# Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem?



## mikes phaeton1 (Jan 3, 2010)

I just recently bought a used 04 Phaeton. May sound like a simple question, however I cannot get the headlights to work. The daytime running lights come on (I assume that these are the xenons, outer lights), however I cannot get the lights to turn on bright enough to see at night? I have moved the headlight switch in all three settings to no avail? Both xenon lights (both sides) come on, however they are not bright enough to see 20 feet in front of the car? Are there two settings to the xenon lights, daytime running and regular night time running? Could this be a fuse or some selector or setting? I have read through all of the manuals and cannot figure this out. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Mike


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (mikes phaeton1)*

Hello Mike:
Welcome to the forum.
First question: If you park the car facing a wall (for example, your garage door), do the headlights appear to be as bright as a normal set of car headlights?
If so, then perhaps your problem is that the lights are not correctly aligned.
To the best of my knowledge, the xenon lamps in the Phaeton headlights either work or they don't work - there is no halfway, although the bulbs will loose a _little bit_ (a few percentage points) of brightness as they age. The brilliance as daytime running lights is identical to the brilliance when the switch is turned on (for night driving).
Phaeton headlight alignment is rather complex, there are two factors involved, one is the self-levelling mechanism, the other is manual adjustment.
Has anyone made any modifications to the suspension system of your car, or by any chance do you have unusual aftermarket wheels installed?
Michael


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## mikes phaeton1 (Jan 3, 2010)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (PanEuropean)*

Michael,
Thanks for the post.
From what I can tell, the lights do not look that bright. They are more blue in color than white. When I open the door, the word "side marker light is on" comes on in the message center, not sure if that has anything to do with it?
Anyway, how do you self or auto level the lights?
Thanks Mike


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (mikes phaeton1)*

Hello Mike:
The colour of the lights will appear different than a normal halogen (filament-type) bulb, but it should appear more 'white' than blue.
I am wondering if you have a low voltage condition present on your car (I troubleshoot by ruling things out first, not by chasing the problem). Next time you are in the car, have a look at the voltmeter in the lower right corner of the instrument panel, and see if the needle is at or above 14.
As for the "Side Marker Light On" message, that can be corrected by a software update. What you need is a flash-update of your instrument cluster controller (controller 17). The process is fully explained at this post: TB: Distortion in the Display Unit in the Instrument Cluster (MFI, or Y24). Just report to your VW dealer that you are getting distortion in the display screen in the instrument cluster (as illustrated in that post), and they will then apply the software update. Your car is long out of warranty, so, it will probably cost you an hour of labour to have this done. It is worth the expense, it solves a LOT of minor problems.
Also, have a look at your left-side battery - look for a date stamped into the top of one of the posts. It is a month-year date. If it looks like the battery is original (dating from 03 or 04), it probably needs replacing. Regrettably, the left side battery is not cheap, it costs about $200. I just bought one today myself. If the battery is in poor condition, that "could" account for the lighting problem.
Michael


_Modified by PanEuropean at 12:39 AM 1-3-2010_


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (mikes phaeton1)*

Mike, I recently had a leveling problem with mine. The main beam had always given much better illumination than any other car I've owned, but over the period of about 2 or 3 weeks, they slowly appeared to get dimmer and dimmer (from the driver's seat, not when looking directly at them). Against the garage wall, the top of the beam was also getting lower. The dealer ran a headlight-leveling procedure on them and they're fine again now.
The side light message is a red herring, that's what it always says when you open the door with the headlight switch in the On (rather than Auto) position. You can rid yourself of that using VagCom software if you wish.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (invisiblewave)*

