Superb Xenon Issue

[FloatingBrick]

Noticed that my Xenons have pointed down to the ground on start up during the past few days, mostly when it's around zero degrees or less. Had to pull over, switch engine and lights off, restart the car, and everything was fine then. I'll get it booked in for re-coding.

[RickTT]

Just to add from a car power point of view, if the windscreen wipers are doing a sweep and stop start, starts the car The wipers pause due to the load starting the engine...

 

This to me demonstrates if the demons are duing a self test as part of the start up process they will also lose power and be interrupted 

[Legfitter]

Hi all, did either coding or a software update fix this? My brand new Superb is misbehaving in the same way. It also affects the optional Smart Light Assistant which refuses to operate the high beam even in complete darkness until it has been switched off and back on. 

 

Out of interest, I've noticed that an initial switch on of the ignition followed by a separate press to start the engine does work as a work around - however, this shouldn't be necessary and wasn't the case on my old Superb 2 which had the same lighting system.

Edited 31 December, 2017 by Legfitter

[Bridge]

6 hours ago, Legfitter said:

Hi all, did either coding or a software update fix this? My brand new Superb is misbehaving in the same way. It also affects the optional Smart Light Assistant which refuses to operate the high beam even in complete darkness until it has been switched off and back on. 

 

Out of interest, I've noticed that an initial switch on of the ignition followed by a separate press to start the engine does work as a work around - however, this shouldn't be necessary and wasn't the case on my old Superb 2 which had the same lighting system.

Software update seems to have worked.

[Pidge_Sportline]

Hasn’t worked for me... had the issue again this morning :(

 

So today the dealer has detected a fault which needs “coding” but they have system issues and so have booked it in for a full day next week... hoping this resolves it for good!!

[IJWS15]

In case your dealer doesn't believe you this is what mine do

https://youtu.be/eS7618gXsZA and https://youtu.be/JEk_TEeJLpA

 

This clip shows stopping  to reset

https://youtu.be/NmXa43CQUcs

 

Not been in yet but service is coming up

[penguin17]

This happened to me again on Weds morning, outside temp was ~2º.  

 

If anyone has any details of the 'coding fix' (bulletin number or similar) can they please post on here so I can mention this on my upcoming 1st service.  TIA. 

[rtj70]

On a drive home last night (200+ miles) which was mostly motorways or dual carriageway I have to say the Xenons were excellent. At times it would put on (partial) main beam using SLA but even without that the lighting was excellent.

 

As I drove up some major A roads you could see how poor some cars' lights were from the area illuminated ahead of them. Some were very poor and yet they drove at 60+mph! They can't have seen much ahead.

 

Maybe I'm lucky mine are (currently) working!

[Legfitter]

On 02/01/2018 at 10:49, Pidge_Sportline said:

Hasn’t worked for me... had the issue again this morning :(

 

So today the dealer has detected a fault which needs “coding” but they have system issues and so have booked it in for a full day next week... hoping this resolves it for good!!

 

Any luck Pidge? I pressed my i button today and spoke to Skoda to register the problem with them. The girl said she'd spoken to a few other people but that at the moment I should just contact my dealer. I thought I'd wait and see if you had any luck. I can manage it for now by turning on the ignition and waiting before starting the engine with my foot on the brake. Cheers.

Edited 9 January, 2018 by Legfitter

[Pidge_Sportline]

Just now, Legfitter said:

 

Any luck Pidge? I pressed my i button today and spoke to Skoda to register the problem with them. The girl said she'd spoken to a few other people but that at the moment I should just contact my dealer. I thought I'd wait and see if you had any luck. I can manage it for now by turning on the ignition and waiting before starting the engine with my foot on the brake. Cheers.

No luck I’m afraid - still same issue although haven’t got back to dealer yet... I want them to have a guaranteed solution before booking it in and wasting any more time! I’m like you and just using the workaround for now... 

[rtj70]

I am so glad mine are not doing this. If they did at the weekend and it would not correct on a restart I had a long drive in the dark!

[Legfitter]

It's easy to miss that they do this at all, especially if you're driving in Street lights. As far as I can see, they always correct after a restart ok though. It seems solely connected to the car being cold and the delayed start that happens when the glow plug needs to heat longer. I'm guessing it's therefore probably only a problem with Diesel Superbs maybe?? The power draw must just happen later and cause the headlight calibration process to brown out and stop half way through. I suspect this is one to go straight to Skoda in the Czech republic about. 

[JR RS]

6 hours ago, Legfitter said:

It's easy to miss that they do this at all, especially if you're driving in Street lights. As far as I can see, they always correct after a restart ok though. It seems solely connected to the car being cold and the delayed start that happens when the glow plug needs to heat longer. I'm guessing it's therefore probably only a problem with Diesel Superbs maybe?? The power draw must just happen later and cause the headlight calibration process to brown out and stop half way through. I suspect this is one to go straight to Skoda in the Czech republic about. 

