Right dipped headlight audi ошибка

Ошибка 00979 — Lamp for Low Beam Right (M31) (блок 09-Cent.Elect)
На приборной панели сообщение Right/Left dipped headlight / main beam headlight
В прошлой записи я рассказал, что сначала поменял местами блоки розжига и ошибка перешла на другую фару, был заказан блок розжига D3S VAG 8K0941597 на алиэкспресс ru.aliexpress.com/item/32825545549.html
Не знаю, оригинал это или нет, но он работает))

UPD: Блок с AliExpress сгорел, не прослужив и 6 месяцев, но продавец уже выслал замену, оказывается у них есть гарантия 1 год

High intensity discharge lights also known as  xenon HID lights has gain popularity and being more and more preferred by both manufacturers and car drivers because of the cooler color temperature of the light they emit as well as the energy saving it offers. This is the reason that xenon HID lights now come as a standard factory component on almost all cars produced after 2015. Since xenon bulbs works differently than halogens and add a more stylish look to the car, all high-end cars such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz,  and many others are fitted with these brighter and cooler xenon lights in main beam headlights.

Unlike halogen bulbs, which contain a filament that is heated to produce light, Xenon HID bulbs use xenon gas and electrical charge to create a bright, white light. Although xenon light bulbs tends to produce a brighter light than halogens and have a longer lifespan but it is an electronic component with a definite life and needs to be replaced when your car warns you of an error through a warning message. When your car displays “Left Right Dipped headlight/ main beam headlight warning message” it means there is something wrong with the bulb in your main beam headlight.

What are main beam headlight and dipped headlight

Main beam headlight is an optional feature built into the headlights found at the front of your vehicle. Main beam headlamps are designed to increase the visibility ahead of the vehicle. A main beam headlight could be a separate bulb from dipped beam or it may be the same bulb. Therefore, dipped beam is also located at the front of the vehicle either next to your main beam headlight or sidelights. Dipped beam headlights work to increase the visibility during the night time or in the darkness.

These main beam and dipped headlights bulbs can be halogen, LED or xenon HID bulbs depending on the make and model of the car. Main beam headlights are also called high beam or full beam while dipped headlights are also known as low beam headlights. 

What does this error mean?

For your Audi, this error is usually signified on your dashboard with a yellow bulb pointing down with an “X” over the picture. This error simply means that something has gone wrong either with the bulb or xenon ballast (xenon control module under headlight housing) which has stopped the headlight from proper functioning and caused this message to appear.

How to diagnose the problem?

To diagnose the actual problem if this is the bulb or ballast you need to visually inspect the bulb as a most preliminary and easy check. If you find that middle of the bulb has dark black round shape bubble it means the bulb has burnt or if you observe the bulb is emitting a purple color light; it means it is about to die any time sooner. Or if suddenly died, it means this error is 100% due to the bulb. Usually you receive error message for only one side, it is very rate that both the bulbs fail at the same time. In that case, you can try to change sides of the bulbs.

After inspecting a bulb; if it looks like completely fine then you can still change the sides of the bulbs to know if the problem is with the ballast. When you change the sides; check if the headlight error on your dash board changes from “Left” to “right” or vice versa.  If it does, then you know that the issue lies either in the bulb or the ballasts.

The most common Audi warning message

• Abblend-/ Fernlicht rechts
• Vehicle lights malfunction
• Left dipped headlight
• Right dipped headlight
• Left dipped headlight / main beam headlight
• Right dipped headlight / main beam headlight

What are the reasons of bulb failure?

There could be several reasons for the bulb gone out of order and your vehicle showing this warning message such as:

1. Xenon light bulb has completed its lifespan and needs a new one
2. Bulb has damage from accident or water / moisture damage

How to fix this error?

As a simple fix, buying a new xenon bulb and replacing it with a bad one would do the good for your vehicle. Or if it is about xenon ballast then replacing them with new ballast might be the cheapest and easiest solution to this. The failed ballasts on your Audi have burned through the bulbs, so if you’ve had bad ballast for a while then you’ll need new bulbs too. So, it is strongly recommended that you change both bulbs and ballasts for even if only the ballasts were faulty. You can do this replacement as a simple DIY job at your home but in case of ballast it could be a bit tricky so you need to be careful. Before buying and replacing a bulb and ballast, it is recommended that you check the right model of the bulb for your Audi.  Although, HID bulbs are designed for use in a wide variety of cars but usually Osram D1S Xenarc Original or Philips D1S XenStart D2S D3S XenEcoStart or Philips D5S 9285410171 9285409171 9285407171 35W Gas Discharge HID bulb models are used in Audi. You can find out which bulb is used in your Audi headlights by looking at the white sticker attached on the top.  

