My passenger xenon headlight flickers and goes off quite frequently but not all the time (especially when I turn a corner). I get an error on my dash that indicates my headlight has dipped or something in that regard. At that point, if I turn them off and then back on then both lights work. I took car to dealer and they said they have to replace entire headlight assembly and quoted me $1,700. I'm pretty sure I can get this fixed a lot cheaper than that. One guy in the forums here said he got a new assembly for $695.

Any advice?

 

Check out German ebay. I bought a set of complete factory HIDs for my 2006 A4 for $700.00. I still have my original set of complete halogens incase you want a bargain. $200.00

 

I take it you are out of warranty?
I know the dealer has a TSB out on this, and I think they just replace the ballast?

Vince

 

Actually I have extended warranty with a third party. The warranty excludes glass, sealed beams, bulbs. But it does include ballast. I told Audi dealer to just replace ballast, which they will do in couple of days. However, they did not mention anything on TSB for replacing ballast.

 

Hope that does the trick for ya.
Found this on a search, might be the one I saw referenced before
tsb: 2018544/1

V

 

If the car came with Halogens, can they be converted to HID?

 

I'm probably not the best one to answer this, but I think so. I believe there are even aftermarket options. Maybe someone that has done it can chime in...
Vince

 

It is possible to convert your Halogen Audi A4, A6, etc. into a stock HID. I did the conversion myself a couple of years ago and took extensive pictures of the project. You will first need to get your hands on a pair of complete Audi Valeo HID housings. I bought mine off of Ebay.de (German Ebay) for about 600-700 Euros I think, and took about 1 month to arrive here in California. You will also need a pair of adapter harnesses for the new Xenons, which I also found on german ebay for about $50. Once you have the parts, its pretty easy to do the conversion, except that you'll need to partially remove your front bumper (if you have a B7 A4 (mine is 2006 2.0T). The earlier B6 model is much easier. Next, swap the housings out, plug in the harnesses, run the two tiny wires that will supply power to the ballasts into cabin and add to a certain position on one of the main control harnesses under the drivers side dash. I can't remember if I had to Vag-com my car to tell it to use Xenons instead... I don't think so, but it was necessary to add Audi RNS-E GPS stereo to my car.

Don't believe the stealership when they tell you its impossible to add any Audi option to your car after you've bought it.

The only downside to the conversion is that you don't get the awesome self leveling and turning HID functions, as they require a separate control module our Halogen Audis didn't come with.

Please send me a message if you would like more information on the swap, and I'll try to put together my pictures and write better instructions.

 

Julcamt,

Thanks for the insight, I am interested in upgrading to stock HIDs, so any pictures of the finished product (your car) or the actual installation would be great. I will look into the Ebay.de for some Audi stock HIDs. I also have a 2006 A4 (B7), so your installation should help me. Thanks.