Hi Martin:
There are three different conditions that will result in the presentation of the "Side Lights Switched On" message. Two are by design, one is the result of a software error and can be corrected with an instrument cluster software flash. The three conditions are as follows:
*1) *If you turn the ignition off after the turn signal stalk has been displaced to either the right or left turn position. In this case, the 'city light' and the tail light for the selected side will remain on (forever) after vehicle shutdown. This is by design, it is a common feature in European cars that allows the driver to leave just the outboard (roadside) parking lights on when the car is parked on an unilluminated road.
*2)* If the country code in the instrument cluster is set to Canada or USA, the message will appear whenever the driver door is opened and the lights are on. This is to comply with FMVSS in North America. If the country code is set to anything other than Canada or USA, this message (and associated chime) does not appear. Neither does the seat belt message and chime. This is also by design.
*3)* If the software in the instrument cluster (controller 17) is at a version that ends with two digits that are lower than '21' (e.g. 0321. 0421, 0521), then this message will appear spuriously. This can be corrected by flash-updating the instrument cluster software as explained in the post that I linked to above. The flash-update of the instrument cluster software solves several other small nuisance problems, for that reason it is desirable to get this update done.
----
Concerning headlight levelling (headlight alignment), that is a complicated task that requires the person doing the work to have a very level surface (for example, the inside floor of an automotive service facility) and a diagnostic scan tool. It is a two-step procedure: First you ensure that the vehicle is level (and numerous other conditions are satisfied), and you move the headlight levelling motors (via software) to the neutral reference position, then second; you mechanically adjust the headlights to the correct position on the X and Y axes. I have attached a PDF that explains the process.
Michael


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## Zaphh (Jul 5, 2008)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (PanEuropean)*

Note that self-levelling lights are compulsory on Xenon bulbs, but... this is for "normal" cars.
Our Phaetons are already self-levelling thanks to the air suspension, so having additional self-levelling lights serves no purposes on Phaetons... (but the system may be requested to be functional by law).
P.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (Zaphh)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Zaphh* »_Our Phaetons are already self-levelling thanks to the air suspension, so having additional self-levelling lights serves no purposes on Phaetons...

Hi Pierre:
I think that perhaps you misunderstand the relationship between the air suspension system and the headlight levelling system. A headlight levelling system is necessary (functionally essential) even if the vehicle also has a self-levelling suspension system. If the front end of the vehicle dips (for example, as a result of deceleration forces), the headlight levelling system will adjust the headlights up. Likewise, if the back end of the vehicle squats (perhaps due to going over a depression in the road whilst carrying a heavy load in the trunk), the headlight levelling system will aim the headlights down.
The vehicle self-levelling system normalizes the vehicle attitude over a longer period of time than the headlight levelling system. Also, the vehicle levelling system cannot maintain the vehicle level at all times (otherwise, who would need air shocks? Just bolt the carosserie onto the frame). 
The headlight levelling system becomes active when the relationship of the carosserie and the centerline of the axles departs from the calibrated norm.
Michael


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## madreg98 (Jun 1, 2009)

So if I lower the car to the ROW height do I have to readjust the calibrated norm of the headlights?
Dennis


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## Zaphh (Jul 5, 2008)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (PanEuropean)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PanEuropean* »_
Hi Pierre:
I think that perhaps you misunderstand the relationship between the air suspension system and the headlight levelling system. A headlight levelling system is necessary (functionally essential) even if the vehicle also has a self-levelling suspension system. If the front end of the vehicle dips (for example, as a result of deceleration forces), the headlight levelling system will adjust the headlights up. Likewise, if the back end of the vehicle squats (perhaps due to going over a depression in the road whilst carrying a heavy load in the trunk), the headlight levelling system will aim the headlights down.


In theory, this is nice. In practice, it doesn't work.
1) Proactive suspensions like ours counteract the effects of accelerations nearly immediately. If you decelerate, the front suspension will stiffen so as to maintain the car horizontal. The same will happen in turns, where the car will essentially stay as flat as possible.
2) What remains is bumps and the first second of an acceleration or deceleration, or direction change (even though everything is monitored by the car, that knows the pressure that is exerted on the brake pedal, the accelerator, and the angle of the steering wheel so all actions by the driver are anticipated as much as possible).
In the case of bumps, when the front wheels hit a bump like a speed hump for instance, the front wheels will go up in the fenders, suggesting that the car is bowing. In a "stupid" car, this will have the (unwanted) effect of raising the high beams for a split second, until the wheels get to the dropping side of the bump where the opposite happens. But an "intelligent" car will have detected that this is a bump (because there is no action from the driver) so it will simply ignore the input (and anyway, the electric powered headlight levelling system is not enough reactive to follow a bump).
My old Citroen DS also has a headlight levelling system, but it is physical and not electrical. A pushrod controls the attitude of the headlight assembly wrt the suspension and by night, you clearly see the beams going down or up when you are accelerating or decelerating, as the old hydraulic suspension is nowhere as reactive as our pneumatic suspension.
I also have a more modern Citroen XM that very impressively stays totally flat when you brake or accelerate (the brake fluid pressure pressurises the front dampers by exactly the right amount so that the more you brake, the stiffer the dampers, resulting in a car that doesn't bow AT ALL when you brake). It is not equipped with a self-levelling headlight system.
Interestingly enough, the opposite was applied on the DS, where the load on the wheels controls the braking power applied to the wheel, resulting in some kind of self regulation of the braking distribution between front and rear wheels so that all four wheels start to skid at exactly the same time (to prevent spinning). In a DS, if you lift the car so that the rear wheels don't touch the ground, you won't be able to stop the wheels with the brake pedal : no weight on the wheels means no braking power.
On the Phaeton, by night, when behind someone at a traffic light, you can see that the lights are levelling for a split second when you accelerate, but the rear suspension stiffens nearly immediately, making the adjustment virtually superfluous.
Now, this is not the case for more normal cars (even though many modern spring dampers use oil containing metal particles that can change the fluidity of the oil under the influence of a controlled magnetic field) that will bow or raise for long periods when decelerating or accelerating.
P.
Ps: my sources come from a friend of mine who works in intelligent systems for the automotive industry.
Pps: as for the question above, if you lower your suspension to ROW height, this will not (much) affect your headlight beams, since the *whole* car will be lowered by less than an inch. Doing this will not affect the car attitude (the front will not point up or down) and the car will remain horizontal.


