Hello Gang,

It’s been a while which means my 02 X-Type has been nice to me with 175,000 miles on it. Recently I’ve run into an intermittent head light issue on the passengers side. Oddly enough it switches from the outside headlights to the inside driving/running (not sure the correct term) lights.

I did a search on here and YouTube but perhaps I’m not using the correct key words to find previous threads.

The lights work and then sometimes don’t work. I started with the headlights which I believe are the outside lights. I remove the spring clips and the cover. Whomever designed the outside clip with no access to put it back on should be fri**en shot! The bulb is ok and is now working????

The inside set of lights, which I call the driving lights are not working on the passenger side only. When I unscrew the cover plate to access the bulb, the whole light assemble is very loose as if whatever was holding it in there is either broken or came off. I can’t really see and I guess I’ll have to get out an inspection mirror or else start taking selfie pics with the phone to look inside and try to see.

What is odd is with the car running and the lights in auto, in which both driving lights should be on, drivers works fine, the passenger side is out. If I turn on the high beams the passenger side works. If I hit the key fob emergency button it works.

I’ve changed bulbs and it did not solve the issue.

So my questions are two fold. What is causing the illumination issue and why is the entire housing inside the case loose?

Any thoughts or redirects to other posts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Tim

 

timm525, I think I can help you get things back to normal.

Lets first start off with terminology of the headlights of the car. Where a lot of confusion comes from is simply who is talking about the car and where they are from. So, I am going to break this down a little bit to help explain the different terms you may see here.
USA: Outside light that comes on with the second click of the headlight switch - low beam; the inside light that comes on when you move the turn signal stalk forward or backwards, getting the indicator in the instrument cluster - high beam; the little light in the high beam housing - running light
British: Outside light that comes on with the second click of the headlight switch - dip beam; the inside light that comes on when you move the turn signal stalk forward or backwards, getting the indicator in the instrument cluster - main beam; the little light in the main beam housing - running light

In some places, they may also refer to the USA terminology of the low beam as the "main beam". Which can be easily confused with the british terminology for what we in the USA call the high beam. So, be careful when you see main beam used and they are not referencing which housing they are talking about.

As for your passenger side housing. You are suffering from a common X-Type problem. At some point, your housing has taken a good shock or someone has pressed on the internals too hard and this has broken the mounts that hold the interior still. As a result, this will cause the headlight to either aim way high into the air or to a spot immediately in front of the car. So, repairing/replacing this is a must for good light display. If you look on here, there are a few good write ups on replacing the "headlight mounting". You can find these replacement kits on places like E-bay for around $30 USD. This will do both headlights. The big problem is you have to bake the headlights at about 250F to soften up the glue to let you pull the clear part of the headlight off so you can access the insides. The write ups will go into a lot of detail on this and then tell you how to seal it back up. This will also require you to remove the front bumper cover to be able to remove the headlight housing. The other option is to look around for a used part and buy that. Then you simply need to find one that doesn't have the same problem you have now. What that will cost is dependent on whether you have the halogen headlight setup or the HID setup (you don't state which you have, if you are not sure, there are a few give aways that will differentiate between the two).

From here, what you are describing with the bulbs for the headlights swapping function and whatnot, that is sounding like a wiring issue inside the headlight housing. I think when you open up the headlight housing and fix the mounts, the wiring problem is going to make itself known. I would be specifically looking at the black wires inside the housing. Granted, could be something as simple as the internals of the headlights are moving enough that the bulb is going out of sight and therefore not able to shine like it should.

 

Wow! Great info Thermo. Thank you.

 

Hello Gang!

Update: Tonight I fixed my headlight issue. I originally purchased two of the high beam bulbs by mistake thinking that was the bulb that was out. I didn’t even see the tinny running light bulb in the housing next to it. My bad! No idea what I was originally looking at and my lens covers were so badly hazed I couldn’t see the bulbs from the outside. My bad!

Today I thoroughly cleaned them for about an hour with the 3M lens restore kit for about 25 bucks at the auto parts store. Great product and outcome. Highly recommend. Easy to use.

It was after that I started seeing where the running light bulb was and then tried to remove it. Good grief. Turn, twist, pull, nothing! I was afraid I was gonna break something. My mounts are shot and I ordered new ones on ebay for the 20 bucks + 4 dollar shipping. I got the one Dell posted in another thread. I will replace one weekend when they come in. I ended up watching a YouTube video of another guy changing them and he said they pull out with about 50% more force then he was comfortable with so after hearing that I just pulled until it came out. Bulb was blown and I replaced it. Now they all work.

Next is to fix the mounts when they come in and also go diagnose where I’m losing radiator fluid from the reservoir? I’ve replaced all the hoses so I fear it is at the radiator somewhere. I was planning on getting a loaner radiator pressure tester from the auto parts store, pump it up and look for the leak and then formulate a game plan to fix that.


Thanks for all the great info on this site and everyone’s continued support!

 

I'd recommend clear coating your headlights.
Once they're polished, they only last a year or less before needing it again.