Was told last night just how expensive they are to replace.

Worrying about  failure sometime in the future now or are they proving to be ultra reliable?

 

.

Potentially writing of the car off if you have a front end smash and destroy the pair of them too it seems. 

 

 

I've only ever seen one fail and that failed within 100 miles (replaced under warranty).

Which bit are you worried about?

There's 10+ year old cars driving around with original xenons still working fine.

 

Price up how bulb changes you would have needed in that time and it won't be too bad.

 

Plus you can normally get the bulbs from ebay cheaply (are they D2S or D1S or similar).

 

Phil

If you compare the price to a good set of halogens. They are the price of say 5 good sets. 5 sets of halogens in 10 years is good going imo so they arent really that pricey

You can get the bulbs from ebay for practically nothing. Changing them's a bit trickier on the mk2 than the mk1, but not by much. So don't worry

Yep, I'd say a 10 year life is a reasonable expectation. As said the bulbs are quite reasonable.

 

Ballasts might be a bit more expensive to replace, but they're proving to be hard wearing too.

105k miles on my 4.5 year old Scout and not had a single external bulb go yet. I have auto lights and coming/leaving home on the xenons with no adverse effect so they are pretty hard wearing.

 

Only bulb I have had to change was the rear seat interior light bulb.

Which bit are you worried about?

 

 

I worry if I'm not worried about something..

 

Just the potential cost. that was all, but it's seemingly not so bad after all.

 

Bit wicked off about this having to take the car in to have the headlights fiddled about with if I take the car abroad though. 

Seems you can't put the usual stick on deflectors on 'cus of the generated heat.

 

I presume there's a thread on this lurking in the archives?

Headlight housings themselves aren't much different in price from halogen units unless you're talking the afs or bi xenon units some makes fit.

Bulbs ARE expensive at around £80 each, but they should last 10 years easily

The main cost comes from the Headlight washers and self levelling sensors.

I worry if I'm not worried about something..

Just the potential cost. that was all, but it's seemingly not so bad after all.

Bit wicked off about this having to take the car in to have the headlights fiddled about with if I take the car abroad though.

Seems you can't put the usual stick on deflectors on 'cus of the generated heat.

I presume there's a thread on this lurking in the archives?

Depending on if pre fl or fl, pre there's a flat beam lever, fl you simply enable tourist mode.

Depending on if pre fl or fl, pre there's a flat beam lever, fl you simply enable tourist mode.

 

 

Ahh yes. That was mentioned and couldn't be found on my particular model unfortunately.

I asked the hypothetical question as to whether standard halogens could be fitted as a cheaper alternative replacement in the event of a front end bump that broke them both, but it seems that's not easily done.

 

Also discovered the dummy bulbs lurking in the top of the units too!

Edited 25 October, 201312 yr by Mr Ree

Have you got maxidot?

A friendly local member with vcds can sort tourist mode when you go away and set back on your return.

Have you got maxidot?

A friendly local member with vcds can sort tourist mode when you go away and set back on your return.

 

 

Nah. Apparently not.

 

Got just about everything else though, doh .

Bit wicked off about this having to take the car in to have the headlights fiddled about with if I take the car abroad though. 

Seems you can't put the usual stick on deflectors on 'cus of the generated heat.

 

On a recent trip to the continent I found out on my pre FL, there is no option to enable tourist mode at all on the Xenons. Just a beam flattening lever in the near side headlight only. I turned to lever to flatten the beam, but I didn't consider it cutoff enough to stop blinding oncoming motorists abroad.

 

So I experimented with Aluminium tape, and found I could cutoff the beam very effectively by carefully sticking a 45mm x 30mm piece of tape on each headlight. Worked really well, hardly noticeable, and easily pealed off after 4 days use!

 

As for Xenon longevity, mine are nearly 8 years old/80,000 miles and they are still on the original bulbs.   

Its a quick lever flick once you have the lights off. Easy once you have done it once

On a recent trip to the continent I found out on my pre FL, there is no option to enable tourist mode at all on the Xenons. Just a beam flattening lever in the near side headlight only. I turned to lever to flatten the beam, but I didn't consider it cutoff enough to stop blinding oncoming motorists abroad.

 

So I experimented with Aluminium tape, and found I could cutoff the beam very effectively by carefully sticking a 45mm x 30mm piece of tape on each headlight. Worked really well, hardly noticeable, and easily pealed off after 4 days use!

 

As for Xenon longevity, mine are nearly 8 years old/80,000 miles and they are still on the original bulbs.   

 

There's one in each light not just the nearside one. That's probably why.

 

Ours are 'flattened' at the moment on our pre-FL and the beam is perfectly flat. Driven in Europe a few times with them like this and no problems.

 

Phil

There's one in each light not just the nearside one. That's probably why.

 

Well I easily found the lever on the nearside light.....little black plastic thing that moves a metal arm inside the headlight to flatten the beam.....I removed the bulb to see how it works.

 

On the offside, there was no lever. So I took the headlight into the house and took the bulb out of it to find the mechanism.....it wasn't there....no little metal arm inside the light.....go figure! 

The offside lamp becomes the nearside on the continent. Unadjusted, it shouldn't shine into the LH lane.

The offside lamp becomes the nearside on the continent. Unadjusted, it shouldn't shine into the LH lane.

 

That's what I guessed.

 

But there is still a slight beam kick up on the offside.....nothing like as bad as the kick on the nearside. If it was halogen I wouldn't have cared, but as it is a factory Xenon I thought it still had potential to blind and needed flattening a bit more.   

Some manufacturers (not 100% sure about Skoda) will warranty the xenons for the life of the car, do not be fooled into buying spares just in case.

That's what I guessed.

 

But there is still a slight beam kick up on the offside.....nothing like as bad as the kick on the nearside. If it was halogen I wouldn't have cared, but as it is a factory Xenon I thought it still had potential to blind and needed flattening a bit more.   

 

That's strange.

 

There should definitely be a lever in both lights. Both lights are then 'flat' and the beam is perfectly straight and flat with no 'kick' whatsoever.

 

Wonder if yours has been missing from the factory? Or someone has tried to do it at some point and broken it.

 

Phil

That's strange.

 

There should definitely be a lever in both lights. Both lights are then 'flat' and the beam is perfectly straight and flat with no 'kick' whatsoever.

 

Wonder if yours has been missing from the factory? Or someone has tried to do it at some point and broken it.

 

Yes it is. All the information I have found on the internet about adjusting pre fl factory Xenons, mention an adjuster in each headlight.

 

The car has been in my family since new (Jan 2006) and I know the adjustment has never been attempted before. So like you say, either the headlight left the factory with the cut off mechanism missing, or (perhaps more likely) the early MkII Xenon equipped cars didn't come with the beam cut off mechanism in the off side light. Either way, it's curious!