"06 Xenons, are they supposed to self-level?

On my '02 MCS with Xenons you could hear the self-leveling work every time you turned them on and you could watch the beams dance against a wall.

MY new '06 Xenons do not do this and I don't think they ever did. I just got it last saturday, 5-11-05.

What are the devices attached to them that look like vaccum actuators of some sort? There are 2 on each light housing.

 

I see mine level up, but they are "fast" - it happens very quickly right after the car starts, so sometimes I don't see it happen in time

I do have the DRL's enabled (which I find that I end up liking) so I can see it if I park by a wall, since the leveling happens each time

 

When I turn my Xenons;

The lights go on
Level up high
Lower to driving postion
As the leveling happens they get brighter
I haven't noticed any noise from the headlights

 

Roll down your window and stand next to the car with it off. Reach in and turn the lights 1 or 2 clicks and you should hear the lights leveling. It is sort of quiet but you can hear sort of a servo noise, sort of robot like . With the car off, the xenons wont fire. Also I think the vacuum devices you see are probably the headlight washers...

Hope this helps.

-Andy

 

Do it in front of a wall and you should see them level. I can see it in my garage when I start them up (I have auto headlights turned on). I don't hear anything.

If you have daytime running lights may self level as soon as you turn on the car, not when you flip the lights on.

 

Update: Went to the dealer today and did some tests. The lights level with the key in position 2 but the engine OFF. With the engine running the lights do not level. Apparently they have never worked since I picked up the car last weekend.

Looks like a call to the service department on Monday.

I'll have them look into the harmonic vibration in the dash at the same time.