Yesterday, while playing with my VCDS, I happened to click on the "Output Tests" button under "Xenons Controller" option, to which, the Projector Headlight first threw light upwards, then bottom and then in the middle and stopped. I switched off my car after this, parked it and left. Later in the evening, when I returned to take the car out for a spin, put on the Headlights, I was surprised to find the beam hitting the sky almost, well slightly exaggerated, but the beam certainly is not any where near the ground.

I plugged back the VCDS, went under "Basic Settings" and clicked on "Read". The output on the screen says "Invalid, Adjustment not possible" or something to this effect. I closed this screen, went back to the "Meas. Blocks" and the output is as follows:

Front Sensor: 43.9% [Allowed Values: 12.50% - 50.0%]

Rear Sensor: 14.1% [Allowed Values: 50.00% - 87.5%]

As can be seen, the Rear Sensor is reading a value too far away from the allowed. Searching on the Internet, I found out it could be a problem with a Sensor at the rear side of the car. Will ave to check this later to confirm, but in the mean time, do you think it is a problem with the Sensor? If yes, how come I have never had a problem with it till now? If not, have I done something wrong while playing with this VCDS?

For Xenon beam setup, the dealers have a special mode in their diagnostic tool which they enter for aligning. As far as I know VCDS is not able to do that. After having a misaligned Xenons when my care came in, the dealer fixed them within 2 min.

Hey Thanks CEPi, now even I'm quiete convinced that it is not possible to align the beam on the Ross-Tech after having spent hours trying to figure out how to and yet not able to.

BTW, I found out the problem with the low reading of the rear Level Sensor, which was again "misalignment" of the Sensor "Arm". The "V" shape of the arm was pointing towards the Driver's side, which when I pushed to the other side (passenger's), the reading shot up to 50%+. The Sensor is placed in the center, between the rear wheels, closer to the exhaust, if this should help someone looking for such answers. I will post some pics later after I get hold of them, which should give a clearer picture.

I guess this sensor arm turned to the wrong side the last time I left the car for its scheduled service at the Skoda A.S.S, when they did the wheel alignment + balancing. I guess the next time I leave the car there for a similar job, I will need to "remind" them to put the arm in its right place, pathetic!

Has anyone actually been able to align the lights using Ross-Tech VCDS or do I need to take the car to the Center to get it aligned by their VCDS as CEPis suggested above?

I have tried every group/values under the "Xenons" option in Ross-Tech, but only to my dismay.

Fix the sensor and the lights should sort themselves out, especially if you have not altered anything else.

Fix the sensor and the lights should sort themselves out, especially if you have not altered anything else.

I have already fixed the Sensor as mentioned in my earlier post, and the reading thereafter has come up within the allowed limit as can be seen in the 2nd pic.

I tried the Ross-Tech guide to aligning the Xenons, one of the points in which says to click on the "ON/OFF/NEXT" button and wait for the "Meas. Block" label to change to "Wait", which nenver happens.

Are there any extra screws attached to the Xenon housing which can be turned to align the beam? I have seen one screw, one each Headlight unit which I presume to be for the High Beam (H1), but for Xenon, is there a separate one?

The xenon headlights can be moved manually. For small adjustments this will cause no problem whatsoever.

I never knew there were manual controls to the Xenons as well, where can I find them? If these controls are there only for small adjustments, it will not help me, as I'm looking for at least 30 degs of correction downwards.

I was basically looking for something as simple as UP/DOWN Buttons under the "Xenons Range" option in Ross-Tech, clicking on which would UP/DOWN the beam respectively, but now I guess it is not so simple. I hate taking the Car to the Service Center just for this and will do it only as a last resort if everything else fails here. I hope there is someone out there who has done this before with a VCDS alone.

The up/down movement that your lamps went through is a setup proceedure which is part of the regulation on Xenon...I have known the projector frame inside the lamp to become stuck into a position, have you removed the lamp and back cover and had a look?

How far out are suggesting that the beam is out? To do this you will need to set the car at a known distance (I would use 10m) from a wall and measure from the horizontal kneel point of the good lamp to the horizontal kneel point of the lamp aimed high then calculate the angle.