_Modified by Zaphh at 3:17 AM 1-5-2010_


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: (madreg98)*


_Quote, originally posted by *madreg98* »_So if I lower the car to the ROW height do I have to readjust the calibrated norm of the headlights?

No, because you are lowering all four wheels on the car by the same amount (10 mm). In theory, this will make a difference (maybe some mathematician out there can figure out the effect on beam contact the arising from dropping the car from an average height of 415 mm to an average height of 405 mm, given that the beam angle is -1.2°), but in practice, the difference will be negligible.
My guess is that instead of the low beam headlight cut-off point being about 30 meters in front of the vehicle, it will be about 29.9 meters in front of the vehicle after you lower it.








Michael


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## Phat One (Jul 10, 2009)

*Re: (PanEuropean)*

Assuming the 1.2 degrees angle and a point source, the length of beam will be 19.812 metres when the height is 415mm, and it will be 19.334 metres when the height is 405mm. This is a difference of almost 0.5m or for non-metric purposes, 18.8 inches. Divergence of the beam will have some effect on these distances.
Graham


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## jkuisma (Nov 23, 2009)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (Zaphh)*

Agree with what's said about the point of having auto-levelling lights in a Phaeton. Here in (at least Northern) Europe cars equipped with self-levelling suspension are not required to have a functional Xenon/HID auto levelling system. I feel that this is another example of "over engineering" in the Phaeton. It is certainly an OK feature to have as long as it works, but may become a nuissance should it fail in the future. Although it is very simple to disable.
I bought my Phaeton used in November and took it for the (pretty strict) Finnish car inspection/MOT check right after that. Lights passed the check without any remarks. Later on I found out that the right headlight had an error code on as it had not been "adapted" so it did not adjust automatically. This was barely noticeable when bringing the car to a standstill behind another car. I fixed this easily with VAG-COM but do not really notice any improvement: the auto-levelling system in a Phaeton is, after all, pretty slow to react.
In my other car, a '07 EOS, the adaptive/turning HID headlights react VERY fast. If you sit on the rear bumper with the lights on, they realign so fast that you barely notice them moving!


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## jkuisma (Nov 23, 2009)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (jkuisma)*

Forgot to add another thing about Xenon headlights: am going to try and replace my burners tomorrow. My car has a V6 TDI engine and am still a bit unsure if it's doable without removing the bumper. With this engine, the coolant expansion tank is pretty badly covering the left headlight and to remove it would mean draining the coolant system (rather dismantle the bumper...).
I purchased genuine, unused Philips D1S burners from German Ebay for 40 euros / 60 US dollars each. They're available from many suppliers for that price. They're selling (allegedly) genuine Philips as well as Osram burners for that price. El-cheapo chinese lamps are around 30 euros!
My burners arrived today and they appear to be perfectly ok, as advertised.
Aside from being a pain to replace them, the xenon burners themselves don't cost a thing any more...


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (jkuisma)*

The V8 also has a coolant or washer bottle obstruction on one side (right side, I think), and it was definitely tougher to change that bulb than the other one, but still doable. The difficult part was getting the rear light cover off, since it doesn't have much clearance against the bottle and its associated tube.


