A3 8P aftermarket headlight, motor issues, light pattern

[michael626]

Hi guys apologies if anyone has already asked but i couldnt see anything related, i just bought myself a new set of aftermarket headlights for my 62 plate 5 door sportback as it came stock with the old dim halogens and i thought id spruce up the look, slotted on no problems look nice and takes years off the car however i hadnt noticed somewhere along the line ive missed the adjustment motors that the original lights had so now im sort of stuck with an awful light pattern and cant drive after dark for risk of blinding someone, any help? thanks.

 

[gaz4410]

Hi mate, you will have to remove the motors from your old lights and fit them in to your new ones. If you do not want to do that there is two white dials that you can manually adjust your lights. If you measure so far up the wall and draw a line not sure of the right height adjustment, this is best achieved when it is dark. If not you will have to take them to a garage to be adjused. Please let me know how you get on .
Gazza.

 

[Viv3.2]

Did you get this sorted? I am considering getting these as well.

 

[JayTeeA38P]

I think those are the same lights that I installed on mine this summer. I took the adjustment motors off my original OEM ones, but couldn't figure out how they could fit in the aftermarket ones.

I ended up just leaving them out and got a garage to adjust them manually (there are cogs on the lights themselves that can be manually adjusted) while the car was in for something else. I don't have any call to adjust them, so it should be fine as is.

 

[JayTeeA38P]

I think those are the same lights that I installed on mine this summer. I took the adjustment motors off my original OEM ones, but couldn't figure out how they could fit in the aftermarket ones.

I ended up just leaving them out and got a garage to adjust them manually (there are cogs on the lights themselves that can be manually adjusted) while the car was in for something else. I don't have any call to adjust them, so it should be fine as is.

I was wrong. Today my car failed its MOT because the electric adjuster didn't work...

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

 

[MA3TDIQ]

I was wrong. Today my car failed its MOT because the electric adjuster didn't work...

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Oh man that sux!

I was considering just buying LED H7 and putting them in my current ballast to improve the lighting- will that work?

That way the motors to adjust the ram would still work.

Anyone done this and confirm this would work? Or would this cause errors on dash due to canbus error? Some of the LED claim to be canbus error free...

 

[D.rc]

Considering getting these myself let me know if you got the adjuster working

 

[JayTeeA38P]

I think those are the same lights that I installed on mine this summer. I took the adjustment motors off my original OEM ones, but couldn't figure out how they could fit in the aftermarket ones.

I ended up just leaving them out and got a garage to adjust them manually (there are cogs on the lights themselves that can be manually adjusted) while the car was in for something else. I don't have any call to adjust them, so it should be fine as is.

I guess the garage must have lied about adjusting them, because I've since had a lot of correspondence with the Ebay seller about the installation of these lights. They come with "transport screws" to stop the bulb holders from moving around in transit. They have to be removed when you receive them, otherwise you can't install the motors (the transit screws are in the place where the motors attach). You can't even adjust the lights manually with a screwdriver without removing the transit screws.

 

[JayTeeA38P]

Considering getting these myself let me know if you got the adjuster working

I eventually got one of the adjuster motors working, but not the other. I can't yet tell if it is because that motor is faulty, it isn't installed properly, or if the bulb assembly has been broken from so much fiddling around. I'm due to give it another go soon when I can be bothered...

An odd thing is that the adjustment motors are supposed to just twist into position - ie. not using screws like the stock units do. This meant that even the aftermarket headlight that I got working had the motor only very loosely attached. I wouldn't trust it to stay in position while driving. The other one was even more precariously twisted in, and would just fall out if you knocked it.

 

[JayTeeA38P]

An update, in case it helps anyone...

I eventually figured out that one of the adjustment motors I had bought was faulty, which had confused matters, diagnostically. I ended up using self-tapping screws to keep the motors in place, even though the manufacturer says you don't need to. It was the only way I could get the motors to stay in places, however.

