pain and anger. You sometimes wonder where they find these people. I'm sorry to hear that the problem is becoming a lengthy and costly mess but have no explanation or help to offer I am afraid.

Yeah pain and anger is defiantly right! when you wake up of a morning feeling that stick a fork in your face is a better idea than going back to main dealer then something is wrong. I've check the fuses 31 & 38 this evening and those appear to be intact so assumedly it's not taken out the fuse when the bulb has blown... So that is bulb, igniter and fuse ruled out now! However whilst in the front I noticed that the side light bulb would come on and off randomly whilst switched on with the light console so I'm not thinking that this could be more a wiring issue.

The internal lights that I have on these not adaptive headlamps don't work at all and although I would very much like these sorted as well, I bought the car and these didn't work and had the adaptive headlamp fault whilst the D2S bulb still worked and now it doesn't. The side light and the p21W bulb from the inner lamps share from looking at it a common earth as the clipped together in the head lamp, however the side light on the drivers side works so although my side light is intermittent on the passenger side this wouldn't suggest to be the problem as it operationally different in the way it works to the drivers side.

As previously said my level of desperation has got to an all time high over it, as I never thought something as simple as a headlamp bulb would stomp so many people, even main dealer who's car it is, this is their car and they have all the software for it. We leave for Birmingham Airport is about three hours so despite being on this for some many weeks now I'm still leaving for the air port with a headlamp out.

If anyone can add any thought on this problem then please feel free to comment as all and anything I haven't tried is appreciated.

Regards, Mark.

[ScottD3]

I'm not sure what to say that could help but I'm willing to take a look for you.

I got VCDS, multimeter and a big hammer........the hammer might not be needed but I'm happy to help out if your ever in Plymouth.

Checked fuses, checked cables, checked connections, checked coding?
My dad has massive issues with his head lights and it went back to main dealer several times. In the end we sorted it by correcting the coding for the head lights. They wanted go charge him for new head lights well.

[LordHefner]

Originally Posted by ScottB5

I'm not sure what to say that could help but I'm willing to take a look for you.

I got VCDS, multimeter and a big hammer........the hammer might not be needed but I'm happy to help out if your ever in Plymouth.

Checked fuses, checked cables, checked connections, checked coding?
My dad has massive issues with his head lights and it went back to main dealer several times. In the end we sorted it by correcting the coding for the head lights. They wanted go charge him for new head lights well.

Scott, That sounds amazing and it almost sounds like the same problem that I'm having. I leave for Spain in less than three hours but I will be coming back to this area on the 20th so if you wanted to provisionally book it so that I come to visit you then, I would happily sort you out with what ever you needed for getting the job done. The headlamps do need coding as well as the problem as the headlamps are not adaptive and the car thinks that they should be, so I need to sort that out...

My mobile number is 07837-760708! stick me in your phone and give me a quick text in the morning so that I have your number and I'll message you once I land back in this country.

appreciate your very kind offer buddy!

Regards, Mark.

[snapdragon]

Audi dealerships are really funny about non-standard / retrofitted parts.
It seems to stump their Guided Fault-Finding.

There is only one output from the headlight switch that serves both sides.
(left+right for parking lights)

The headlight ballast is mounted on the back lower part of the headlight assembly. It would be useful to know if 12v got that far on both sides, if it does, the ballast could be swapped to the other side and if the problem swaps sides, it must be that, if not, try swapping the ignitor which is a small metal box that fits on the back of the bulb.

I think the only sure way to cure it is bumper and headlamp removal.
It sounds dramatic, but if you have the ELSA instructions it is not difficult or particularly time-consuming.

[LordHefner]

Originally Posted by snapdragon

Audi dealerships are really funny about non-standard / retrofitted parts.
It seems to stump their Guided Fault-Finding.

There is only one output from the headlight switch that serves both sides.
(left+right for parking lights)

The headlight ballast is mounted on the back lower part of the headlight assembly. It would be useful to know if 12v got that far on both sides, if it does, the ballast could be swapped to the other side and if the problem swaps sides, it must be that, if not, try swapping the ignitor which is a small metal box that fits on the back of the bulb.

I think the only sure way to cure it is bumper and headlamp removal.
It sounds dramatic, but if you have the ELSA instructions it is not difficult or particularly time-consuming.

I'm going to take Scott up on his kind offer of help when I get back from Spain in about ten days time. I have a brand new set of bulbs, and two ignightor a which I have switched about and nothing their works. The right hand side works as it should, all beit the adaptive headlamp function can't and the inner lamps with the P21W's don't light up. But as far as the D2s bulb which does both my low and high beam, this has got to the point of driving me crazy and I'm thinking of it being the ballast, but don't really want to go the terpene of buying one only for it to be something else, so this is where someone with knowledge of the looms and how to use a tester properly and has a copy of VAGCOM or similar who can see what is going on would be the cure. I simply laugh at Audi's literally ridiculous solution of selling me to brand new headlamps as the way I understand headlamps they hold the bulbs and and have reflectors... But nothing in a headlamp will cause them to work, surely the battery at the starting point the wires, then the fuse, the ballast, some more wire, an igniter and the then the bulb with a suitable earth should be enough the headlamps don't need to be present for a bulb plugged into a loom to work... Silly Audi

Something I did notice when I had the bonnet up on Friday morning when I left Cornwall for Birmingham was that the side light on the same side goes of and on by simply flicking the back of it whilst it's out of the headlamp in my hand? But it's going on and off is not matched by the same actions of the D2s so something is definitely not happy there , but I'm not the sort of person who knows enough to know where to start. Although I do know enough to know the Audi can not of done more than plugged in their computer and the computer says No! I don't think that they have gone within ten feet of it with an electrical tester, which is another reason why I laugh as suggesting almost £2k's worth of headlamps of what could quite realistically be a bad connection or a lose wire?

Regards, Mark.

[ScottD3]

Hopefully the weather will be dry on the 20th and we have a proper dig and see what's going on.

I'll try and get off work early so we have more time to play/fix.