So I've had to "whack the light" when the adaptive headlight warning comes on about 8 times since I've owned the car. Always worked before. But this latest.... no luck.
The headlights are stuck a little low. Driveable, but I wouldn't want to do an overnight.
Tried pulling the fuse to see if that reset anything-- no luck.
What I notice is that the car doesn't even try to cycle through the lights on startup. The flashing warning light comes immediately - like even before I crank the engine.
Is this take-it-to-the-dealer time? Would a hard reset help?
Thanks as always....

 

Remove the headlights in order to gain access to the modules, once access has been gained swap them over left to right to determine whether it's a faulty module or whether the wiring inside the headlight has perished

 

Pray you don't have to replace them. $$$

 

I opened mine up and was able to repair the wiring. Mine was wiring related because the wiring insulation straight up disintegrated. If you're willing to give it a go, there's the possibility you can just fix the one you already have. I did this when my LH adaptive light threw the dash bulb on and was a lazy eye.

You basically need to take the assembly apart, but the headlight lense is held on to the housing by this strip of resin. You can use an oven strategically to heat the assembly JUST enough to separate the lense from the housing, then take the assembly apart by pulling (theres little metal clips to pull off first but eh). I did this last summer for my LH unit. When its apart, it was the little actuator that moved my light around had some of the wiring insulation flake off and several small wires became one wire causing the issue. I replaced them with new tiny wires, soldered accordingly and put it all back together. I think between wiring, shrink tubing and solder i was in about $2.

 

I am having the same issue as the OP.
I do not understand the reason to swap the modules? The flashing warning light is not specific to one headlight or the other, so why would swapping the modules side to side make a difference?

Phil

 

If ONE headlight obviously doesn't self-test or move while driving, swapping the modules will tell you IF it's a module problem because the problem side will change with the module swap. If it remains on the original side with the problem, then the module is NOT the problem.

 

Thank you Cee-Jay!

In my case it seems that the warning light comes on before the engine is started. Once it is started neither of the lights do any motion self-test. The first thing I did was to remove and examine the lights internal wiring - which both look OK. I cleaned the connectors and sprayed them with De-Oxit contact cleaner and checked the motion and lubricated the internal worm gear mechanism with a dab of Lubriplate.

I have tried the banging trick to no avail - the warning light remains!

Do you have any other suggestions please?

Kindly

Phil

 

Too many options and too many possibilities, it'd be a TRY THIS, WHAT HAPPENED thing for days. Best bet is to check all the headlight threads you can find for ideas.

 

Do you have the same issue? Exactly? i.e. one of the headlamps doesn't self-calibrate and/or won't level while the other one does? If so, while there is only one warning light on the dash, as @Cee Jay says there are separate modules for each light.

On the other hand, you may have a different problem such as bad earthing (covered in other other, similar threads). I had an intermittent AFS warning that always went away after two drive cycles. Different issue I know but the way I confirmed everything was (1) have the headlamp stalk in 'auto' position (2) have the car parked facing a wall (3) wait for it to get dark (4) press Start and watch the wall to see what each headlamp gets up to.

{and it turns out there's nothing wrong with my lamps or their modules. I'm pretty sure I know now what the issue was but I'll post elsewhere about that)

 

Thank you Justin,
Yep - checked the earth post behind the left wheel, which was sound. (Also opened, checked and re-seated the actual modules on each light.)

Neither of the headlights self-caibrates on start. The problem has been intermittent - sometimes one of the lights will follow steering when driving, sometimes not, and sometimes the other light may do so! I am starting to suspect the AFS ECU Headlamp Control Module as that is common to the functioning of both sides. Having a background in electronics I may try to open it to see if anything may have burned out or otherwise looks awry.

I would love to be able to outline a good progressive diagnostic procedure for this issue as so many people have experienced the warning light - and the solutions tend to be numerous and a little random. Would be nice to write a helpful sticky!

Cheers!

Phil

 

Might want to check the ground lug on the right hand side of the car behind the front wheel - this one is open and susceptible to corrosion.

 

Thanks McJag!

That was already checked as I mentioned. All is good there.

Phil

 

My bad - I only read you checked the left side ground - me must need news specs.

 

My bad too - I incorrectly meant behind the RIGHT wheel (as you are sitting in the car) ... only LEFT if you are standing in front of it - LOL :-)

 

Ya, this can be confusing - I meant the right side where the passenger sits in North American/European cars as opposed to UK and Aussie cars.

 

Ha! ...I was born in London but have lived in the States since the mid 80's - so even MORE confusing!!

 

Ok... here is the fix!!

I pulled a code B1D66 and the service manual defines it as a headlight internal motor problem.
We are in Nevada where it is summer hot right now. I pulled my Jeep into the garage after running errands, put a towel over the hood and set the headlight on the towel for about an hour.
Using two pairs of expanding circlip pliers gave an easy separation of the lens from the body.

Examining the wiring I found TWO black wires actually cut under the main light/motor assembly. Don't know how but I suspect badly crimped wires during initial factory assembly - a manufacturing defect.

The two wires went from the connector on the side of the headlight motor assembly to feed one of the motors. A little investigation led me to conclude which belonged to which (darned clever making all the wires to the motors the same black color!)

I re-soldered / heat-shrinked the two wires and connected the stripped down light to the car to test.
The flashing yellow warning light was still there, but I shut the car down, locked and unlocked again and this time the error light was gone! Good riddance.

Reassembled the light properly and pressed the lens back on, reinstalled into the car and took it for a drive. So far so good. Light has GONE! Those cut wires were an obvious cause.

The rest of the wiring while ok could use replacing. The insulation is 3/10 quality and is cracking.

The connections to the H8 bulb are bad and I want to de-pin that connector and re-wrap with heat-shrink. Anyone know how to de-pin that connector? I opened the flap of the connector but cannot for the life of me find how to release the pins.

Anyway,

Free at last!

Hope this helps someone...

Before random banging, pounding, praying or locking and unlocking, read the codes and see where the manual tells you to look.

(If all else fails - read the instructions!)

Phil

 

The Autel AP200 has a test function that causes the lights to move through their initiation routine. Allows internal motor test as often as you want.

 

dup