The most commonly used xenon headlight ballasts on Audi cars

• Mitsubishi Electric
• W003T22073 W003T22071 8K0941597E
• W003T18471 W003T20171 8K0941597C
• W003T22171 8K0941597F
• Keboda 1036060024 1036060014 8K0941597B

A Short Compatibility list

Installing a new xenon ballast control unit is usually straight-forward replacement and doesn’t require any coding on your car.  So you can go to a professional online shop and buy a new replacement part at xenons4u for the best available price.

Do you have an error light on your dashboard that looks like above with a yellow bulb pointing down?

That is known as a “dipped headlight” and this post is written to help you troubleshoot and fix it.

The truth is that even Audi dealerships are notoriously bad at fixing this problem.

Their remedy is typically to suggest replacing the bulbs and ballasts at full retail price, costing you several thousand dollars for a job that is something you could fix yourself for a tenth of the price.

After reading all of my favorite Audi forums, I found a host of information, some of it helpful, some of it conflicting, and some if it misguided. But piecing together the consistent recommendations as well as a little educated guessing and fact checking, I’ve figured out a good approach for anyone who gets this problem in their 2002-2008 Audi A4, S4 or RS4 and wants to try to fix it themselves. The steps listed here will probably also work for other Audis as well, although may differ somewhat.

Since originally posting this I’ve gotten hundreds of comments (literally) with others experiencing this issue on a variety of Audis.

Unfortunately, the dipped headlight warning appears to be a super common issue, and can also point to any number of issues with your headlights.

I’ve also updated this post with revised ideas to help you fix the problem easier, after years of helping others I’ve refined my approach.

First of all, what does “Dipped Headlight” even mean?

Simply put, “Dipped Headlight” is Audi-speak for “there is something wrong with your low beam headlight” and can mean a number of things.

This is part of why it is so difficult to troubleshoot and fix on your own, as the error doesn’t give you much information about what the problem is.

If you have a VAG-COM cable, or know someone who does, the cable can read your car’s computer and tell you the exact error code which will help tremendously. For some people this error message only comes on intermittently, such as when they’re driving slow, when the car first starts up, or in cold weather – for others, it comes on every time.

You can also pickup a cheaper OBD2 scanner on Amazon which can read codes and at least give you a specific error code and message to troubleshoot, like this one for $23.

Regardless this error light is a catch-all warning and therefore not very helpful – which is why this issue is so frustrating to have.

Typically there are several major culprits:

• Bad headlight bulbs – the bulb has gone bad, but isn’t completely out.
• Bad xenon ballasts – the ballast has started to malfunction, causing the error and likely harming your bulbs too
• Bad wiring in the headlight or xenon motor – the wiring and modules within the headlight is somehow damaged
• Bad ride height sensor or calibration – if the car can’t sense the right height level of the car, this will trigger an error

What to Check First

There are several things that most commonly cause this error after reading dozens of owners messages on Audizine, Fourtitude, Audiforums and other message boards. I’ve listed them below in the order of how’d I’d recommend checking and testing the problem.

It seems the most common issue is that a ballast has gone bad…the bad ballast then causes damage to the headlight bulb, requiring you to change the bulb too. If you only change one or the other, you do run the risk that you’ll have to replace it again due to damage that occurred.

If you are getting this issue only on one side, i.e. Dipped Headlight Left or Dipped Headlight Right, then this is a big clue for troubleshooting.

To isolate if it is the headlight bulbs, ballasts, or something internal in the headlight itself, simply swap both the bulbs and ballasts from left to right headlight. If the dipped headlight error on your dash changes from “Dipped Headlight Left” to “Dipped Headlight Right” (or vice versa) then you know that the issue lies in either the bulb or ballasts.

If this is the case, you should order one new bulb and one new ballast (using the links in this post) and replace the bad side and you should be good.

