Benzben

I've done some searching on this issue, and apparently there is a belief that MB headlights don't "throw" light as far as most cars do. Even if that's true, I think I've got a problem with my low beams. There is basically no light being projected at all past about 1 to 1.5 car lengths in front of me. I hadn't really noticed it until recently because 95% of my driving is in the city (with plenty of street lights). My high beams seem to work fine when I switch to them, and I haven't gotten any error messages.

Is there something in particular that could be causing this? Could it possibly be normal? Do I need to manually adjust the lights (with the screw at the back of the housing)?

valexv

sometimes i think my lights are too, they don't seem to go far, I am curious how far they are suppose to go.

BlkBenz8

Same here.. but i have HIDs and they have hot spots soo idk.. they light up most of the road and all the signs

nickgailloux

My headlights behave exactly as you described... high beams are great, lows don't throw far enough.

e1000

Did your car have the lighting package (BIX) from the factory?

Benzben

Yeah, it did. I haven't messed with lights at all (other than to install new city light bulbs, and this problem was there before I did that anyway). I bought it used, and there was one owner before me, but it doesn't look like the lights have been replaced or changed in any way.

I don't know enough about the mechanics of how they work, but is there something that could be wrong/off about them that wouldn't be triggering an error message? They "work" in that they give off some light--it just stops almost completely a little over a car length in front of my bumper. On a dark road I literally can't see anything more than a couple car lengths ahead (unless I switch to high beams, of course).

johnand

Sounds like they need adjustment or since you have OEM bi-xenon, there may be a problem with the auto leveling system.

e1000

Your auto-leveling is broken or needs to be reset. Take it to the dealer it's no big deal.

To test this, manually turn on your low beams before you crank the car. Then start the car and watch the lights. They should dip down and then raise up to where they should be. If they don't come back up (or go down), you have a problem.

Benzben

Wonderful...I'm out of warranty. Does anyone know if this is something still covered under the CPO? Any idea how much a (1) reset or (2) fixing it (if a reset doesn't do the trick) will set me back? Is "resetting" it something I can do myself?

Thanks for the (probable) diagnosis.

e1000

I'd think it would be covered under CPO. You could probably talk to the tech at your dealership and get him to try and reset it. Shouldn't take more than 5 mins.

If that's not it, it's the sensor on the sway bar, not sure how much that costs.

FrankW

take a picture of how "bad" the light output is.

you probably just need to manually adjust the height of the beam.

TemjinX2

generally..from a 25ft distance, the cut off should be around 25in off the ground or in line with the middle of the projector.

lmandi89

Yeah i had the same problem here, they were way too low. After i installed my HID's i adjusted the lights by putting my car and my brothers car (GLI BIX) side by side and that's how i did it and now i can see so much better.

Benzben

I gave this a shot and they initially went down a little, but when they tried to come back up they vibrated a little and didn't come up much if at all. Almost like a gear or something was slipping. Will adjusting them manually make a difference? Or do you think that something is off or broken internally that won't allow them to level automatically no matter how much I do a manual adjustment?

johnand

Your second statement is correct. There is something wrong with the motors, or the connection from the motor to the projector is screwed up. Manual adjustment may get them up high enough to get them to output good light, but that is just a bandaid. I would try to get the dealer to fix them under the CPO.

FrankW

that's actually false.

the auto-leveling levels the assembly inside the housing. The leveling of the main projector housing and leveling on the angle of the pattern is two separate mechanism.

his headlights are working properly. If the auto leveling sensor at either the front or the rear is not connected the head light would aim down and you wouldn't even be able to see past 5 ft in front of the car.

Benzben

I agree that it's probably not a sensor issue, because the light is being projected further than 5 ft. I'm still not convinced that it's simply a manual adjustment issue, though, because it's clear that they are trying to move (come up, I believe), but they aren't actually getting to where they want to go. Likely due to an internal problem with the motor. I'll probably just have to take it to the dealer to get a definitive diagnosis (and hopefully cheap, like free, fix).

Glyn M Ruck

Your low beam auto leveling shutters are not rising. Had the same issue with my car when when they changed the castor bushes & forgot to reconnect the front auto leveling sensor to the sway bar. Bix auto leveling system = front level sensor, rear squat sensor, yaw sensor which is part of the ESP & microprocessor. Take it to the dealer & get it plugged to the STAR with the headlight set up unit also connected to the star. That will tell you where the problem lies, - Shutter motor, sensors etc.. They can reset, replace a sensor or whatever & recalibrate the shutters to spec.

When the shutters don't rise from there lowest setting it's terrible. You can see where you are going on high beam and all of a sudden you dip & can only see a few yards in front of the car - Good luck

ps manually adjusting the lights is not the answer - now you are going to have to have them realigned anyway.

e1000

There are manual adjustments on the OEM BIX but the levelling is also set in the software via the Star computer.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes, I'm well aware of that but the manual adjustment requires to be set back to standard before you do the Star alignment. I have personally been through the entire excercise by the book to the Euro required spec at my dealer when they omitted to reconnect my front sensor so that I would understand the process.

BTW - to Benzben. Sometimes when the shutters stick down if you disconnect the sensor arms and cycle the sensors through their full range & reconnect them it sorts out the problem. This needs to be done with everything powered up.

johnand

OK, after reading what I said over again, I can see what I wrote could be read as the projector itself moves up and down inside the housing for auto-leveling. I didn't mean it that way, and you are right that is false.

Since I posted Glyn M Ruck has posted excellent info as usual! Follow his advice and take it to the dealer, and post back here with your results.

FrankW

like i've said, take a picture of the light output and post it up for us to better assess the issue. from what you described in the first post IMO you only need to manually adjust the low beam level slightly higher.

if your auto-leveling is screwed up your high beam will work more like your low beam because the leveling levels the entire assembly inside. since you are saying the high beam works perfectly than just have a go at the manual adjustment for the low beam.

what E, johnand, and glyn said are all correct, but that's only on the perimeter that the auto-level has really gone bad.

Glyn M Ruck

The auto leveling only effects the low beam - ie shutters

FrankW

nah, if you watch it from outside when it first levels everytime you start the car you will see the high beam housing moves with it.

also my front sensor arm was loose one time and caused what I described above.

Glyn M Ruck

Interesting - I will go and have another look at mine. They must move very little. That is not part of the alignment process. All alignment is done on the low beam. I guess that if the low beam is right then by definition the high beam is correct. When my lows were looking down onto the road (shutters down) the high beam still had excellent throw/distance. You have *****ed my interest - will look tomorrow. 2.46 am this end