So I've just completed the "mandatory" headlight adjuster replacements and now my HID lights won't auto-level like they used to. Apart from taking the car to a dealership to reprogram the lights, is there any other way to get them reprogrammed?

I'm almost expecting some sort of voodoo, turn the car off and on 5 times, turn the lights on low beam, lick the steering wheel and turn the wheels to the right.

 

Lancer, the auto level system only keeps the headlights level once they are set. To set them, you still have to adjust them like the non-leveling vehicles. You will see that there are some adjustments on the top of the headlight. You will need to park away from a wall to get the initial adjustment.

The purpose of the system is not to aim the headlights for you, but to prevent the headlights from shining too high if a lot of weight is added to the back end of the car (causing the front to point up some).

 

Well after two weeks of trying to find that sweet spot, I have given up. The headlights still don't self level and just adjusting them manually inside the engine bay doesn't bring both of them all the way up. I went to the dealer today to find out how much it would cost, and unfortunately, it's quite a bit AUD180.
Are we able to buy the same diagnostic tool and just complete the reprogramming ourselves?

 

I don't think the self leveling is going to make them go higher then the manual adjustment.

You need to look at the manual adjustments to see what the problem is, first.

 

If they're like the S-Type then once upset they try to point down to avoid dazzling other drivers. OE reprogram is then required.

 

Yep I think that's what the problem is, the headlights are pointing down automatically. Because I can manually adjust the lights to be about 30cm away from the car or about 5 metres in front at the most. I have a lot of travel in the manual adjustment, they just won't go any higher.

 

I was actually about to do this myself. Seems the headlights sit a lot lower than I like. Hopefully I will get lucky and they will stay

 

Are we able to reset these lights ourselves using Mongoose or another reader which we can buy? Might be an idea for me to get one of these rather than going to the dealer.

 

Ought to work but some of the clones have caused problems when programming (rather than just reading). IDS/SDD is not user-friendly or intuitive so expect some hassles.

 

Hi, you can't re-programme the levelling, it's electro mechanical, have a look under the back of the car near the anti roll bar drop link, it's quite possible that the self levelling ball and socket have parted, if so, with a bit of a clean up. they should pop back together. It happened on mine. Good luck.

 

On my 2003 US petrel model the the adjusting arm, that had also popped off, was located by the left front wheel.

 

Hi, on some models there may be one at each end, worth looking !

 

Thanks for the help all!
I've checked both of the linkages and even popped them out to move them around then popped them back on. I also tracked the wires as well and they all look okay.
I'm going to borrow an advanced OBD2 reader which apparently works quite well with Jaguars so I will see how it goes, perhaps it has the ability to reprogram the headlights as well.

 

Hardly any can - very few can even READ all modules - so don't be surprised if it can't.

 

Fixed it!!!!
I bought a scanner online for USD200 here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2015-Top-Rated-100-Original-Launch-X431-iDiag-Update-Online-Launch-X431-Auto-Diag-for-Android/32274868712.html?spm=2114.40010208.4.193.MIOrHK

I then bought the Jaguar software with the reader which is another USD66, which was able to read a huge amount of fault codes not able on my Torque app. It read all the issues with the headlight levelling system (as below) and all I had to do was clear the codes, do a bit of manual adjustment to get it level, and done

For anyone else who's going down this path I think it's worth having your own reader instead of paying a dealership every time you need a scan. It takes a bit getting used to but happy to provide detailed instructions for anyone that asks.

 

Absolutely brilliant, extremely pleased for you ! Well done.