I personally wouldnt touch the manual alignment as if you can imaging if your bottom stepper motor is further forward making the beam point up; if you then adjust the top adjuster point forward the whole rim of the projector lens will be closer to the inner bezel surface...under normal operation you may find a clash condition....Hella dont leave alot of room for adjustment in there so I would be cautious!

Edited 16 July, 201213 yr by o_ptic

You know this sensor alignment oddly mine was round the wrong way and the garage that sorted mentioned a new A6 had the sensor round the wrong way, since fixing it my headlights now move when going over speed bumps etc.

You know this sensor alignment oddly mine was round the wrong way and the garage that sorted mentioned a new A6 had the sensor round the wrong way, since fixing it my headlights now move when going over speed bumps etc.

Hmm - anyone got a picture of this sensor in the correct position?

The xenon headlights can be moved manually. For small adjustments this will cause no problem whatsoever.

Ditto, I was thinking on the same lines. Will try it out the coming weekend

The up/down movement that your lamps went through is a setup proceedure which is part of the regulation on Xenon...I have known the projector frame inside the lamp to become stuck into a position, have you removed the lamp and back cover and had a look?

Will try to see if this is the case this weekend.

i adjusted mine manually.

the outside (from centre) "white plug" adjusts the headlamps vertically.

the inside (from centre) plug adjust horizontally.

with the vcds "learning mode", it won't adjust the actual level.

procedure is:-

1. put the lights in "learning mode" via vcds

2. adjust the lights manually to correct level.

3. take the lights out of "learning mode" via vcds.

picture of the front passenger side sensor.....

more info & picture here.....

http://deviantspeed.com/VW_Xenon_HID_adjustment_procedure

http://forums.fourtitude.com/showthread.php?5549898-Mess-with-auto-leveling-of-my-OEM-Xenon-after-LOWERING-the-car&p=75392466

Thanks for the info @JR RS. I have sorted out the Sensor problem already as you mentioned in your post, the problem now is I need to make the Car learn the new "default" position, for which I guess I need to adjust the beam "manuall" (maybe by turning some screw). You mentioned in your point (2) 2. adjust the lights manually to correct level., how did you do this? Any pics please?

Update; Just found the Adjustment Screw for Vertical Alignment of the Xenon Beam, which is as shown in the following Pics:

I only removed the Headlight from the Car to find this Screw. Removal of this is actually not needed as this Screw is accesible from the front with just opening of the Bonnet. You will need a Torx Screw Driver to adjust this as ccan be seen in the Pic. Turning it anti-clockwise lowers the beam, which I have turned to the fullest, yet the Projector has pointed down just a few degrees, hopefully should be enough. I have not yet taken the Car for a ride to test the beam, which I will do later, but looking at the angle of the Projector now, looks like it will suffice.

@o_ptic

I see your concern in the last point of your previous post now, there is "quiete" some gap between the Lens and the Bezel, hopefully should be ok. Will take it for a ride later, drive over a Road Hump to see if the auto-adjustment is happening without any problems or not.

The Screw right under this Xenon Adjustment is for the High Beam adjustment (H1 - Halogen).

EDIT: Converted External links to Picture previews.

Edited 18 July, 201213 yr by hell666

What about left and right adjustment??

They were in place already, no problems with that whatsoever.

Can you adjust it though?

Didn't really look out for that, however, there were 2 more Screws, one right behinf the unit and another on the side. I guess these are for horizontal adjustments, one for Xenon and the other for High Beam, not sure though.

Hey Thanks CEPi, now even I'm quiete convinced that it is not possible to align the beam on the Ross-Tech after having spent hours trying to figure out how to and yet not able to.

BTW, I found out the problem with the low reading of the rear Level Sensor, which was again "misalignment" of the Sensor "Arm". The "V" shape of the arm was pointing towards the Driver's side, which when I pushed to the other side (passenger's), the reading shot up to 50%+. The Sensor is placed in the center, between the rear wheels, closer to the exhaust, if this should help someone looking for such answers. I will post some pics later after I get hold of them, which should give a clearer picture.