I strongly recommend changing both bulbs and ballasts – even if only the ballasts were faulty, the bulbs likely suffered damage from the bad ballasts and will need replaced soon, and replacing bulbs requires the bumper to come off so its best to do this all at once. It also eliminates all possible sources of the dipped headlight error, as this can be a tricky problem to resolve and it’s better to be aggressive on the treatment of it.

If the problem isn’t isolated to one side or another, and the above trick didn’t work, then you’ll need to troubleshoot the problem one by one in the order listed below:

Headlight Bulbs

Typically the best place to start is new headlight bulbs, as they are often the culprit and one of the cheapest and easiest things to fix – even if new headlight bulbs don’t fix the problem, you’ll eventually need to replace them anyway, so consider it preventative maintenance.

If you get the “headlight bulb out” message, see your headlights “flicker” on/off occasionally, or notice that your dipped headlight error only comes on in cold weather or at first start up, it’s likely your headlight bulbs may be on their way out.

Follow this DIY for tips on picking the right bulbs and how to install them: https://www.nickscarblog.com/diy/replacement-d1s-headlight-bulbs-for-b7-audi-a4s4rs4

Headlight Ballasts

The ballasts are also known to fail, which can cause this issue – even worse, the failed ballast burns through bulbs, so if you’ve had a bad ballast for a while then you’ll need new bulbs too. Rumor has it some ballasts have been recalled by Audi, in which case you can check with your dealer to see if your car qualifies for the recall, in which case the service and replacement should be free – problem solved! However, if you’re not covered by recall and your ballasts are indeed bad, then you have a few options:

1. Have your Ballasts Rebuilt – Contact Phil at tbm850 @ gmail.com – he can rebuild your factory ballasts to fix whatever is wrong, and actually strengthen them so it doesn’t happen again. He only charges $170 per pair for this and can turn it around in about a day then overnight ship it back, so you’re downtime is minimal. I’ve worked with Phil before and he knows the B7 Audi headlights better than pretty much anyone out there, and he’s an airplane mechanic so it’s a professional job.
2. Buy New OEM ballasts – the ballasts are shared by a lot of manufacturers, so don’t order through Audi. You can pick up the ballasts on Amazon for about $110 a piece:

B6 Ballasts (2002-2005)

B7 Ballasts (2005.5-2008) WITHOUT AFS:

B7 Ballasts (2005.5-2008) WITH AFS: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-magneti-marelli-parts/xenon-bulb-ballast-priced-each/8p0907391~mm/

Either way, I strongly recommend new bulbs if you had a bad ballast, as that bad ballast likely caused premature wear on the bulbs and they’re likely to burn out soon – best to replace both while you already have the headlights off the car!

This is also a great time to do the clear corner mod, LED DRLs, and/or LED City Lights since you’ll have the headlights off the car anyway…

Auto Leveling Sensor

If you recently lowered your car, or hit a really hard bump to your drivers side front or rear wheel, this could be the problem. For cars equipped with auto-levelling sensors, the sensors themselves are located in the wheel wheels near the lower control arms so they can adjust the headlight aiming based on the suspension load. For some people when they lower their car, the sensor is out of range as the suspension has been altered. For others, a hard bump to the front wheel could potentially break the sensor or cause it to become unplugged. To access the sensor, take off your drivers side front wheel and look near the bottom of the suspension. The sensor bridges the lower control arm to the body and looks like this:

If it is damaged or the wires have frayed, you can order a new one here: http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B6_S4–V8/Lighting/Headlights/Leveling/ES440960/. If you are lowered, you may just need to bend the upper part of the bracket so the top of the sensor is higher again. Once you have inspected and either repaired or replaced the sensor, you will need to recalibrate it using vag-com. Follow this DIY for instructions on how to do that: http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page=webcontent/pages/autolevel.html&category=6

Headlight Swivel Module

This is the issue I had after replacing the bulbs and ruling out that issue. It turns out that while I was replacing my DRL bulbs, I must have knocked the main headlight swivel out of place, preventing the headlights from being able to aim correctly. The swivel is VERY sensitive, so if you’ve been in accident, or were tinkering inside of your headlights too aggressively, it’s possible you broke a swivel arm or knocked it out of alignment. Looking closely at the headlight I could see the projector lens on my driver side was pushed forward and not aligned the same way my passenger side was, so I reached inside the headlight housing (much the same way I did when replacing the bulbs) and pulled the projector lens “back” away from the front of the housing until it clicked back into place. I then recalibrated the headlight adjustment using the DIY on A4mods and cleared the codes and the problem went away:  http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page=webcontent/pages/autolevel.html&category=6

