I am starting to really dislike my LED DRLs! After a bash last year my headlights started leeking and shorted out. Skoda checked them and said that it was due to hairline cracks caused by the bash. The insurance company agreed and changed them. last month. They let in water so they changed them again. Last week I caught a metal post in the car park. Minor bumper damage and the pipe to the headlight washer sheared off. All replaced. Everything was working fine. I have had a couple of RH DRL warnings come up. They went away and the light worked fine. Today the DRL went out and would not come back. Strange thing is that I have seen them flash on a couple of times. No water this time as a dry day. You will see on the attached photo that the glass was nicked when I hit the post (The long line that looks like a crack is meant to be there!). It worked fine after water jet was done. I dont think it is fair to go down the warranty route. The headlight is loose so I will be taking a careful look tommorow.

 

Does anyone know about the electronics within the unit? I am wondering if I have damaged LEDs or whether there is a Ballast or similar that I should try to change? I wiring diagram would help.

 

Any advice gratfully recieved.

 

Thanks

 

Garnett

Can't really give much advice except stop bumping into things. 

This^^

That is so helpful - thanks guys! Unfortunately Exmoor is more suited to a Landrover than a Skoda. Suicidal Pheasant, lumps of rock everywhere. I certainly earn my mileage allowance!

 

I have managed to download the electrical manual that covers the Xenon with LED DRLs. Whilst the left hand side is bumper off, the right hand side is just wheel arch shield out. There is a control module for the LEDs. The fact that it lives under the light and my right hand light unit is loose rather suggests that is worth investigation. This is rather a common one so hopefully I can find a fix as we all start to drop out of warranty. The same unit is a problem on the Audi with J861 controller. Hopefully I can get the part number from the unit.

LED Control Module.pdf

LED Control Module 2.pdf

Edited 8 February, 20179 yr by Garnett

I had a problem with one of mine, but this was not from anything percussive, but water ingress, somewhere. Skoda replaced the headlight itself, but it needed a new control unit to fix the problem. I am thinking that these are rather susceptible to water damage, so if the weathering had been damaged, that could well be the issue, but this is a bit of a guess ,as bumps can cause problems all of their own.

Potential copyright issues with those watermarked docs, no?

19 hours ago, Garnett said:

I am starting to really dislike my LED DRLs!

 

I reckon your LED DRL's are thinking the same about their driver 

The images that I posted are from a manual that is on here which is why I thought it okay to post?

 

i have to say I have always gone out of my way to help other owners on here. When you are facing a £500 plus bill for what should be a minor issue the smart comments are not helpful. This isn't Facebook. 

 

This is is a problem with damp that many led drls are failing from. Cars are now going out of warranty and this is an expensive issue. I was not aware that there was a led control unit that could be changed. I had to go on the Audi site to find it.

 

can we try and keep the comments helpful?

 

thanks

 

Garnett

1 hour ago, Garnett said:

The images that I posted are from a manual that is on here which is why I thought it okay to post?...

 

Fair enough.  This sentence "I have managed to download the electrical manual" gave me the impression you'd downloaded paid-for copyright material from erWin and then offered it for public consumption. Seems like that was someone else.

 

On 09/02/2017 at 14:56, Garnett said:

The images that I posted are from a manual that is on here which is why I thought it okay to post?

 

i have to say I have always gone out of my way to help other owners on here. When you are facing a £500 plus bill for what should be a minor issue the smart comments are not helpful. This isn't Facebook. 

 

This is is a problem with damp that many led drls are failing from. Cars are now going out of warranty and this is an expensive issue. I was not aware that there was a led control unit that could be changed. I had to go on the Audi site to find it.

 

can we try and keep the comments helpful?

 

thanks

 

Garnett

If you are hitting things surely this is causing the damage to the lights and not a bad design

yes modern systems are more delicate with all the electrics and circuit boards but they should work fine provided they aren't damaged

Can you not get a set of non led headlights if the durability of the units are important, then you shouldn't have issues with the led controller 

I am pretty sure that would requite some major recoding of the car as the headlights move with the wheel.

 

The annoying thing is that we have now had two dry days and the LEDs have come back to life. Tomorrow I plan to take a look at the LED controller unit and see if it has signs of damp. Xenon headlights dont make heat like halogens do so there always appears to be damp condensation inside them. Other posts on here suggest that this is normal.

 

Many of us have had warranty claims due to damp. I am not sure what people will feel about this once warranties expire this year. Hopefully there will be a third party headlight soon. That still doesn't address the need to completely remove the bumper to change the lights. I have got this down to 4 hours now. If anyone can come up with a mod that makes the two side bolts that hold the upper and lower bumper together then that could really help. At the moment you really need to remove both wheels and wheel arches and even then it is a struggle.

 

Finally managed to get a new MIB1 Columbus unit under warranty. The DAB actually works. PM if you want to know how it is done and only if you dont make stupid comments!

 

Garnett

Hi All

 

I thought I would post the solution to this problem. I got some silly answers from some, but nobody knew the answer to this common problem which is occuring with LED DRLs. I got the solution on the Audi forum as it uses the same unit.

 

It was not the DRLs that were at fault or the knock. There is a DRL control unit underneath the headlight which was the fault rather than the £400 headlight.

 

I managed to get the part 4GO 907 697 D on ebay for £45 brand new (from Latviua admittedly). Just put it in and the LEDs are fine. The attached photos show the cause.

 

I hope that this is of use to anyone who gets the same problem out of warranty.

