Hi guys, having a problem using my travel mode on my superb.

I've travelled to Slovakia for a little break and have recently taken my car out of garage having a lot of work done. Sent it in a few weeks ago and has taken so long that in the end the job was rushed and few other problems have arisen as a result. My biggest concern is the headlights. I flicked it to travel mode the second I got off the train in France and had no idea it wasn't working until it started getting dark in Germany.

Once the headlights came on I started to get a lot of flashes off people, some of which were really nasty about it and followed me for several mile with the full beam on before giving up... Not really appreciative of this since I have a baby in the car, however at the same time I understand the reason they're ****ed off.

Anyway, after this happened a few times I pulled in to check on the travel mode thingy. Went into settings and checked it was on, said it was so I turned it off and back on again. On the wall in front of me I could see the pattern try to change (literally moved a couple of mil) and then go back to its original pattern again, so something is definitely up. Had no choice but to continue our journey as our hotel was still a few hundred mile away.

When I start the car the lights do the little self test dance so I'm really stuck as to what the problem could be?

The law in Slovakia states that I have to have my headlights active at all times day and night so this is an issue I really need to sort out as soon as possible as I can't keep driving like this. On top of that the drive back home is going to be equally problematic.

Would really like to know what the problem is and if I can fix it myself as would rather save the money as i've spent well over £1000 on it over last couple months and SWMBO is already tired of me spending money on it.

Many thanks in advance!

The pattern doesn't change in travel mode, it should just aim the lights down slightly and to the right for a RHD car (down and to the left for a LHD car).

 

Can you get a VCDS autoscan done? That'll confirm any obvious faults.

 

Otherwise it could be a level sensing problem, I'd check the front and rear level sensors on the suspension to make sure the arms are still attached.

 

If everything looks fine, you can manually adjust the headlights down using the adjustment bolts on the headlights then get them realigned properly at a later date.

Okay, I'll go check that when I get the chance.

You know what I mean about the travel mode not working though? You can see the light beam start to move, which happens for maybe a quarter of a second and then goes straight back to its starting position again.

I had thought that travel mode adjusted the pattern so that the beam was flat (ie without the kick up on the LHS for RHD cars)?

I had thought that travel mode adjusted the pattern so that the beam was flat (ie without the kick up on the LHS for RHD cars)?

 

On a facelift MK2 Octavia with halogen projectors, there is a small tab that you flatten the beams with. On the same car with factory xenons, this tab isn't there, instead it'll just move the beams down and over.

 

This gives a rough idea but I don't recall it being quite as obvious on mine:

 

From another thread: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/149020-adjusting-bi-xenon-setup-for-driving-abroad/?p=1862202

Edited 26 September, 20169 yr by langers2k

Forgot about this thread - so took it to the skoda dealers in slovakia (zvolen).   Cost me €53 for diagnostic and wheel balancing on all 4 wheels (we hit something in france which caused a huge amount of vibration) AND scrubbing all the rust off all 4 hubs under the wheels, absolute bargain.

Initially they couldn't find any of the faults (not even the airbag fault came up).  It turns out that it just needed to be plugged into the diagnostics to reset everything, the whole light system worked perfect after this.