If you run the vag-com on your Xenons and find error code 02769 or 02770, it is likely your projector lenses are out of alignment and you may be able to manually push or pull them back into place. It is also possible the motor inside the headlight has malfunctioned or stopped working altogether, in which case you’ll need to buy an entire new headlight housing – like mentioned earlier, eBay is your best bet for that, and expect to pay about $200-300. But hopefully you may just be like me and have to massage the projector lens back into place and reset the headlight adjustment via VAG-com and the problem will go away 🙂

VAG-com adjustments (reset to factory spec)

If you change anything other than the bulb, you may also need to recalibrate your headlights and reset the adjustments to factory. To do this, follow the A4mods.com DIY mentioned earlier. For me, I fixed the projector lens being knocked out of place then recalibrated the headlight adjustments using VAG-com to fix my errors.

The last resort is to pull Fuse #10 if you have adaptive or auto-leveling headlights – this disables the feature entirely, which should also disable the warning light. This isn’t the best way to fix it as your headlights might be out of alignment still, and you lose the adaptive features, but hey – at least it gets rid of that pesky warning light and beeping 🙂

The Last Resort – Replace the Whole Darn Thing

At a certain point, you may be better off replacing the entire headlight assembly as you can usually find complete headlights (including ballasts and bulbs) used on eBay for a reasonable price.

This also covers you in case the problem lies elsewhere in the headlight housing, and since you’re going through the trouble of removing your headlights this is probably worth the extra $100 over the cost of a ballast to not have to remove all of these parts more than once.

If your car is older, chances are it’s pretty easy to find used headlight assemblies on eBay from wrecked cars that work just fine, and they’re usually pretty cheap, or you can pick up a new set on Amazon here:

Make sure you have the right part number prior to ordering – the part number can be found on a white sticker on top of your headlights which you can see simply by opening the hood – compare this to the eBay listing to confirm you’re swapping “apples to apples” with the replacement housing. The biggest thing to watch out for is AFS vs non-AFS, as you can’t mix these up. AFS is Audi’s “curve lighting” system which has its own wiring to power this motor, and switching between them is not easy to do.

To swap out the headlight housings, follow this DIY: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/234131-B7-A4-S4-Clear-Corner-Mod-Removal-of-Bumper

Still stumped? Leave a comment, I’ll do my best to help…

Do you have an error light on your dashboard that looks like above with a yellow bulb pointing down?

That is known as a “dipped headlight” and this post is written to help you troubleshoot and fix it.

The truth is that even Audi dealerships are notoriously bad at fixing this problem.

Their remedy is typically to suggest replacing the bulbs and ballasts at full retail price, costing you several thousand dollars for a job that is something you could fix yourself for a tenth of the price.

After reading all of my favorite Audi forums, I found a host of information, some of it helpful, some of it conflicting, and some if it misguided. But piecing together the consistent recommendations as well as a little educated guessing and fact checking, I’ve figured out a good approach for anyone who gets this problem in their 2002-2008 Audi A4, S4 or RS4 and wants to try to fix it themselves. The steps listed here will probably also work for other Audis as well, although may differ somewhat.

Since originally posting this I’ve gotten hundreds of comments (literally) with others experiencing this issue on a variety of Audis.

Unfortunately, the dipped headlight warning appears to be a super common issue, and can also point to any number of issues with your headlights.

I’ve also updated this post with revised ideas to help you fix the problem easier, after years of helping others I’ve refined my approach.

First of all, what does “Dipped Headlight” even mean?

Simply put, “Dipped Headlight” is Audi-speak for “there is something wrong with your low beam headlight” and can mean a number of things.

This is part of why it is so difficult to troubleshoot and fix on your own, as the error doesn’t give you much information about what the problem is.

If you have a VAG-COM cable, or know someone who does, the cable can read your car’s computer and tell you the exact error code which will help tremendously. For some people this error message only comes on intermittently, such as when they’re driving slow, when the car first starts up, or in cold weather – for others, it comes on every time.

You can also pickup a cheaper OBD2 scanner on Amazon which can read codes and at least give you a specific error code and message to troubleshoot, like this one for $23.

