bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 For those interested...A little while ago I had a xenon replaced due to a faulty high beam shutter.The replacement unit was set a little lower than I usually have them, so I attempted to adjust it upward. When it got to a certain level, it went "Crunch" and adjusted it's self right down to the floor. After that it would no longer adjust! I was sure that they're not supposed to do that, so I took it back to the dealer who (eventually) got a further replacement in.I tried adjusting this upwards, and sure enough when it got to a certain level... "Thunk" (note, not "Crunch"). It put the beam right to the floor again. However after this it could still be adjusted.The original replacement should have gone "Thunk" not "Crunch" when it got to the level limit.Only older xenons can be adjusted without restriction.Newer xenons will flip up if you take them too low, or flip down if you take them too high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshirt2k Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 You are meant to adjust the lights using a vw diag prog. ie vagcom. Because of the auto height adjuster, the lights have to learn the new setting. or you may adjust with ignition off. I've had to do it loads of times. Lucky i have vagcom. 8) i have had a fault come up before,saying "headlight out of adjustment" i let the controller relearn settings and it was ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 It's possible to adjust the base setting on the top of the light themselves. There's a white plastic screw on top to adjust up/down.There's another white plastic screw on the side to change the angle for continental driving as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshirt2k Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 no, thats how you adjust vertical and horizontal. And you still need to use vagcom. I says in the manual.You connect to xenon range, and the motors wind to setup position. and then it says "adjust headlights". You then adjust them screws and then swithch to another block and the setting is "learned". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Very interesting indeed!Although the xenon heights seem to be staying where they are without any changes using vagcom. Perhaps if I load up the back they'll try to adjust and go back to their 'default' settings...I'd be interested to see this on VAGCOM anyway, so I might just have a look next time I'm around someone who has it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshirt2k Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 They should stay where they are but when you adjust them they will want to move to their learned positons. And it also depends on how much fuel is in the car. depending where fuel Guage is, you have to add different weights. style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 `VAG-COM` isn't necessary to do adjustments, but it will put the xenons in their 'centre' position, which is the position where you should adjust them from to get the height vs. load ratings correct.There's no problem inherently with adjusting the height without `VAG-COM`, it just means that if for any reason the xenons are out of their central position (i.e abnormal load in the boot) then they'll become incorrectly aligned when you put the car back to the standard setup.The procedure for doing alignment with `VAG-COM` can be found here - however, without VW's calibration target, it's debatable how valuable this is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Can you do angle adjustment for continental driving through vagcom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Don't think so - I thought there was a physical switch somewhere, but I don't know where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Well, you can certainly do it with the adjustment screws - be interesting if there were a switch though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGTI Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 i had no idea they were that clever! i always find mine on normal beam to be a bit low - they dont really shine far enough ahead....i dont have VAG.COM can i just do it manually or will i just f*ck them up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 You can adjust them without vag com - just use the screws. If you've got a newish GTI you might hit the height barrier though.It's my understanding that you can use Vag Com to get them to the 'correct' height as specified by the factory. This will also align them obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twisty b-road Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Mine were too high when I bought it, everyone was flashing me, so I parked 100 yards from Tesco window and adjusted them down until they looked bluest. Didn't use `VAG-COM`, just an allen key Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGTI Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 might have a go at it and just try my best to get them both the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 It's not hard, you can soon tell if they're not - and it just takes a little tweak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshirt2k Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 john your lights must not be at " the central position". It would be interesting to see if they had the fault that i had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 What fault's that? (why must they not be at the central position?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrat Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 i just got plain sick of everyone flashing me , so i lowerd mine, bit too low atm, but dont wanna be blinding other drivers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossjohnc Posted November 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 True - although `no-one` flashes me any more (they used to) - my lights were obviously too high. The new lights height restriction does cut in quite early - I've got it right at the top and it's way lower than I used to have my lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyggy Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Oooooo very fancy these xenon's!! I'm impressed... Mine seem to be ok, though one is higher than the other.. but I don't fancy messing with screws n stuff.. all good style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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