I was able to fix the dipped headlight problem myself. I replaced the ballast and took it to Audi so they coul reset the auto adjusting lights. They quoted me about $1,000 to fix my right dipped headlight. I did it for $450. $380 was for the ballast and me not having patience. It took about one hour the first time to remove the front bumper, but only about 30 mins the second time. DIY is the best way to go plus your learning how to fix it yourself. I also found out that maintenance service people work off commission and how much crap they can sell you.

 

I have a 2006 A4 3.2 Quattro, I bought it used and the driver's headlight has dipped since day 1. Not always, it's intermittent, and turning it off and on fixes it, sometimes for the remainder of my drive, sometimes for a minute.

I want to try switching the bulbs. Do I have to remove the bumper to do this? I've seen posts saying I do and some saying I don't.

University Audi in Seattle told me they had never heard of this problem before. Funny, since it seems to be so common. I think they just wanted to sell me a new ignitor. If anyone in Seattle can recommend a good, honest mechanic I'd be very greatful.

 

Michael - I tried accessing the bulb by not removing the bumper, and I found it to be nearly impossible, but that's just my experience. I finally had a repair shop (not the dealers) replace the dipping bulb for me, and voila - no problems since (about eight months ago). I think the cost (including the bulb) was around $200-$250 for the repair. If you are in Los Angeles and need to know where I had it done, drop me a PM. Sorry, don't know anybody in Seattle.

I am amazed that the service tech has not heard of this problem as Audi themselves issued a recall / refund.

 

Unless you have hands of a five year old it's going to be impossible to replace. I have the adjusting xenon lights, and I had to remove the bumper to replace the ballast. If your headlight is coming on, but goes out...it's most likely the ballast. I bought a Kobalt set from Lowes that cost $14 to take off the front bumper. To insure it's the ballast and not the bulb swap the left ballast to the right and vice versa and see if the problem follows. DIY is the only way to go with Audi's, unless you have deep pockets and don't really care about burning through the green. Plus, every thing you do to your car is something you can learn for future problems.

p.s. If your semi flexible you don't need to jack up your car. Also, turn the wheel far left/right when removing the wheel whale.

 

There are two types of faults with the Xenon's:

1) Flickering - if the lights flicker and then die out with the dash display and the audible warning, then it is the bulbs that need changing

2) If when the lights are switched on, they light up for 1 second then go out, this is the ballasts, also known as Control units (the silver boxes attached to the headlight housing).

The light bulbs can be changed without taking bumper off. I've done it!. You will need to 'remove' the Air box on one side and the power steering reservoir on the other side (Mine is a UK Right hand drive). The reservoir will need to be drained before removal, I did this by putting a lot of old rags below it and holding a small 'CLEAN' tray under it while disconnecting the pipes, this way you can simply pour back the power steering fluid in when finished.

Hope it helps

P.S As for the size of hand comment, My hands are quite big, so anyone can do it



Cheers
Sarge

 

After putting this off and looking at multiple DIY's and opinions, I finally committed some time yesterday to try without removing bumper. My problem was the passenger side - begins to flicker, eventually fails, beep and dipped headlight warning.

As it turns out, after about 20 minutes of getting the airbox up and out of the way, the access door on the back was clearly accessible - two screws off and there was the bulb. After some careful fiddling with getting the connector off the old bulb (this disconnect process has been hard to find documented), and re-connecting, I was all set.

For the same thing, a local dealer quoted several hundred dollars - that's for one bulb. I bought a pair of Osram (OEM spec) bulbs on eBay for less than $100 and did the work by myself. In the process I got to clean out the airbox. Just so happens that my DRL bulb went out, too. That's a side access door on the same housing - ~3 minutes, and some nimble hands.

Now... for the driver side. In the interest of having two Xenon bulbs start their lives at the same time, I began the process on the other side. This has proven more of a challenge. The DIY's I've seen for moving the power steering res aside have been for the 2.0L A4's. If anyone has tips for the 4.2 V8, I'd be interested. I cannot see another option other than temporarily siphoning out the res, detaching the hoses and pulling it up and out to access the bulb door. I'd like to avoid having to do that.

 

I think for the 4.2 you'll be stuck with the "drain & fill" method. You've put $100 in to bulbs already and saved yourself several hundred. If you've never flushed out your power steering fluid, now is probably the ideal time to do so. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet.... sorry.

 

Hey Guys,
This thread has been super helpful! I just bought my 2006 A4 and having the same dipped headlight issue. I'm gonna try replacing the bulb myself, but trying to figure out what the OEM spec is so that i'm not replacing with a different color bulb. I see there is many different options when purchasing these bulbs, so just want to make sure I get the right thing.

Sorry if this is a dumb question....I'm kind of a newbie w/ these Xenon headlights.

 

I'm getting the same warning on my display as the OP (see first post) but I also took out both ballasts over the weekend, so there is nothing plugged in. I've sent them both off to Phil to get repaired/updated and if I still get the "dipped headlight" message, then I'll swap in new bulbs.

I think the original color is 4300k, but could very well be wrong on that. When I need new bulbs I'll be going with OEM or 5000k tops.

 

Who is Phil? I'm guessing is a forum regular and feel dumb asking, but I guess that is how you learn. If my ballasts are bad can i send mine to him as well for repair? Seems like it could be a cheaper route than buying new ones!!

I've got sooo much to learn.....yikes!