I have an interesting problem. And by interesting, I mean VERY ANNOYING!!!

I have the xenons, and all of a sudden, neither will level. Both are pointed down. Monday night, they would dip a little (like they're supposed to), then raise just a tiny bit. Tonight, they didn't dip or raise at all. I've checked to make sure that the plugs are properly seated in the sensors, but I have no idea what else to check. It seems a little odd that both sensors would go out at the same time. Any ideas??????

 

Have you checked the leveling potentiometers on the front left and right rear control arms? Those are what determine the HID leveling.

 

What are those. I did check the sensors on the front and rear drivers side. Checked to make sure all wiring was properly seated.

 

Forgive me for asking, but you are turning your headlamps on as you start the mini, right? I know I won't see the auto-leveling in my MCS or my 330 if I turn the lights on >3 seconds after starting the motor. Just wanted to make sure the obvious wasn't being overlooked before pots are adjusted.

Cheers!

 

No, these are pointed straight down. They aren't leveling at all. I"m only getting them to shine about 1 car length or less in front of me.

 

May be your MINI is too tired or too sleepy, so both eyes cannot look up. Try again in daytime, when it has enough sleep.

Serious, if you still have your warranty, maybe you should consider just bring it in to the dealer to take a look, the mechanical and electrical parts may be expensive. I took a look online for the HID headlight parts of my wife's 2004 TL, the assembly/control of that HID part itself is like $500 a piece for one side; so for MINI/BMW parts, I don't expect is cost less than that. So, get the dealer take care for you if you still have the warranty. My 2c.

 

I wish I was still in warrantee. 92K miles is a little over warrantee

 

Uh oh...

I had one of mine do this and know of another car that both did it. When the dealer fixes this, they replace the ENTIRE HEADLIGHT UNIT. Which can't be cheap

I haven't heard yet of anyway to fix it without doing the entire unit, but there must be a way. As well as can you get $core$ credit for one that isn't working properly.

Since you're in Bedford, it might be worth calling Terry Saythor in Austin and seeing if they have a repair they can do. Might be cheaper to drive here for the day, then buy two new Xenons.

Or time to do the JunkYard search for a totaled Mini that has intact Xenons.

Let us know what happens, as in my opinion, this is a systemic problem based on my local experience and the number of reports on the boards...

 

When I had this happen in the 3 series it was that the level control thing was broken at the connection somehow (I am actually quite certain the dealer broke it when they screwed up the sway bars). We were able to rig it up with some wire and got it working again, later found out that the replacement part was not very expensive. Perhaps if you look at the diagrams on realoem.com you can figure out what part may be failing and check it out. Good luck!

 

Well, it looks like I spilled some water (and by some, I mean a gallon) in the passenger floorboard. I didn't think there was any reason to try to vaccuum it out, it'd dry, right? As it turns out, in the passenger footwell area there is a Body Control Module. It got wet a little, but what's worse, the connector/harness is corroded. Not sure how easily this is going to be to reapir.

 

nevermind...derr...i'm dumb :P

 

So you meant you found that is the root cause for the leveling problem you have? If so, congrat you found it, but too bad it may cause some big $$$ to fix.

 

Yeah, that appears to be the problem. If I can simply get a harness from a junked MINI I'll be able to just replace the harness by cutting mine off and re-splicing the new one on. That's IF I can find a junked MINI. The local Pick&Pull didn't have ANY MINI's.

 

so if you dont turn the headlights on right away, they dont level? It seems as though I have never seen my headlights adjust (04 with 27k miles) is it very noticable like the IS300 headlights or is it more subtle? I'd like to know so I can get them replaced if need be since I have never seen them level out and it does usually seem a tad too low.