I had not driven my 2013 diesel estate elegance (with the bi-xenon lights) at night for a while, but this morning had to leave home at 02:00 to take my son to Gatwick for an early flight and noticed that whilst the lights are as bright as always, the dip beam cut off seemed to be very much lower than I recall (main beam seems fine). There doesn’t seem to be any manual adjustment in the cabin, but presumably there is some sort of load compensation system, could that be affecting the dipped beam height?

The lights still do the ‘dance’ when they start up, so I’m guessing the mechanisms are all working, and the motorcar passed the MoT just last week - it just seems (to me) that the dipped beams cut off much closer to the the motorcar than they used to.

I have not investigated yet, mainly because I’m not sure what I’m looking for. Is anyone able to give me any guidance on what and where to look for possible causes?

Alan

For a start I would check the connectors from the wire harness on corrosion. Step number two would be reading the fault codes with and OBDII device

4 minutes ago, Agent327 said:

For a start I would check the connectors from the wire harness on corrosion. Step number two would be reading the fault codes with and OBDII device

Thank you. I have Carista and the corresponding dongle - is that something that would be able to identify an issue?

I’m not sure there is a fault as such - perhaps the headlamps just need adjusting, but I don’t know anything about bi-xenon lamps.

Alan

Just try it, imo this is systematic fault finding. Somewhere you light is not behaving well and you need to create a point of departure. I do not know very much about bi-xenon lights but this is how I would start fault finding. the third option is scavenging the internet on the VAG related forums and find similar questions and their answers. Te world is bigger than the (however good) Skoda forums. Even visiting other makes forums could help. as the light units and their electronics often come from manufacturers like e.g. Hella

Thank you for that. I did check with Carista this morning (I had to re-set a code after changing the glow plugs anyway), but it didn’t report any faults.

I can’t see anything wrong, but what I have done is adjust both headlamps up ‘a little bit’ - I don’t have access to beam setter so I’ve just wound each of the adjusters up half a turn. I’ll see if that solves the issue the next opportunity I have to drive in the dark.

If that doesn’t solve the problem I’ll start doing some reading on the internet, as you suggest.

Many thanks.

AO.

Having been put on the right path by Jimbo’s thread, I investigated the sensors.

The Skoda was on the Kwiklift ramps anyway to change the rear brake pads (the Kwiklift just about fits - with some assistance from some rubber pucks I found on Amazon - I’ll post a photo once the motorcar is jacked down):

The rear sensor looks fine, but as you may see from this photo, the shaft that attaches the front one has sheared through and through:

I’ve removed the bottom bit from the motorcar as it it’s not doing anything, it looks like the ball joint seized leading to the shaft breaking. It looks to me like that probably happened quite a while ago.

This looks like the right part, and only cost £20:

Headlamp sensor

Alan

Well done, good fault finding. I was not thinking in this direction at all I have to admit.

6 minutes ago, Agent327 said:

Well done, good fault finding. I was not thinking in this direction at all I have to admit.

Thank you. I had no idea those sensors existed until I saw a similar thread yesterday - this forum is such a useful resource, I might have gone round in circles looking for faults if I hadn’t been pointed in the right direction regarding the sensors.

Alan

This should only be a 10 minute job to fit, so I should have my bi-xenon headlamps working as Mr Skoda intended on Saturday.

I’d adjusted both headlamps up ‘a little bit’ to compensate before I knew about that sensor - fortunately I’d marked the start point a white paint pen, so I can put them back to their original positions.

It is nice to solve a problem (fingers crossed).

😎

I did change the rear brake pads this afternoon- an easy job with the motorcar already up on the ramps. The old pads didn’t look too bad for 45,000 miles worth of wear:

This was the third set of pads, so they are lasting pretty consistently (97,000 miles total for the first 2 sets).

I might as well leave the motorcar up on the ramps until the headlamp level sensor arrives.

😎

I’m pleased to report that the replacement headlamp level sensor and the map update CD both arrived with the postie this morning.

I’d left the Skoda up on the ramps, so fitting the replacement sensor took just a few minutes. It is helpful to have a ratcheting ring spanner to do up the 10mm bolt at the top because there really isn’t much room. The 10mm nut at the bottom is much easier to access.

So, wheel back on and the motorcar jacked down. These are the rubber pucks I mentioned the other day. They fit the ridges underneath the Skoda’s sills perfectly and ensure there is enough clearance so the Kwiklift doesn’t damage anything under the car.

Everything looks okay. I’ve returned the headlamp adjusters to their original positions (I’d marked them with a white paint pen), but I’ll have to wait until it gets a bit dark this evening to see if the aim is right.

Now on to the map update.

😎

Edited 9 August, 20259 Aug by Othen

The good news is: I’ve waited for dusk and taken the Skoda for a spin; what a difference! Everything is back to the way Mr Skoda intended for less than £20.

😎

Good work! I had a similar problem (but I let the garage sort it as I’m lazy).

I found that the lights still did their setup dance but they failed safe (ie stayed at the lowest setting). There was also a warning message on the Maxidot screen to say that the system had defaulted to safe mode. The garage told me it’s quite a common failure because - as you found - the things seize after some time and eventually break.

Glad you sorted it.

20 hours ago, ethel said:

Good work! I had a similar problem (but I let the garage sort it as I’m lazy).

I found that the lights still did their setup dance but they failed safe (ie stayed at the lowest setting). There was also a warning message on the Maxidot screen to say that the system had defaulted to safe mode. The garage told me it’s quite a common failure because - as you found - the things seize after some time and eventually break.

Glad you sorted it.

Now I know about it, I’ll give the two sensors a good spray with some WD40 once or twice per year.

😎