Regardless this error light is a catch-all warning and therefore not very helpful – which is why this issue is so frustrating to have.

Typically there are several major culprits:

• Bad headlight bulbs – the bulb has gone bad, but isn’t completely out.
• Bad xenon ballasts – the ballast has started to malfunction, causing the error and likely harming your bulbs too
• Bad wiring in the headlight or xenon motor – the wiring and modules within the headlight is somehow damaged
• Bad ride height sensor or calibration – if the car can’t sense the right height level of the car, this will trigger an error

What to Check First

There are several things that most commonly cause this error after reading dozens of owners messages on Audizine, Fourtitude, Audiforums and other message boards. I’ve listed them below in the order of how’d I’d recommend checking and testing the problem.

It seems the most common issue is that a ballast has gone bad…the bad ballast then causes damage to the headlight bulb, requiring you to change the bulb too. If you only change one or the other, you do run the risk that you’ll have to replace it again due to damage that occurred.

If you are getting this issue only on one side, i.e. Dipped Headlight Left or Dipped Headlight Right, then this is a big clue for troubleshooting.

To isolate if it is the headlight bulbs, ballasts, or something internal in the headlight itself, simply swap both the bulbs and ballasts from left to right headlight. If the dipped headlight error on your dash changes from “Dipped Headlight Left” to “Dipped Headlight Right” (or vice versa) then you know that the issue lies in either the bulb or ballasts.

If this is the case, you should order one new bulb and one new ballast (using the links in this post) and replace the bad side and you should be good.

I strongly recommend changing both bulbs and ballasts – even if only the ballasts were faulty, the bulbs likely suffered damage from the bad ballasts and will need replaced soon, and replacing bulbs requires the bumper to come off so its best to do this all at once. It also eliminates all possible sources of the dipped headlight error, as this can be a tricky problem to resolve and it’s better to be aggressive on the treatment of it.

If the problem isn’t isolated to one side or another, and the above trick didn’t work, then you’ll need to troubleshoot the problem one by one in the order listed below:

Headlight Bulbs

Typically the best place to start is new headlight bulbs, as they are often the culprit and one of the cheapest and easiest things to fix – even if new headlight bulbs don’t fix the problem, you’ll eventually need to replace them anyway, so consider it preventative maintenance.

If you get the “headlight bulb out” message, see your headlights “flicker” on/off occasionally, or notice that your dipped headlight error only comes on in cold weather or at first start up, it’s likely your headlight bulbs may be on their way out.

Follow this DIY for tips on picking the right bulbs and how to install them: https://www.nickscarblog.com/diy/replacement-d1s-headlight-bulbs-for-b7-audi-a4s4rs4

Headlight Ballasts

The ballasts are also known to fail, which can cause this issue – even worse, the failed ballast burns through bulbs, so if you’ve had a bad ballast for a while then you’ll need new bulbs too. Rumor has it some ballasts have been recalled by Audi, in which case you can check with your dealer to see if your car qualifies for the recall, in which case the service and replacement should be free – problem solved! However, if you’re not covered by recall and your ballasts are indeed bad, then you have a few options:

1. Have your Ballasts Rebuilt – Contact Phil at tbm850 @ gmail.com – he can rebuild your factory ballasts to fix whatever is wrong, and actually strengthen them so it doesn’t happen again. He only charges $170 per pair for this and can turn it around in about a day then overnight ship it back, so you’re downtime is minimal. I’ve worked with Phil before and he knows the B7 Audi headlights better than pretty much anyone out there, and he’s an airplane mechanic so it’s a professional job.
2. Buy New OEM ballasts – the ballasts are shared by a lot of manufacturers, so don’t order through Audi. You can pick up the ballasts on Amazon for about $110 a piece:

B6 Ballasts (2002-2005)

B7 Ballasts (2005.5-2008) WITHOUT AFS:

B7 Ballasts (2005.5-2008) WITH AFS: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-magneti-marelli-parts/xenon-bulb-ballast-priced-each/8p0907391~mm/

Either way, I strongly recommend new bulbs if you had a bad ballast, as that bad ballast likely caused premature wear on the bulbs and they’re likely to burn out soon – best to replace both while you already have the headlights off the car!