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## mikes phaeton1 (Jan 3, 2010)

*Re: Phaeton Xenon Headlight problem? (invisiblewave)*

So here is where we are. I have taken the advise of all here and stilll have very dim bulbs. Not sure if the owner previously changed the xenon bulbs to blue, but they shine more blue than white. The bulbs simply are not bright. From ten feet in front of the car, I can look directly into the headlights without having to look away. From my experience with Xenon lights under normal conditions, this would be impossible. It is going to the shop tomorrow for some maintenance items and I will have the lights looked at. I will let you all know what the final verdict is. In the meantime, I have to drive my other car at night.........
Thanks for all of the advise.
Mike


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## Prince Ludwig (Mar 24, 2007)

_Quote »_
Forgot to add another thing about Xenon headlights: am going to try and replace my burners tomorrow. My car has a V6 TDI engine and am still a bit unsure if it's doable without removing the bumper. With this engine, the coolant expansion tank is pretty badly covering the left headlight and to remove it would mean draining the coolant system (rather dismantle the bumper...)

I'm afraid it's a bumper off job although after doing it to retrofit some double-xenon headlamps, it's not too bad. Just make sure you get the service manual instructions (I can email them to you if you want) and get a second person to help you put the bumper back on.
Harry


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## erwan (Feb 4, 2010)

*Re: (Prince Ludwig)*

Hi, i'd like to change all the 4 D1S on my phaeton so i'm very interested in this service manual instructions...
if you can email them i'll try it this week.
nevertheless du you think it's necessary to remove the headlamps to change the bulbs ?
hope no!!
as i see some people purchased D1S from Germany and i think i'll do the same... but, considering the price in ETKA7 (198,24€)...for 4 D1S so 50€/st...if someone could check the price to be sure...
piece number 15 on the picture (105 661 03)








thanx
erwan.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

*Re: (erwan)*

There's a detailed procedure for changing bulb 15 in the Table Of Contents. You can do it without taking the bumper off on the V8, not sure about the V10, by removing the airbox. It takes about an hour or so, and OEM bulbs can be had for about $90 in the US. It's a fiddly job, but not too difficult.


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## Juhani (Sep 15, 2012)

Hi, I also have V10 with douple D1S projectors. Has anyone tried to replace lowbeams by taking inner fender off. I have taken out airboxes when replacing filters, but it looked that from there it was impossible reach back of headlight, as its nearly on top off front wheel. Also it looks from manual pic. that back of headlight is fastened with screws not hooks.


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## EnglishPhaeton (Dec 6, 2010)

Juhani said:


> Hi, I also have V10 with douple D1S projectors. Has anyone tried to replace lowbeams by taking inner fender off. I have taken out airboxes when replacing filters, but it looked that from there it was impossible reach back of headlight, as its nearly on top off front wheel. Also it looks from manual pic. that back of headlight is fastened with screws not hooks.


Hi,

you can only replace the bulbs on the V10 with the front bumper (fender) removed. It is still tricky the first time though, the rearmost mounting if virtually impossible to find without resorting to the diagrams (photos) hosted elsewhere on the site.

Stu


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## jkuisma (Nov 23, 2009)

> It is still tricky the first time though, the rearmost mounting if virtually impossible to find without resorting to the diagrams (photos) hosted elsewhere on the site.


...and as Juhani seems to be from Finland like I am, there is another advice I have to give: you need to have water hose at hand. The "hidden" screws are accessed through an opening in the wheel well. There is such amount of grit and sand in our roads that it soon finds its way behind the hatch. I have had my bumper off annually (don't ask...) and each time there's been so much stuff in there that the screw has been totally impossible to see - not to mention access it with a loooong screwdriver. I always have to start with the water hose: flush away all the stuff first and then locate the screw.

Finding the screw is REALLY hard the first time. You need at least a 30cm extension to a torx driver to get to the screw. As I just mentioned in the other thread, I had my bumper off just yesterday to replace the bulbs (again...). This time, now that I know what to do, it took less than two hours to change the bulbs. First time it was like a full day or so 

Jouko


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

There are some good pictures showing how to find (and then get access) to that one 'very difficult to find' fastener holding the front bumper on at this thread: Retrofitting Dual Xenon Headlamps.

You will also find a pretty much complete set of illustrated instructions for removing the front bumper cover there.

Michael


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