Headlamp Levelling again - but not the usual

[BOF]

Good morning gentlemen; long time no post, but I'm still around - and so is my 9-5 (2003) with xenons, and the warning light has come on. The offside beam moves up, then down (a little - not all the way) when I switch them on, then stops; the nearside does not move at all. The warning light comes on only when the offside beam has stopped moving. I can also hear a low-pitched sound - like someone rubbing one of the strings of a cello - during beam movement, which I suppose must be the levelling motor doing its stuff - or the other one trying to...

Looks like something has either seized, or popped out/snapped off/broken, inside the light unit. Does anyone have any idea what is likely to be the culprit?

BOF3

[Steve440]

I had a similar thing on my nearside headlight. The offside would motor as it should but the nearside would have a go and then settle at something below where it should be. I tried to pull the light apart to examine the mechanism but its seems to sealed and glued apart from the bulbs.

In the end I purchased a used light off the bay of plenty and its all OK now.

With the amount of early Aero's being broken now the price of used xenons light units has come down. The one I purchased even came with the bulb and the starter unit so now I have spares for the future if I need them.

Steve

[BOF]

I think the car has answered the question. The fault became intermittent, and has now gone away (for the moment - it will recur...), so it looks very much like a loose connection.

As one headlight leveller worked OK at all times, I assume that signals were coming from the sensors. I also assume that each sensor only sends a single signal, not one to each headlight, so that means the LH headlight was either not receiving, or not reacting to, the signals.  Does anyone on here think/know different?

If I'm correct, logically the loose connection should be in the wiring to the LH headlight. I have (and can use) a multimeter, but I'm no car electrician. Does anyone know where would be the best place to start wiggling wires and swearing?

BOF

[sgould]

Have a look at the connector on the to the headlamp unit itself.  There was a fault on this connector in 2003 on a few cars.  One of the pins could be pushed back into the plastic rather than into the connection.

Known fault, so a good place to start.

[BOF]

Thank you for that. I'll take a look when the weather improves.