Headlights again: anyone recognise this halogen main beam bulb holder...

[pepperhouse]

...and know what the trick is to detaching it such that I can change the bulb?



It's on a (recently-acquired) 54-reg (Nov 04) B7 3.0 TDI Quattro fitted with xenon dipped beam, and has side entry into the light unit. Neither this entry point nor the bulb assembly look like the illustrations in the Owner's Manual, which presumably relate to non-xenon models.

I've trawled through all the headlight posts on this and other sites and can't find anything relevant. That's the sidelight/DRL on the left, by the way.

Thanks,
Mark

P.S. I started trying to replace the bulb(s) on a cold, damp day, resulting in a film of condensation appearing on the inside of the overall headlight glass - does anyone have any proven methods of driving/drying this out?

[Flash2]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Just looking at your photo, it looks like it is a bayonet type fitting. A 1/4 trun anti-clockwise and lift it out the lamp.
I doubt it will be a halogen bulb though. I think that will be the DRL. The main & dip usually use the same bulb on xenon lamps.

As for condensation inside the lamp, it'll dry off with the heat from the bulbs. There are vents in the lamps that circulate air through it when the bulbs heat up.

Jim.

[pepperhouse]

Jim,

Thanks for the fast response. There are definitely two separate bulbs here, with the xenon unit in the compartment beyond. I don't believe I have bi-xenon and the car's told me I have a "main beam bulb failure". The xenons are both fine and if it was a single xenon bulb for both main & dipped then the warning doesn't make much sense.

The DRLs appear to be the small, offset bulbs you can see to the left of the photo: these are certainly the bulbs that light up when the DRL function is on. So, if this bulb is not the DRL, and not the main beam (??) then what is it? I can't get it to light up with any light switch combination (or its sister on the other side, so I assume both have blown).
I assumed that the sidelight and DRL functions use the same light: is this not the case? I'm more confused now (though I guess I can just try changing the bulb using your suggestion, assuming the H7 Osram Night Breakers I've bought will fit, and see what happens) ...

Thanks,
Mark

[Flash2]

Mark, I've just had a look at the wiring diagram, it shows a side light bulb (that'll be the small bulb to the left in your photo), a day driving lamp (the mail bulb in you photo) and an indicator bulb.
There is one xenon bulb and a solenoid to change the xenon beam pattern from dip to main beam.

Jim.

[pepperhouse]

Jim,

OK, many thanks - got it. It does beg the question of exactly what triggers the 'main beam lamp failure' message in the DIS display, as it clearly isn't the bulb itself. Anyway, I believe I need a P21W BA15s for the DRLs: 21W. There doesn't seem to be much choice around this, LED bulbs requiring extra resistors and/or mostly being offroad-legal only...?

It does mean that, rather embarrassingly, I have a pair of unwanted Osram H7 NightBreaker Unlimiteds (still in their blister pack), if anyone's interested... :-(

Mark

[PeterA.]

Sorry to be a vulture,but how much for the nightbreakers ?

[pepperhouse]

Peter - fair question (and not unwelcome). Does £7 including postage etc. sound reasonable? That's half what I paid for them a week ago. I'll pack them well. Send me a PM if you're interested & we'll sort out the details.
Mark

[PeterA.]

That's a very fair price,thank you Mark,I'm not sure if I can PM yet,so if you let me have an email address I'll paypal you the money.

[pepperhouse]

Peter,
Hmm, neither of us has enough posts to PM :-(
Send me an email first if you want to check address.
Apologies to everyone else for clogging up the forum with private 'business'....