Adjusting Bi-xenons for European driving...?
 

Can anyone tell me what's required to change the beam pattern on a 2002 S8 for driving on the right? Is it a dealer-only adjustment?

Ta in advance,
Zip

Believe it is stealer only - had a look myself last year - ended up not bothering and drove around France for 3 weeks - 95% daytime driving+++

I've looked into this breifly in the past.

The Standard facelift xenons (which you're unlikely to have on a 2002) should have a switch in them which allows you to move the beam pattern dead central, which is acceptable for european driving...

The Xenon plus which you will most likely have I seem to recall are unadjustable and dont need a adjusting for use on the continent. Now, I dont really understand how that can be, so I'm just blindly passing on something I read somewhere (!)

Might be worth a call to the stealer to confirm, but I confess after years of worrying about it, sticking crap to my headlights and farting around, I now work on the basis that in summer months 90%+ of the time is spent during daylight hours, dusk you can run on sidelights and for the few moments you need to use your headlights, they'll get over it :rolleyes:

(Probably should insert some dislaimer here about how its not a good idea, I dont condone it, etc etc, you get the gist, you're on your own...!)

Wow... Looks like i was right... Its been a tough day, best sit down for a bit +++




Servicing headlights

Converting headlights for LH or RH traffic
When driving in countries where traffic drives on the side opposite that of the homeland of the vehicle, both headlights must be adjusted so that the asymmetrical dipped beam does not impair other motorists' vision.

Note:




Bi-xenon headlights do not need to be converted.

• ‒ Remove large housing cover from headlight housing.

Attachment 245

• ‒ → Check the switchover lever position -1- for both headlights.

Left headlight:

• • ‒ Lever down = right-hand traffic
  • ‒ Lever up = left-hand traffic

Right headlight:

• • ‒ Lever down = Left-hand traffic
  • ‒ Lever up = Right-hand traffic

• ‒ Move the lever into the desired position as necessary -arrows- until it engages -arrows-.
• ‒ Reinstall the housing cover.

How bizarre...
 

...I really don't understand how the Xenon pluses can not need adjusting. I'm sure the beam pattern on dipped points to the nearside of the road...will have to check later.

Thanks for the research...when the gendarme pull me, I'll just say "Ian told me I didn't need to do anything".

In my best French, of course...:cool:

Zip

nope, makes no sense to me either....

Beam patterns should favour the pavement, and when driving on the wrong side, you should thus be blinding other drivers...

oh well

cest la vie.. :D

Happened to bump into this on a VAG-COM thread... Was related to the B7 platform, but I imagine it's the same across the range.

Xenon Headlight adjustment for Europe

Adaptation Channel 10 of the Xenon Headlamp Range Control module (address 55), it's called "Tourist Option". Set this to 1 (it's normally 0) and you will have headlights that no longer dip to the left.

Pretty sure that was a similar situation with the Passat Xenons too.

Hmm, you will have to show me how to do this at the meet Ian, I am going to be driving through France,Belguim & Amsterdam all through the night soon. :D

Hmmm,

Does tourist option mean they are central or dip to the right.....If its right then you need to swap it back for this country....fine if you have VAGCOM for traveling, but a pain otherwise ???

Is there a plugin that will switch or something as going to the dealer everytime you go away could be a royal pain !

Lee

Tried adaptation channel 10 on A8 D2 2002 with bi-xenon. This channel doesn't exist.

Well, after driving around with Xenon Plus headlights, the beam pattern definitely flicks up on the near side. Driving abroad with the headlights like this is not an option IMO.

I'm guessing that there are two pathetic options then...

1. Adjust the beam yourself to the lowest position using the adjustment screws.

2. Use some sort of deflective tape on the lense - again with trial and error.

Audi really haven't though this through! :mad:

Any other ideas on this?

>> Any other ideas on this?

If you open ETKA page for BI Xenons there's a part number for original stickers that can be purchased from Audi. Part number is 4D0 941 981. This is the last part number on ETKA page for the BI Xenon headlamp picture.

This set of stickers is available only for BI Xenon headlights. It's not shown in ETKA for other types of headlights.

I didn't bother checking if these are the stickers that Audi makes for cars from continent who want to come to the UK, or for the UK cards who want to travel to continent. they can be universal though (i mean sticky material from both sides).

But still, if they are designed for continent cars only, then we can use the pattern and basically make our own set with scissors and some sticky 3M tape. The idea is to use the same pattern from the other side :-)

Good old fashioned black tape then..
 

Just had a look at this old thread, as I'll be over the water for at least some of next week, and possibly driving at night. Even though I've had the S8 round the continent on at least two previous European holidays, I can't for the life of remember if there was a smarter VAGCOM/other solution.

If not, I'll just get some tape or nip down to Halfords (which may be what I did on previous occasions…)

The beam pattern is very flat so I'd be surprised if you dazzled anyone tbh

I'm pretty sure the last time I looked into this you did literally nothing.

Audi messed this up on the Bi-xenons, I wish they just gave us a lever.
Having now gone through the hassle of importing a LHD car, I can confirm the following:
1) bi-xenons do go to the left/right enough to fail MOT, so they do need adjusting
2) they cant be adjusted using Vagcom
3) Audi dealer adjusted mine manually using the plastic gears and it passed MOT (or did they?)
4) The following MOT I failed on the headlights again???

So I'm going to have to go back to Audi to get a more neutral adjustment to pass UK Mot. I marked the plastic adjustment gears before going to Audi, so that's how I know they manually moved the gears, but clearly not enough.

The internals of the bi-xenons do vary for LHD/RHD. I would expect the reflector element to be a different shape, so if you were able to buy some RHD bi-xenons that are broken in some way, but the internals are OK, then you should be able to swap the necessary bits. I've had mine apart and it's really not difficult to dismantle them - you unscrew the adjusters all the way with the lens off and all the internals just pull out.

There's a difference between passing MOT and whether you'll blind oncoming traffic for the short time you might go abroad - the fact the headlight is pitching up on the 'wrong' side will make it an MOT fail, but it's unlikely would dazzle in reality.

If I take my S8 abroad I won't touch them, but clearly it's a different ball game when you're living in the country with the car and it's not passing the MOT

I just want Audi to re-adjust the headlights to a more neutral setting to pass UK MOT, and maybe that neutral setting will be good for Europe too. If they fail on the next attempt too then I will go down the fiddly route replacing lenses, etc.

Anecdotally, on my previous S8 during numerous Euro trips, never any plastic lenses fitted, probably 10+ long trips, no one ever stopped me to query the RHD headlights, never got a fine.

I'll probably manage to avoid night time driving, though the replies on this thread are generally reassuring that it wouldn't be a big issue if I did - thanks! +++

The M3 went to Estonia and back without adjusting the lights - there is a lever somewhere but buggered if I could find it, so just went for it with crossed fingers