Has anyone else had misting headlights?

[theskyfox]

Hi Guys,
Recently had the car out in the bad rain we had and was left static for a few days. Came back to find that the headlights had partially misted up at the bottom. I phoned Audi and they asked me to bring the car in. After giving it an inspection and spending the day with it, they informed me that it does sometimes happen and theres nothing they can currently do to stop it since its because the car is using LED lights now. Apparently there is an Audi tech-service bulletin about it and, disappointingly, it is normal. Has anyone else had this issue? Seems not so vorsprung-durch-technik that a £40k car suffers from such a basic but apparently unfixable fault...

I'll get some pictures up when I get a chance.

-Andrew

[jakerade]

is it an s-line and does it have the complimentary Octopus in each headlight that leaves stains?

If so you can have a proper argument and probably get them replaced as a good will gesture

[theskyfox]

Yes its an S-line. Octopus? Can't say I've seen one of those in there....see pic attached...

16830

-Andrew

[jakerade]

i would say thats a warranty job - my foglights had condensation like that and they were done under warranty.

Octopus leaves lots of round marks on the inside of the lense.

Use words like MOT failure, manufacturing defect etc

I suggested that marks on the inside of the lights were no different to marks on the paintwork. Affects the visual appearance of the car and thus the value of it if you were selling it tomorrow.

[jakerade]

and its "fixable" by changing the headlights as, despite its faults, I have never seen condensation marks like that on my headlights

[John140]

Had condensation on my non-led SE headlamps, they were swapped by the dealer with absolutely no argument.

[Crasher]

Quite normal and not a cause for replacement as it is likely to happen again as it has been happening since clear glass headlights first came out. It happened before that as well but lensed headlights did not show it up so clearly.

This is a picture Audi use to show what they will NOT replace one for.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd20/Crasher1964/SteamedupAudiheadlight.jpg

This is the TPI

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd20/Crasher1964/TPI2005601-18.jpg

[jakerade]

These were the original octopus threads (rather than misting as in crashers pic). The problem is that it stains the inside of the light unit and does affect the beam pattern. Unfortunately no pictures of the staining anymore but they are random dot on the inside surface of the lens.

I have had no re-occurrence since they were changed a year ago and they were stained pretty much from new.

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?60978-S-Line-headlight-problem&highlight=headlight

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?92735-Xenon-Headlights-Have-the-replacement-headlamp-units-cured-the-condensation-staining-issues&highlight=headlight

[John140]

Quite normal and not a cause for replacement as it is likely to happen again as it has been happening since clear glass headlights first came out. It happened before that as well but lensed headlights did not show it up so clearly.

This is a picture Audi use to show what they will NOT replace one for.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd20/Crasher1964/SteamedupAudiheadlight.jpg

This is the TPI

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd20/Crasher1964/TPI2005601-18.jpg Mine weren't as bad as this and I got no argument from the dealer..

[Crasher]

Then in theory the dealer will not have been paid for them.

[jakerade]

I was told mine were a "good will" gesture from the dealer - probably to shut me up! Either way happy they are changed.