The aftermarket lights are now fully installed and functional, but... I just took the car to a Halfords Autocentre that's on my road, to get them lights properly aligned (£30) and they said they did it the best they could, but the lights are "Euro spec" and he couldn't guarantee they would pass my next MOT. This is apparently due to the beam pattern.

This seems odd to me as they're not left-hand-drive lights (and the distributor don't sell those), and the beam pattern goes up on the correct side - ie. away from the oncoming cars. It doesn't seem to make sense.

Anyway, I would not have embarked on this mod had I known the difficulties it would cause, but I have become somewhat of an expert as a result, if anyone has any questions!

 

[Javad Zare]

An update, in case it helps anyone...

I eventually figured out that one of the adjustment motors I had bought was faulty, which had confused matters, diagnostically. I ended up using self-tapping screws to keep the motors in place, even though the manufacturer says you don't need to. It was the only way I could get the motors to stay in places, however.

The aftermarket lights are now fully installed and functional, but... I just took the car to a Halfords Autocentre that's on my road, to get them lights properly aligned (£30) and they said they did it the best they could, but the lights are "Euro spec" and he couldn't guarantee they would pass my next MOT. This is apparently due to the beam pattern.

This seems odd to me as they're not left-hand-drive lights (and the distributor don't sell those), and the beam pattern goes up on the correct side - ie. away from the oncoming cars. It doesn't seem to make sense.

Anyway, I would not have embarked on this mod had I known the difficulties it would cause, but I have become somewhat of an expert as a result, if anyone has any questions!

Hello mate, I was looking to buy these headlights for my Audi A3 and after reading the forums and your issues I just had a few questions since I know you have done it now.

after buying the lights, I do have perfectly working light adjustment motors in my current lights. Would it be easily doable to remove them and place them in the new lights without too much hassle( do they have a place already in the light)?

also I realised mentioned that Halfords said it could have issues with MOT because of the high beam it gives off so after adjusting the motors in would the MOT still have an issue with it?

Thank you!

 

[wha3]

Sorry to Revive an old thread here,
I have bought these same style headlights, and i can't get the transport screws out the back of them, the whole assembly moves as one, and is super hard to turn?
What was your method @JayTeeA38P to get them off and fit the motors in?
Cheers

 

[JayTeeA38P]

Sorry to Revive an old thread here,
I have bought these same style headlights, and i can't get the transport screws out the back of them, the whole assembly moves as one, and is super hard to turn?
What was your method @JayTeeA38P to get them off and fit the motors in?
Cheers

I also found them very hard to turn. They have sort of rubber washers/o-rings, which, in mine, got mangled up and made them really hard to turn.

If I remember correctly they only need about half a turn to come out, rather than screwing all the way out.

 

[soulwaffle]

Hiya, I've come across similar looking headlights. Are those from '2xcite' ? If not, would you mind linking me to the ones you purchased.

 

[JayTeeA38P]

Hiya, I've come across similar looking headlights. Are those from '2xcite' ? If not, would you mind linking me to the ones you purchased.

Yes that’s where mine were from.

 

[JayTeeA38P]

I also found them very hard to turn. They have sort of rubber washers/o-rings, which, in mine, got mangled up and made them really hard to turn.

If I remember correctly they only need about half a turn to come out, rather than screwing all the way out.

I should add that the transport screws, on the inside of the units, are secured into the section to which the adjustment motor will go. This means the transport screw, once turned half a turn, will take a lot of finagling to come out.

 

[soulwaffle]

@jaytee would you mind posting a few pics to show us what they look like?

 

[wha3]

Sorry to dig up and old thread about these, but I'm having issues with these as well that I bought a while ago and never really got them right.
My main issue is with the motors, I just can't work out how they're supposed to fit as there doesn't look like there is enough room for them to fit in them.
Does anyone have any pics they could share showing how they got theirs in and working?