LEON Bi-Xenon Headlights... cutting out problem

[_Hellfire_]

Hi all - I haven't been on the forum for a while... but still loving my car!!!

I've had a recent problem which I'm told is recognised by SEAT as a common unresolved problem which affects the bi-xenon equipped LEONS.

What happens is quite disturbing... on my way home from working in Manchester towards Sheffield over the Pennines - I was driving spiritedly (I know the road very well) and loosing almost everything in my path... (at 30K the engine is loosening up really well now )... approaching a particularly dark area I went for the headlights (Full Beam) as they are directional, they are AWESOME. Two/three seconds later they went off.... WTF and the relevant dashlight came on...

Took it to my local HIGHLY RATED dealer Ted Johnson and they fixed it....

...well, they said they had but said it was the service light I explained that it was a light fault and asked them to check it again...

This was done - but said there was no problem...

I asked the Technician to come to show me there was no problem... when I showed him, he said "oh - I see what you mean now... you need a new bulb mate! £161.00 + Vat + fitting

.... but it works I said - then goes off....

... hmm - give me a minute he says....

... it's the motor for the headlight we'll order one... might be a couple of weeks or maybe a couple of months...

anyway - they got me a motor... fitted it and guess what.... same problem... headlights still go off after 2-3 seconds...

Now they are saying it a problem with many - but with no known resolution... is anyone else having this problem....

Steve

 

[spenny2004]

touch wood i have had no problems with my xenons at all, sorry i cant be any more help!

 

[tommot]

Sounds similiar to an issue I had with one of my lights.

I got my Cupra at a year old. Within two days of having it the bulb warning light came on and because I was in a well lit area it wasn't until I got out for a look that I realised it was one of my headlights that had gone out.

I turned the ignition off and the lights off, turned them back on and they worked ok - for an hour or two then they did the same thing. Took it to the dealers and they said it needed a Headlamp motor control unit, the couple of days it took to get this in sometimes my lights would be fine for half an hour but other times one wouldn't come on at all. After getting the control unit replaced they worked perfectly for a week then did the same thing again - second time the dealer replaced the headlamp unit and the control unit as they reckoned it was a short caused by moisture inside the headlamp unit that was blowing the
control unit. It took a while to get the headlamp though as they were in supply constraint.

Been fine ever since apart from I had to go back to get my new headlight aligned as the beam hadn't been aligned and was very low after they had changed the unit.


On a side note - at the time I was having problems with mine I was led to believe the xenon bulbs were covered under warranty.

 

[chrisboyle999]

dont think its the motor. if one fails it will throw up a fault but wont cause the lamps to go off.

is/was dipped beam ok, and the fault just manifests itself on high beam? is it one or both lamps? do they both do off completely or just the high beam?

 

[_Hellfire_]

dont think its the motor. if one fails it will throw up a fault but wont cause the lamps to go off.

is/was dipped beam ok, and the fault just manifests itself on high beam? is it one or both lamps? do they both do off completely or just the high beam?

Sorry - yes it's just the high beam on the Xenon, not the outer high beam standard bulbs (which aren't very good on their own). The Xenon's just improve things much more...

Steve

 

[robdf2]

Just a note , i thought the xenon bulbs were lifetime of the car not just the warranty period?

 

[realneal00_0]

not had that problem with mine, so keeping my fingers crossed. robdf2, any chance of seeing pics of your cupra? i have the standard cupra bodywork and was thinking of getting a spoiler and skirts only - I'd like to see what it looks like on yours if poss?

 

[Tam]

What do you mean by "off" ... do you mean the bulb goes out, or the xenon lights go back to dipped beam.?

There is a shield in front of the xenon bulb which blocks some of the light in dipped mode, but flips out the way in full beam mode to give a brighter light.

Is the bulb going off, or are the xenons going back to "dipped mode".

 

[_Hellfire_]

What do you mean by "off" ... do you mean the bulb goes out, or the xenon lights go back to dipped beam.?

There is a shield in front of the xenon bulb which blocks some of the light in dipped mode, but flips out the way in full beam mode to give a brighter light.

Is the bulb going off, or are the xenons going back to "dipped mode".

