Evening,

long story short, I am getting my mk1 VRS (54 plate) back on the road.

 

I need to get new headlight units due to some faults. I like the current ones I have however when looking on google and other threads I think they have been changed from factory units. I have attached some pictures (albeit not great) and was hoping someone could provide some information on them I.e what they’re called and where I can buy some from?

 

Thanks 😃

James

Since you have OE headlight washers then they should be Xenon's, check for the presence of ballast packs behind the lights.

46 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Since you have OE headlight washers then they should be Xenon's, check for the presence of ballast packs behind the lights.

Hi mate,

 

Thanks for the reply and info, I’ll check tomorrow.

 

If they are xenon’s, are they an aftermarket product or were they an option from Skoda? As I cannot find any for sale online.
 

Thanks

James

The Mk1 Fabia vrs did have an option for factory xenons and they do look like them.  Do you have a picture of the top / back of the light to check part numbers etc. 

 

Also what is the issue with them? 

2 hours ago, Jamesmaher63 said:

Hi mate,

 

Thanks for the reply and info, I’ll check tomorrow.

 

If they are xenon’s, are they an aftermarket product or were they an option from Skoda? As I cannot find any for sale online.
 

Thanks

James

 

You can't find any on sale as they're as rare as hens teeth now. They were an option on some MkI Fabia's. As mentioned, you have the headlight washers fitted which is/ was an MoT requirement so are highly likely to be factory fitted. You can check by either Googling the part number which can be found on top of the headlight casing when you open the bonnet or from one of the codes on the build sticker which is under the boot carpet. There's a load of codes which can be deciphered online. I've used http://igorweb.org/equidec.aspx successfully in the past.

If they're genuine xenon's you need bulb type D2S which are widely available.

Nope, mine look the same and are factory Xenons. A £500 option at that time.... - 2005!

 

You haven't said what the fault are.

 

Also..... Virtually no Fabia Mk1 or 6Y headlights in the past few years.

Options appear to be....

Strip the exist headlights out and get the bowls re-silvered if scorched.

Convert to bog standard halogen lights from a more usual Fabia (I don't know the details).

Convert to bi-xenon using these guys. (Not heard of any UK people doing this).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntssBdaAIOg

 

Thanks for the responses and for the useful info. I will check the part number when my mrs gets home from work later with it.

 

The issues are that I am unable to adjust the aim of the lights and are pretty much aiming way too low and also the drivers side headlight bulb carrier is loose and therefore sometimes doesn’t work. When taking the cover off and firmly holding the bulb carrier thing in place it stays on and as soon as you let go the light turns off.

The headlights aiming way to low is a classic symptom of the level sensor on the rear suspension coming apart.

 

Xenon headlights are auto-levelling, and rely on the readings from that sensor. 

1 minute ago, softscoop said:

The headlights aiming way to low is a classic symptom of the level sensor on the rear suspension coming apart.

 

Xenon headlights are auto-levelling, and rely on the readings from that sensor. 

Ah mate that’s really helpful, thanks. Could that be anything to do with the drivers headlight sometimes flickering and sometimes not working at all?

No the levelling of the headlights won't cause it to flicker.

 

At the age of the car, it would be prudent to just get 2 new bulbs and ballasts, they are not too expensive these days.

Ballast, 2x required: https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/xenon-headlight-d2s-d2r-ballast-for-hella-5dv-007-760-63-audi-ford-opel-vw/

 

Pair of bulbs: https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/d-lumina-d2s-50-brightness-35w-hid-xenon-headlight-bulb-set-2-bulbs/

Don't buy this headlight, but use it to look at images of what you are looking for on the back, you can see the ballast pack clear as day 🤝

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204192086753

The rear mounted actuator that controls the self leveling sensor is probably toast at this point, and they're no longer available new from Skoda. The price alone when they were available was crazy expensive as well.

 

If the sensor is goosed, it'll default the headlamp aim to the most downward position, and as you're supposed to use VCDS to set the headlamps in the middle of their range you'll not have any luck trying to adjust with the laptop either.

 

You can manually set the headlamps, but only when you've had the adjuster out of the unit and manipulated it to it's max height setting, then you can adjust them using the allen key adjusters on the units. Be sure to unplug the adjusters and leave them unplugged.

 

This will at least allow you to align them enough for MOT purposes, as to the light output from them, they are old units now, and even when new they were not "modern LED laser light" bright back then, barely any better than the halogen offerings, so you can invest in restoring the silvered bowls, but that's not cheap either.

 

Cheapest bet (if you're not hung up on originality) is to replace them with new halogen units.

I'm going to run into a similar issue with my Xenons shortly, too.  Am I going to need to let the car know, through VCDS, that the headlight type has been changed to Halogen?  

Thanks all for the responses. I’ll look at getting new ballast’s later. Would I need two per headlight? I have attached a picture of the drivers side unit. 
 

Does the bulb fit directly in to the end of the ballast? As if so, the connection must be loose.

 

Thanks

James

I suspect someone's been in there before as the drivers ballast should live in a bracket under the front panel, between the top of the radiator and the plastic surround supporting the rad.

 

They can flicker if the ballast itself is breaking down, or the power to the ballast plug is not quite secure.

On 07/02/2023 at 12:32, Owainsdad said:

I'm going to run into a similar issue with my Xenons shortly, too.  Am I going to need to let the car know, through VCDS, that the headlight type has been changed to Halogen?  

No you'll just need to unplug the level sensor at the back and manually adjust the headlights in situ. The car will not have any headlamp levelling function as the xenon cars never had the thumbwheel with the 0/1/2/3 leveling selector on the dash whereas the halogen ones did.

 

You may need to adjust the headlamp leveling motors in the headlights to max height and then bring them down with the allen key adjusters on the lamp itself, when you're on the MOT beam tester machine etc. The danger of leaving the headlamp leveling motors at the lowest height is that there might not be enough manual adjustment on the lamps to bring them up to level.

There's one way to get a tiny bit more elevation of the lights. Loosen the Torx screws on top of the headlights and push the top edge back as you re-tighten them.

15 hours ago, Lofty said:

No you'll just need to unplug the level sensor at the back and manually adjust the headlights in situ. The car will not have any headlamp levelling function as the xenon cars never had the thumbwheel with the 0/1/2/3 leveling selector on the dash whereas the halogen ones did.

 

You may need to adjust the headlamp leveling motors in the headlights to max height and then bring them down with the allen key adjusters on the lamp itself, when you're on the MOT beam tester machine etc. The danger of leaving the headlamp leveling motors at the lowest height is that there might not be enough manual adjustment on the lamps to bring them up to level.

Thanks very much for the info 👍

5 hours ago, vindaloo said:

There's one way to get a tiny bit more elevation of the lights. Loosen the Torx screws on top of the headlights and push the top edge back as you re-tighten them.

Thanks a lot for the tip 👍