I guess this sensor arm turned to the wrong side the last time I left the car for its scheduled service at the Skoda A.S.S, when they did the wheel alignment + balancing. I guess the next time I leave the car there for a similar job, I will need to "remind" them to put the arm in its right place, pathetic!

Had exactly the same issue with the rear level sensor on my 8P A3, fixed by raising that side and making sure that the lever returned the connect way and I was then able to adjust the Xenons in the normal way using VCDS.

Paul

Didn't really look out for that, however, there were 2 more Screws, one right behinf the unit and another on the side. I guess these are for horizontal adjustments, one for Xenon and the other for High Beam, not sure though.

I hate to say this but I think youve made an error doing what you have done!

firstly the manual adjustment is only ever to take up the tolerance of the body variation, you have now adjusted to hopefully an end stop on the vertical adjuster. The issue now is the active levelling motor which is quite often part of the manual adjuster assembly may not have any more movement to control and adjust.

On some lamps you can 'pop' the projector carrier off the end of the adjuster ball and you are likely to chafe the b surface of the bezel and fill the lamp with material dust...I think the bezel base material on these are white so get ready for this.

The second issue you have (apart from the lamp now having an uneven gap around the bezel) is that you have adjusted the vertical in isolation of the horizontal!

The adjuster is not on the central axis of the projector so moving up and down will actually slur the beam left or right at the same time, at the extremes where you have adjusted you will find that the carrier is actually twisting.

Remember that you have a vertical, horizontal and a fixed point inside your housing.

Its up to you but I personally would have had the unit set at the dealer....if thats what it needed.

I hate to say this but I think youve made an error doing what you have done!

firstly the manual adjustment is only ever to take up the tolerance of the body variation, you have now adjusted to hopefully an end stop on the vertical adjuster. The issue now is the active levelling motor which is quite often part of the manual adjuster assembly may not have any more movement to control and adjust.

On some lamps you can 'pop' the projector carrier off the end of the adjuster ball and you are likely to chafe the b surface of the bezel and fill the lamp with material dust...I think the bezel base material on these are white so get ready for this.

The second issue you have (apart from the lamp now having an uneven gap around the bezel) is that you have adjusted the vertical in isolation of the horizontal!

The adjuster is not on the central axis of the projector so moving up and down will actually slur the beam left or right at the same time, at the extremes where you have adjusted you will find that the carrier is actually twisting.

Remember that you have a vertical, horizontal and a fixed point inside your housing.

Its up to you but I personally would have had the unit set at the dealer....if thats what it needed.

I took my Car for a ride last night. The Beams were pointing too low, the tip reaching a max distance of about 20mts from the Car. There was still a gap for them to move downwards without any problem, which I confirmed by connecting the VCDS. Clicking on the Test Button, the Beam fell down a further 10 mts, got up to its max and then back to it's manually adjusted level. And no, there are no scratches on the Lens as it is safely positioned at a distance from the Bezel. I will post some pics of the lens housing with these settings later if time permits.

I finally corrected the Beam by turning the Screws as mentioned above in previous posts, took the Car for a test, went over bad roads with bumps to check for auto levelling of the Beam. The Beam now works flawlessly by moving up/down to compensate for the horizontal level change of the Car.

I bet it didn't move before going over bumps? Mine didn't and since moving the sensor and realigning the lights it's perfect and moves over bumps and hills.

No, never moved before, infact, never knew this functionality existed in my Car until I started reading and watching Videos of AFS2 on FL by chance. After having watched these Videos, became a little inquisitive and played with my VCDS on the Xenon options in my Car to check if such a functionality existed in the pre-FL too. This was when the lights got misaligned, but then, after all, it was only a blessing in disguise! Now, after having corrected the problem, I like the way the Lights work and dance when you go over highs and lows on the road.

After having corrected the Sensor position/problem, I feel like my Car has been upgraded with a new feature. I now always put the Xenons ON before starting the car. Right after cranking, it now ensures an auto self-alignment for the Xenon by moving the Beam fully downwards first, then fully upwards and lastly aligns itself to the memorized position adjusted to the car level, looks cool. I only wish it had a horizontal movement too, like the Superb has with AFS2.