This is also a great time to do the clear corner mod, LED DRLs, and/or LED City Lights since you’ll have the headlights off the car anyway…

Auto Leveling Sensor

If you recently lowered your car, or hit a really hard bump to your drivers side front or rear wheel, this could be the problem. For cars equipped with auto-levelling sensors, the sensors themselves are located in the wheel wheels near the lower control arms so they can adjust the headlight aiming based on the suspension load. For some people when they lower their car, the sensor is out of range as the suspension has been altered. For others, a hard bump to the front wheel could potentially break the sensor or cause it to become unplugged. To access the sensor, take off your drivers side front wheel and look near the bottom of the suspension. The sensor bridges the lower control arm to the body and looks like this:

If it is damaged or the wires have frayed, you can order a new one here: http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B6_S4–V8/Lighting/Headlights/Leveling/ES440960/. If you are lowered, you may just need to bend the upper part of the bracket so the top of the sensor is higher again. Once you have inspected and either repaired or replaced the sensor, you will need to recalibrate it using vag-com. Follow this DIY for instructions on how to do that: http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page=webcontent/pages/autolevel.html&category=6

Headlight Swivel Module

This is the issue I had after replacing the bulbs and ruling out that issue. It turns out that while I was replacing my DRL bulbs, I must have knocked the main headlight swivel out of place, preventing the headlights from being able to aim correctly. The swivel is VERY sensitive, so if you’ve been in accident, or were tinkering inside of your headlights too aggressively, it’s possible you broke a swivel arm or knocked it out of alignment. Looking closely at the headlight I could see the projector lens on my driver side was pushed forward and not aligned the same way my passenger side was, so I reached inside the headlight housing (much the same way I did when replacing the bulbs) and pulled the projector lens “back” away from the front of the housing until it clicked back into place. I then recalibrated the headlight adjustment using the DIY on A4mods and cleared the codes and the problem went away:  http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page=webcontent/pages/autolevel.html&category=6

If you run the vag-com on your Xenons and find error code 02769 or 02770, it is likely your projector lenses are out of alignment and you may be able to manually push or pull them back into place. It is also possible the motor inside the headlight has malfunctioned or stopped working altogether, in which case you’ll need to buy an entire new headlight housing – like mentioned earlier, eBay is your best bet for that, and expect to pay about $200-300. But hopefully you may just be like me and have to massage the projector lens back into place and reset the headlight adjustment via VAG-com and the problem will go away 🙂

VAG-com adjustments (reset to factory spec)

If you change anything other than the bulb, you may also need to recalibrate your headlights and reset the adjustments to factory. To do this, follow the A4mods.com DIY mentioned earlier. For me, I fixed the projector lens being knocked out of place then recalibrated the headlight adjustments using VAG-com to fix my errors.

The last resort is to pull Fuse #10 if you have adaptive or auto-leveling headlights – this disables the feature entirely, which should also disable the warning light. This isn’t the best way to fix it as your headlights might be out of alignment still, and you lose the adaptive features, but hey – at least it gets rid of that pesky warning light and beeping 🙂

The Last Resort – Replace the Whole Darn Thing

At a certain point, you may be better off replacing the entire headlight assembly as you can usually find complete headlights (including ballasts and bulbs) used on eBay for a reasonable price.

This also covers you in case the problem lies elsewhere in the headlight housing, and since you’re going through the trouble of removing your headlights this is probably worth the extra $100 over the cost of a ballast to not have to remove all of these parts more than once.

If your car is older, chances are it’s pretty easy to find used headlight assemblies on eBay from wrecked cars that work just fine, and they’re usually pretty cheap, or you can pick up a new set on Amazon here:

Make sure you have the right part number prior to ordering – the part number can be found on a white sticker on top of your headlights which you can see simply by opening the hood – compare this to the eBay listing to confirm you’re swapping “apples to apples” with the replacement housing. The biggest thing to watch out for is AFS vs non-AFS, as you can’t mix these up. AFS is Audi’s “curve lighting” system which has its own wiring to power this motor, and switching between them is not easy to do.

To swap out the headlight housings, follow this DIY: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/234131-B7-A4-S4-Clear-Corner-Mod-Removal-of-Bumper

Still stumped? Leave a comment, I’ll do my best to help…

High intensity discharge lights also known as  xenon HID lights has gain popularity and being more and more preferred by both manufacturers and car drivers because of the cooler color temperature of the light they emit as well as the energy saving it offers. This is the reason that xenon HID lights now come as a standard factory component on almost all cars produced after 2015. Since xenon bulbs works differently than halogens and add a more stylish look to the car, all high-end cars such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz,  and many others are fitted with these brighter and cooler xenon lights in main beam headlights.