The Xenon's are dropping back to dipped mode.... the standard Halogen outer lights remain on.

I did say that the Xenon bulbs were still under warranty... no idea about lasting the lifetime of the car (but I doubt it!).

Steve

 

[robdf2]

yes m8 no problem , i will upload some for you m8

 

[Tam]

Its not a faulty bulb, bulbs are fine, dealer spent ages with mine and someone elses too .. before tracking down the fault,
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=157631&highlight=xenon


If your dealership cannot fix let me know and i'll PM you my delaer and reg number and hopefully your dearler will be able to look up my details on their system and find what my dealer did (if that makes sense!!) - worked for this guy at least

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=188607

 

[chrisboyle999]

What do you mean by "off" ... do you mean the bulb goes out, or the xenon lights go back to dipped beam.?

There is a shield in front of the xenon bulb which blocks some of the light in dipped mode, but flips out the way in full beam mode to give a brighter light.

Is the bulb going off, or are the xenons going back to "dipped mode".

exactly tam.
there is a shutter that lifts when switching to full beam. no extra lamps are used for full beam.
could be the shutter, but both lamps???
is the light stalk still in the highbeam position or does that also return to high beam off?

 

[Tam]

exactly tam.
there is a shutter that lifts when switching to full beam. no extra lamps are used for full beam.
could be the shutter, but both lamps???
is the light stalk still in the highbeam position or does that also return to high beam off?

Yes, absolutely, it detect a fault and goes into "safe" mode ..i.e. dipped, the normal halogen bulbs which only come on with full beam still come on / off as necessary, but the xenon main beam will only pop up for 5 - 6 seconds before it pops down again.

The stalk stays in the full bean position, and the normal halogen bulbs are still lit, until you move the stalk to the dipped position.

 

[_Hellfire_]

Just for the record and ongoing progress update - I was driving home today some few weeks since I had the problem "ring-fenced" as an ongoing problem. Crossing the Pennines (yet again) I thought I'd give the lights a try... THEY WORKED and stayed on - the dash warning light went off and this seems to have resolved the problem for now...

I'll keep you posted but for now I have no lights on - on the dashboard!!!

Steve

 

[Tam]

Don't get you hopes up too much, mine did this and then failed again at a later date before the garage had fixed them properly.

 

[djnemesis]

The Xenon's are dropping back to dipped mode.... the standard Halogen outer lights remain on.

I did say that the Xenon bulbs were still under warranty... no idea about lasting the lifetime of the car (but I doubt it!).

Steve

Hi ya - I have done 29K miles in my FR and the passenger side bulb has gone according to the dealer - Spoke to Seat customer services and oh joy they informed that bulbs weren't covered by the warranty - Does anyone have any experience with the lifetime of these things ?

I am NOT paying 155GBP for a new bulb that's ridiculous.

Steve

 

[robdf2]

Hi ya - I have done 29K miles in my FR and the passenger side bulb has gone according to the dealer - Spoke to Seat customer services and oh joy they informed that bulbs weren't covered by the warranty - Does anyone have any experience with the lifetime of these things ?

I am NOT paying 155GBP for a new bulb that's ridiculous.

Steve

Hmmmmmm,
i was led to believe that the xenon bulbs are covered under warranty?
thats why i use them all the time lol.

maybe will have to stop using them to prolong their life a bit.

 

[Jedimaster65]

Mine has the "AFS Inoperative-See owners manual" warning on the dash which keeps coming on, - the lights work but no response as you steer into corners, so I guess its the motor control unit.

Dealer is investigating on Friday.

 

[Mr Diet]

Search headlight failure and see my previous post. (4th one down ).

 

[djnemesis]

Right then at long f'ing last - All sorted the dealer replaced the headlight control unit and the lights are fixed Took their sweet time about it though !!!

The fault lied with the SEAT warranty jokers basically taking over a week to OK the work under warranty.

Also some w*nker crashed into the front of my FR when I left in a pub car park recently causing damage to the front bumper which has now been repaired so all in all it is now sorted.

They also managed to sort the rattle in the passenger side door - So big props to the guys at Newbury SEAT those guys have sorted me out