I’ve been looking around the forums for a little while now, and I decided to finally make an account. I bought a used 2005.5 A4 3.2 Quattro back in October with a little over 65k miles on the odometer. When I bought the car it had a blinking error light on the DIS. For the last couple months I have been trying to figure out how to fix it, and I finally got everything to work the other day. I figured I’d make a post to help out anyone who might have the same issue.
Here’s the story part:
It all started with this light
I couldn’t find it in the manual, but after looking around online I found out it was the adaptive headlights warning light. I thought this was a little weird since they seemed to work fine, so I let it go. After driving the car for a couple weeks, I could see the right headlight flickering quite a bit, and occasionally completely going out. I replaced the headlight, the flickering went away, but the error light still showed up.
It eventually got really annoying because it makes an obnoxious beep every time you start the car and flashes at you for your whole trip. I figured I’d take it to the dealer to see what they had to say. They diagnosed the problem at the absurd price of $120, and told me that I would need a replacement headlight assembly, which would be $1000 plus parts and labor.
For this price I figured I would just live with the warning light, but I started looking around on eBay to see if I could find one cheaper. I found a brand new OEM assembly (without a ballast) for about $300 a few weeks later and figured I could finally fix this error light myself. The headlight came in, I installed it, but to my surprise, the error light was still on. 
At this point I was a little stumped. I began to question Audi’s diagnosis of the problem, and I thought I would try diagnosing it myself. I had kind of wanted a VAG-COM cable for a little while anyway, so I picked one up from Ross Tech and checked for codes. Here’s what came up:
02234 - Power Output Stage for Right Headlight (J668)
014 - Defective - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 11101110
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 40
Time Indication: 0
After a little looking around I found that the “Power Output Stage” refers to the ballast and has nothing to do with the headlight assembly. Shocked at the dealer’s blatant mis-diagnosis, I ordered a ballast from genuineaudiparts.com to put an end to this error light.
By this point I had dropped my front bumper trying to fix this problem so many times I could do it in less than 15 minutes. I thought installing the ballast would be a piece of cake and I would be done in less than an hour. But it ended up turning into a couple hours screwing around with VCDS until I got everything to work.
Here’s the DIY Part:
If you are throwing the same code as I was above, or your lights are flickering and you’ve already replaced the bulb, it’s probably time to replace the ballast.
Tools Needed:
-One Adaptive Headlight Ballast (Part # 8P0-907-391 - $238 On GenuineAudiParts.com)
-Torx T20 Screwdriver
-VAG-COM Cable & VCDS
Step One:
Follow your favorite front bumper removal DIY to get access to the ballast. I used this one by fly300kts: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...moval-The-DIY?
Step Two:
After your headlight is off of your car, turn it upside down and you’ll see the silver ballast secured by three T20 screws. Remove the screws.
Step Three:
The ballast is also kept in by somewhat of a rubber seal. You’ll have to wiggle the ballast back and forth while pulling up. Don’t pull too hard as there’s another cable you’ll have to disconnect underneath. Once the ballast is separated, remove the cable.
Step Four:
At this point you can install the new ballast. Just seat it on the headlight and put the screws back in. Then reinstall the headlight and bumper. Start the car. If the error light is gone, congratulations, you’re done. If not, you may have to do some coding inside of VCDS. Take out your VAG-COM cable and boot up VCDS. [Click 55 – Xenon Range] on the main page and then click [Fault Codes – 02] on the left. Clear the codes that are there and see what comes back. Here’s the codes that came back for me:
4 Faults Found:
01539 - Headlights Not Adjusted
005 - No or Incorrect Basic Setting / Adaptation - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 11100101
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 0
Time Indication: 0
01042 - Control Module; Not Coded
000 - - - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 11100000
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 0
Time Indication: 0
02656 - Power Output Stage for Left Headlight (J667); Not Coded
000 - - - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 11100000
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 0
Time Indication: 0
02657 - Power Output Stage for Right Headlight (J668); Not Coded
000 - - - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 11100000
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 0
Time Indication: 0
Step 5:
If you have the same codes as this then you most likely have to recode the new ballast you just installed. First try going back to the main Xenon Range screen and clicking [Basic Settings – 04]. It should already have “001” in the ‘Group Box’ so hit the ‘Go!’ button to the right of that. If “ERROR:” is displayed in all red, continue on to the next step. If everything is green, an [ON/OFF/Next] button should be displayed in the upper right. Click that until “Learned” is displayed in the second box. Then re-clear any codes and none should return.
Step 6:
If you’re still with me at this point, it most likely means you need to re-code the ballast for the car. Go back to the main Xenon-Range screen and click [Security Access – 16] in the lower right. Type in the number “02000” in the box and click [Do it!]. It should pop up with a box saying code accepted or something like that. Click okay.
Step 7:
In the Xenon-Range screen click [Coding – 07]. The value originally set in here after I installed the ballast was “0000255” Change this to “0000019” (assuming you’re coding an A4) and click [Do it!]
Step 8:
Now go back to the Xenon-Range Screen and click [Basic Settings – 04]. Click [Go!]. An [ON/OFF/Next] button should be displayed in the upper right. Click that until “Learned” is displayed in the second box.
Step 9:
Now check for and clear all codes. None should return. Start the car and rejoice at the fact that you have regained the top third of your DIS for more interesting things than a flashing yellow light.
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Originally Posted by mec
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