 

its happened to mine once - i have a 220 petrol.

as u said, u'll only notice it if its dark and the headlights are on auto....if it does happen.

 

a restart of the car fixed the headlight throw.

 

i'm surprised that Skoda have this design fault with the Start-up Ignition process in the mk3 Superbs.

nowdays i press the start button, without the foot on the brakes, to allow the systems go through their start-up process, before pressing (2-3 secs later) the start button again, but this time with the foot on the brakes to start the engine.

[Fatso]

My xenon headlights have failed to level on numerous occasions lately. The common denominator seems to be cold weather, it hasn't been much above 5C for several weeks here.

 

It's quite easy to miss when I'm starting my car up in my village with good street lighting, but quite annoying when I get out on to the country lane where it isn't really safe to be stopping and restarting in the dark. I'll be booking it in to the dealers next week.

[Legfitter]

I contacted Skoda directly in the Czech Republic about this. Unfortunately they came back asking which service centre I'd taken the car to. To be honest I haven't actually taken it in yet because I don't believe they know a solution to the problem. They'll just keep my car for two days for no reason. It's annoying as they definitely know they have this issue. If any of you guys that have this issue and have been to the dealership want to have a go the email addres is [email protected] - I tried to stress to them that this was a safety issue! If they don't pull their finger out we'll look at the class action lawsuit next ;-) 

 

I tried Facebook as well and that's who gave me the email address. I'm obviously assuming no-one has managed to get them fixed yet? 

[Bridge]

I got a software update in December which seems to have resolved the issue. A new update was applied when I had the car serviced last week. As I have said before, Skoda are aware of the issue, but the dealerships may not be.

[Pidge_Sportline]

18 minutes ago, Bridge said:

I got a software update in December which seems to have resolved the issue. A new update was applied when I had the car serviced last week. As I have said before, Skoda are aware of the issue, but the dealerships may not be.

 

I got a software update on the xenons too but it hasn’t fixed it for me... 

[Bridge]

16 minutes ago, Pidge_Sportline said:

 

I got a software update on the xenons too but it hasn’t fixed it for me... 

Perhaps that is why the new update was released so quickly. Hope you can get it sorted.

[T-1000]

Last few days my car has been doing this also, again a sportline and agin I dont notice until I get to a section of unlit road on my way to work. Car is only two months old.

[Pidge_Sportline]

On 13/01/2018 at 16:24, Bridge said:

Perhaps that is why the new update was released so quickly. Hope you can get it sorted.

Have you got any details of the update they applied Bridge? I’m gonna speak to my dealer again but want to know it will get fixed and not a waste of time...

[Bridge]

39 minutes ago, Pidge_Sportline said:

Have you got any details of the update they applied Bridge? I’m gonna speak to my dealer again but want to know it will get fixed and not a waste of time...

Sorry, I didn’t get any details. I was just told on the day I booked my service that Skoda had contacted the dealership to inform them of the new update.

[Mindbomb]

This is interesting - my Superb has done precisely this, once, earlier this week when taking a cat to the vets. It's rare that I need to drive after 5 p.m so I've never noticed this before, but I got in the car, hit the brake, pressed the start button and set off only to find I could see the 15 feet of road in front of me beautifully but not much more after that.

 

A stop, switch off and headlight dance later everything was back to normal.

 

I've got the car in at the dealers this afternoon for them to take some data off my new ECU which they should have done when it was replaced, so I'll ask them about it. I'll report back if I get any information.

[Legfitter]

OK, just back from the dealership having had my car in for this issue. Beautifully, the headlights pointed at the ground when I started it from cold this morning at dusk so I was able to get the technician to plug it in before I switched it off. I'm not sure if it revealed an error but they have applied  the software update. Apparently their technician had to fill in an extra report for Skoda than he would normally have to do as this is an issue they are monitoring more closely than others.

 

I don't doubt that something has changed. As was mentioned previously, the dance of the headlights is now much more varied and reminiscent of the old system in my Superb II with more left/right movements than before. I'll try it again in the morning from cold but it's definitely different. Also, and I could be wrong, I think that they don't do a full reset pattern now on a single ignition press. I'm pretty sure they did before. Fingers crossed! 

[Mindbomb]

On 19/01/2018 at 12:38, Mindbomb said:

I've got the car in at the dealers this afternoon for them to take some data off my new ECU which they should have done when it was replaced, so I'll ask them about it. I'll report back if I get any information.

 

I questioned the service manager about these reports - she'd heard nothing like it before and because I couldn't replicate it I couldn't demonstrate it either. Do you happen to know what patch they applied to the lighting control system?

 

 

[xman]

43 minutes ago, Mindbomb said:

 

I questioned the service manager about these reports - she'd heard nothing like it before

 

 

Default answer - they're all trained that way.

 

 

Edited 23 January, 2018 by xman