Hi all,

 

Apologies for starting a new topic on this subject but I couldn't find anything similar to the issue I currently have with my 2007 plate Octavia II VRs estate.

 

As I am driving, if it hit a pot hole or some raised ironwork in the road with the near side wheels my headlights will instantly adjust down to their lowest setting making driving in the dark very difficult.  Over a period of time they will correct and come back up to normal height.  This might be during the same journey or overnight.  The lights always do their self-levelling check when I start the car so that bit is working fine.

 

I've had my local VAG independent garage look at it and everything is attached where it should be, there are no fault codes and everything responded as required when they adjusted things on the computer declaring that they couldn't find any fault.  Then as soon as i get the car on the road again and hit something of any depth the lights go down again.

 

I know the simple solution some might say is watch where you're driving but there is only so much you can do and the depressions I'm referring to aren't really that bad just the sort of thing that you'd avoid if you could be doesn't normally hurt the car if you have to go over it.  This has been happening for about 2 months now and it just annoying (and a bit dangerous).  Has anyone had a similar experience or got any ideas what could be causing this?

 

Kind regards,

 

simmod00

Might be wrong but I think it's known as self levelling xenons

Could be a bad levelling sensor

Might be wrong but I think it's known as self levelling xenons

Well yes, they are self-levelling xenons, however they do not level like that at all. They do a check at engine on and if you then pile the boot full of stuff, or pop a couple of "fatties" in the back seat it will adjust, but xenons are not quick enough to adjust "on-the-fly" when you've going over potholes, dips in the road, hills etc.

My mark 1 with Xenons used be be ever so slightly slower than my mk2 when it comes to leveling, but its not that bad. it sounds like something is working slowly to me. Arent the sensors on the suspension? maybe they are gunked up? Im not 100% where they are but i thin ki saw sensors on the suspension of my MK1 when I was under it once.

The sensors are on the front and rear suspension.

 

It sounds like one of the sensors is dodgy or something. As you hit a bump it's triggering the auto levelling to drop to the lowest point.

 

I think they're on the drivers side.

 

Might be worth a quick visual check.

 

It has also been known for them to end up with the sensor arm going the wrong way which confuses the system.

 

Phil

Thanks all. The sensors are on the passenger side front and rear suspension arms. I can't really get a good look at them but I can't see why they would have been working as per normal one week then doing this really weird dipping down to the lowest level the next unless something has broken or stopped working correctly. Also, when the garage looked at then they could see nothing wrong. If one of the sensors had broken or was malfunctioning could this cause the lights to adjust too quickly rather than filtering out the spike inputs like hitting a pot hole?

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Do xenons on Mk2s behave the same as on the Mk1? If so, if you turn the lights on before turning the ignition on, (no need to start the engine), you should see the dipped beam pattern sweep down from normal to their lowest possible setting then immediately sweep up again. This is fairly swift, and the motion speed is the same in both directions. It should be obvious if it is slower on the rise ...

^^^^ The OP said that happens, which would tend to eliminate the motors. 

Which would leave the sensors as the main suspects. 

Just because there is no obvious physical damage it doesn't mean they are not faulty. 

Unless there is a wiring fault.

Hi all,

Apologies I should have closed the loop with this issue. Turns out the rear height sensor (the one attached to the rear suspension) had broken. This was visible to the garage this time round. I reckon that when they looked before there was no visible damage but it was on its way out. The prompter for me to post was that I've now got the same problem in reverse with the lights going sky high whenever I hit a slight bump in the road (i.e. all the time on our roads). Applying very simple logic, I think this is the front sensor playing up. I let you all know when I get this looked at if this is indeed the case.

Thanks for the help.

simmod00

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