Unlike halogen bulbs, which contain a filament that is heated to produce light, Xenon HID bulbs use xenon gas and electrical charge to create a bright, white light. Although xenon light bulbs tends to produce a brighter light than halogens and have a longer lifespan but it is an electronic component with a definite life and needs to be replaced when your car warns you of an error through a warning message. When your car displays “Left Right Dipped headlight/ main beam headlight warning message” it means there is something wrong with the bulb in your main beam headlight.

What are main beam headlight and dipped headlight

Main beam headlight is an optional feature built into the headlights found at the front of your vehicle. Main beam headlamps are designed to increase the visibility ahead of the vehicle. A main beam headlight could be a separate bulb from dipped beam or it may be the same bulb. Therefore, dipped beam is also located at the front of the vehicle either next to your main beam headlight or sidelights. Dipped beam headlights work to increase the visibility during the night time or in the darkness.

These main beam and dipped headlights bulbs can be halogen, LED or xenon HID bulbs depending on the make and model of the car. Main beam headlights are also called high beam or full beam while dipped headlights are also known as low beam headlights. 

What does this error mean?

For your Audi, this error is usually signified on your dashboard with a yellow bulb pointing down with an “X” over the picture. This error simply means that something has gone wrong either with the bulb or xenon ballast (xenon control module under headlight housing) which has stopped the headlight from proper functioning and caused this message to appear.

How to diagnose the problem?

To diagnose the actual problem if this is the bulb or ballast you need to visually inspect the bulb as a most preliminary and easy check. If you find that middle of the bulb has dark black round shape bubble it means the bulb has burnt or if you observe the bulb is emitting a purple color light; it means it is about to die any time sooner. Or if suddenly died, it means this error is 100% due to the bulb. Usually you receive error message for only one side, it is very rate that both the bulbs fail at the same time. In that case, you can try to change sides of the bulbs.

After inspecting a bulb; if it looks like completely fine then you can still change the sides of the bulbs to know if the problem is with the ballast. When you change the sides; check if the headlight error on your dash board changes from “Left” to “right” or vice versa.  If it does, then you know that the issue lies either in the bulb or the ballasts.

The most common Audi warning message

• Abblend-/ Fernlicht rechts
• Vehicle lights malfunction
• Left dipped headlight
• Right dipped headlight
• Left dipped headlight / main beam headlight
• Right dipped headlight / main beam headlight

What are the reasons of bulb failure?

There could be several reasons for the bulb gone out of order and your vehicle showing this warning message such as:

1. Xenon light bulb has completed its lifespan and needs a new one
2. Bulb has damage from accident or water / moisture damage

How to fix this error?

As a simple fix, buying a new xenon bulb and replacing it with a bad one would do the good for your vehicle. Or if it is about xenon ballast then replacing them with new ballast might be the cheapest and easiest solution to this. The failed ballasts on your Audi have burned through the bulbs, so if you’ve had bad ballast for a while then you’ll need new bulbs too. So, it is strongly recommended that you change both bulbs and ballasts for even if only the ballasts were faulty. You can do this replacement as a simple DIY job at your home but in case of ballast it could be a bit tricky so you need to be careful. Before buying and replacing a bulb and ballast, it is recommended that you check the right model of the bulb for your Audi.  Although, HID bulbs are designed for use in a wide variety of cars but usually Osram D1S Xenarc Original or Philips D1S XenStart D2S D3S XenEcoStart or Philips D5S 9285410171 9285409171 9285407171 35W Gas Discharge HID bulb models are used in Audi. You can find out which bulb is used in your Audi headlights by looking at the white sticker attached on the top.  

The most commonly used xenon headlight ballasts on Audi cars

• Mitsubishi Electric
• W003T22073 W003T22071 8K0941597E
• W003T18471 W003T20171 8K0941597C
• W003T22171 8K0941597F
• Keboda 1036060024 1036060014 8K0941597B

A Short Compatibility list

Installing a new xenon ballast control unit is usually straight-forward replacement and doesn’t require any coding on your car.  So you can go to a professional online shop and buy a new replacement part at xenons4u for the best available price.