 

RHS is a 5 minute job via the wheenl arch. LHS is bumper off so not as easy.

 

Happy to take any questions.

 

Garnett

^^ Looks like water ingress may have created a short within the back of the control unit, thereby causing the issue with the DRLs.

 

 

6 hours ago, Garnett said:

Happy to take any questions.

 

Garnett

 

Have you stopped hitting things?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 sorry, couldn't resist....

 

 

 

 

 

On a serious note, thanks for posting this, it may well help a few people in future - nice one. 

The water ingress was there - just the normal condensation that people report. Xenons don't get hot so the don't dry out.

 

i think this will be a serious issue in the future out of warranty. You can dry the leds without needing to change them and just do this control unit first

 

Garnett

On 24/02/2017 at 14:32, Garnett said:

Hi All

 

I thought I would post the solution to this problem. I got some silly answers from some, but nobody knew the answer to this common problem which is occuring with LED DRLs. I got the solution on the Audi forum as it uses the same unit.

 

It was not the DRLs that were at fault or the knock. There is a DRL control unit underneath the headlight which was the fault rather than the £400 headlight.

 

I managed to get the part 4GO 907 697 D on ebay for £45 brand new (from Latviua admittedly). Just put it in and the LEDs are fine. The attached photos show the cause.

 

I hope that this is of use to anyone who gets the same problem out of warranty.

 

RHS is a 5 minute job via the wheenl arch. LHS is bumper off so not as easy.

 

Happy to take any questions.

 

Garnett

This is very helpful. My drivers side had just gone after 1 year. My dealer says he will have a look but bulbs are not covered under warranty. I feel it's the ballast as it was intermittent then stopped completely. Cracking post thanks for your time posting this. Perhaps mine has weathered from cleaning with a pressure washer weekly. I have scanned with vcds and it says controller open circuit. I will give the dealer the part number as they will probably say this is a one off. Looks like audis have loads of problems. 

 

On 24 February 2017 at 14:32, Garnett said:

Hi All

 

I thought I would post the solution to this problem. I got some silly answers from some, but nobody knew the answer to this common problem which is occuring with LED DRLs. I got the solution on the Audi forum as it uses the same unit.

 

It was not the DRLs that were at fault or the knock. There is a DRL control unit underneath the headlight which was the fault rather than the £400 headlight.

 

I managed to get the part 4GO 907 697 D on ebay for £45 brand new (from Latviua admittedly). Just put it in and the LEDs are fine. The attached photos show the cause.

 

I hope that this is of use to anyone who gets the same problem out of warranty.

 

RHS is a 5 minute job via the wheenl arch. LHS is bumper off so not as easy.

 

Happy to take any questions.

 

Garnett

If you're still on this site, thank you, unfortunately my probable control module isse is with the left hand DRL, so bumper off 

Hi - gave up on Skoda in the end because the Customer Service got so poor. Trying to differentiate between brands I guess. I have an Outlander PHEV now which is fun. The bumper off may be necessary but try separating it using the Allen screws first on the side. Much easier if you get a short flexible screwdriver coupling. You may not need to whole thing off. Good luck 

Hey, did you guys have any "yellowing" on the DRL before they gave up? As in, did they turn "yellow" from "white" before they conked off? 

On ‎25‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 01:32, Garnett said:

Hi All

 

I thought I would post the solution to this problem. I got some silly answers from some, but nobody knew the answer to this common problem which is occuring with LED DRLs. I got the solution on the Audi forum as it uses the same unit.

 

It was not the DRLs that were at fault or the knock. There is a DRL control unit underneath the headlight which was the fault rather than the £400 headlight.

 

I managed to get the part 4GO 907 697 D on ebay for £45 brand new (from Latviua admittedly). Just put it in and the LEDs are fine. The attached photos show the cause.

 

I hope that this is of use to anyone who gets the same problem out of warranty.

 

RHS is a 5 minute job via the wheenl arch. LHS is bumper off so not as easy.

 

Happy to take any questions.

 

Garnett

 

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but as these things get older and change hands, a new bunch of people have to deal with these out of warranty issues...

 

Anyway, is this unit just for the DRL?

 

I've had my RHS one go out over the weekend after parking it facing downhill in heavy rain (don't these things get weather tested...?). If it is to be replaced, is any coding needed?

 

TIA

Hello. I have this problem on my Skoda Octavia 3 2016. The left DRL turned Yellow from White. Should I try to change the DRL Module? The right DRL is ok.

On 10/07/2021 at 16:38, sebic98 said:

Hello. I have this problem on my Skoda Octavia 3 2016. The left DRL turned Yellow from White. Should I try to change the DRL Module? The right DRL is ok.

Try to swap them first. In this way you’ll know is it from the control module or the LED strip.

Sorry for asking again, but to swap what? Swap the control module? Can I swap them without removing the front bumper? Or do I have to remove the front bumper? Thank you!

3 minutes ago, sebic98 said:

Sorry for asking again, but to swap what? Swap the control module? Can I swap them without removing the front bumper? Or do I have to remove the front bumper? Thank you!

Sorry can’t tell you exactly as I haven’t don’t it on Octavia but on BMW 3rd series. I think you should remove the bumper.

Yes, swap the module or the headlights. Just for the test you won’t drive like that

Edited 12 July, 20214 yr by fr1nklyn

Okay, thank you!

Just now, fr1nklyn said:

Sorry can’t tell you exactly as I haven’t don’t it on Octavia but on BMW 3rd series. I think you should remove the bumper.