Nialist

I have an 04 A6 S-line with a 2.7. I have been battling the headlight leveling demons and finally had some time to start tearing into this now that winter has made the garage my second office again. I started pulling the drivers headlight last night before the city plow driver did his best Berlin Wall expo on the driveway approach. Tonight i had a minute to look at where i left off and noticed that the headlight, actually both of them are separating and have varying gaps on the lower reflective surface where the housing for the xenon projector/Highbeam/turn signal meet with the front plastic clear housing. Has anyone else noticed this on their headlights?

I assume this is a parting line in the assembly but there is no way while the assembly is installed in the car, and all clamps/clips and securing hardware are/is intact and properly secured, that there should be such a asymmetric gap (1/2" to 5/8") in such a crucial spot. This totally misaligns the headlight beams and just looks like someone built this in prison. It would seem moisture and other fun stuff could be flung up into the delicate environment that is the inside of the headlight assembly. Is this just thrown together and misaligned by an alcohol snorting, hooker fueled mechanic, or has the silicone sealant failed and the whole works just pulling apart on it's own? Sorry but i will take some pics when i have some time tomorrow. Just hoping i can pull them out, and put them back together correctly and I'm not looking at some other nightmare i haven't read about yet. Appreciate any knowledge on this...

SloopJohnB@mac.com

If the lens is separated from the housing then it has failed….remove the headlight assembly and reseal and reclip the lens to the housing. Or replace the assembly.

As an aside, ten years makes an incredible difference in lighting, even with replacement assemblies. I've replaced Philips HID bulbs in pairs a couple of times in 5-7 year increments but after the last fender bender when both front headlight assemblies were replaced the road is lit up significantly better. That's not to say one should spend 600-1000$ to replace both headlights on general principles every 10 years…but it does make a significant difference.

Nialist

Thanks for the info. I figured something was awry. Looks like another night of applying sealant to mend another wound to the Audi. Because 1,000 bucks to have new headlights is crazy. i could build a bat signal or something blindingly intense for that amount of coin.

GTA_Driver

Is your headlight lens separating? Or do you mean the inside headlight assembly has gaps? The inside headlight assembly moves, so there will be gaps there. It moves when you use adjustment screws, and it moves with auto leveling.

Post some pictures of what you're talking about. Or else you might be tearing it apart for no reason.

mithrilG60

x2. An uneven gap between the portion of the assembly which holds the projector and highbeam reflector and the rest of the housing is completely normal (see the non-disassembled light in this pic).



If it is the actual lens separating from the housing, applying a silicon sealant is just a bandaid. The best bet is to disassemble the light, remove the old butyl sealant and replace it with some new seal. Very easy to do and a roll of oci-butyl windshield sealant is between $10 - 15.

Also, as SloopJohnB said, lighting systems have both improved over the last decade and the OPS have aged. Replacing the bulbs to good Phillips 85122+ ($95/pair) or Osram CBI's ($180/pair) is a good start. However as the OP has a facelift car that uses the Hella E55 3" bi-xenon projector he don't need to replace the headlights to get brand new performance. If he's opening up the headlights to reseal the housing lenses anyways just spend the $150 on a pair of EvoX-R projectors. They're based off the E55 so they are a direct bolt-in for the facelift C5 and with their mirror polished bowls and clear lens their output is definitely greater than OEM.

HowTo - Swapping Hella EvoX-R bi-xenon projectors into facelft headlights

The projector was the only change in this image, the bulbs (3yr old Phillips 85122+ with somewhere between 600 - 800 hrs use) and ballasts (original OEM) are the same for both.

Nialist

First, thanks for the responses guys, it's great that you guys share the knowledge and i appreciate it a lot. Now, the gap that you guys are talking about in your first picture on the right assembly is the one i am concerned about. Now, i understand that there needs to be room for movement and adjustment but my drivers side one is noticeably mis aligned and i should have noticed this awhile ago when i was adjusting the focus point(s) of the headlights. The adjustment screws would pop as if the gears didn't mesh and made me think i broke them. I still believe i wasn't forcing them as I know better when manipulating plastic pieces. The housing for the bulbs, if you can imagine this, is aligned at about a 10-15 degree angle outboard and about 15 degrees down. If i pull the fuse for auto level it points at the shoulder marking just outboard of drivers side. I would upload pics of this but i am just taking 5 mins away from the calculator as a break and well, tonight in Minnesota it's about -11f, sans wind. Heated garage or not, I'm not going out there unless i was at gunpoint, and even then......Hmmmm...

I am planning on replacing the bulbs too so i thank you for the input on bulbs. It's a relief knowing i don't have to pull the thing apart and reseal it. I do have plenty of Double Bubble epoxy (if you ever used this stuff, you would have a stockpile of it too) around but the catalyst doesn't like the cold temps either. I'll try and adjust it without opening it up and post some pics of it in a few days when it warms to a blistering +11f!!!!!! WTF!!????

Thanks again guys!

mithrilG60

Well the amount and level of spacing of the void between the moveable reflector and will vary from light to light depending on how the levelling adjusters need to move the reflector to aim the light. If your aiming is correct and you housing isn't flopping the space is likely normal. If you do have stripped adjustment screws then you will have to bake the headlight(s) open to replace them, assuming replacement parts are readily available and can be purchased separately.

GTA_Driver

Dude! Do not take the headlight assemblies apart to "fix" this gap. The gap is normal, it is not uniform, and one side will have more than the other.

If you stripped the plastic adjustment screws, you're SOL. I had one stripped screw on my previous Audi (2001 A6 4.2), an ended up pulling the pin out with pliers and installing an electric clamp to prevent the headlight from falling in.

I would first check to see how badly your headlights are aimed. Do they both point down? Too far to the left or right or centre?

Also, in broad daylight, with plenty of light, determine exactly which screws are stripped. Then let us know.

I bought a garbage headlight for the pins with the screws, but couldn't figure out how to take it out. So ended up with an electric wire clamp.

Nialist

I won't be taking them apart thanks to your and a few others input. The gap just seems odd but i will live with it. The screws are just a little worn as plastic bevel gears are an awesome failure point, and I'm wondering about what you said about your clamp substitute. I'm guessing there was no way to "thread" a new adjustment bolt (plastic or whatever) in there due to not being able to hold the thing in place. Sounds like a nightmare. Does it shake the visible light a lot now or does your clamp hold it tight enough?

GTA_Driver

The car with the clamp is gone, was totaled (a minor accident, but repairs were too expensive on a 12 year old car). While it was there, it worked fine, no shaking. The light naturally falls down, pulling the "pin" inside. With the clamp in place, you're preventing the pin from falling in, and since the weight of the light itself is pulling it, there is always tension. So it doesn't go back and forth.

You should check the aim of the beam, and then you'll know if any adjustment is needed (and maybe that's why you have large gaps, if the headlights are not adjusted).