Adjusting Headlight height after lowering car

[A2andres]

Howdy y’all,

I’ll be posting up on my build thread about my 034 springs/B8 shock install later today.

In the meantime, I noticed that my headlights were definitely aimed too low after lowering.

I followed the directions found in this thread;

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...hts-on-B8-5-A4

I didn’t do any of the manual screw adjustments just the “auto adjust” described in one post in that thread that also had a video of the adjustment in real-time.

On iOS it doesn’t have a check mark but rather a slide that says “slide to start” and then while the headlights are adjusting it has a “slide to stop”

I didn’t touch it as it adjusted and then I got a error message on the dash that said something to the effect of “headlight height control out of adjustment”. At that point I did the “swipe to stop”.

I ran a scan and the central electronics module trips fault 01539 - Headlight not adjusted.

Cleared the code And disconnected the OBD11 and tried turning the car on and off but that error message srill comes up.

How can I fix this?


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[djn876]

The right way to do it is really to use VCDS. You can have the headlights relearn the "home" position, after you adjust. Sorry I don't know how to do it with the other apps.

Make sure you have the wall marked properly and account for about a 1" drop from the centerline of the light at around 20 or 25' away.

You should just be able to reperform the procedure though would be my guess?

Also make sure the lights are in "On" and not "Auto" when you calibrate them.

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[A2andres]

Yeah - I am thinking I should have just done the simpler line it up on a wall and manually turn the adjustments screws and then just let it be BUT here we are.... I'll have to wait until it gets dark again to mess around with it but so far no luck and lots of different threads all over the place trying to fix this issue with OBDeleven with mixed results.

One thing I did try with OBDEleven is that Module 55 -Headlight Adjustment - I had to "manually" add it through the app but when I try and go into it I get an error message saying that the module is not responding - so I dunno --- Headlights and car were both running with the headlights in the ON position and not AUTO.

Anyone in the Austin, TX area with VCDS want to help a brother out?

[SQ5guyinSoCal]

After lowering my SQ5, I went ahead and aimed my headlights using the screws and a guide on my garage wall. It worked out great.

[A2andres]

After lowering my SQ5, I went ahead and aimed my headlights using the screws and a guide on my garage wall. It worked out great.

Yeah - I was overthinking it and wanted to try using the OBDEleven to "do it right" - just created a headache for myself though....

I think I will have to find someone that has an actual VCDS cable in order to clear this error message.. I am also going to go back out tonight and see if I can adjust the headlights again using the standard tape on a wall and adjust the beam that way. Hopefully I can dial it in and it will be "within spec" for the ECU and won't trigger and fault codes...

[A2andres]

Not exactly sure what I did but I was able to adjust the lights and get the OBDEleven to successfully accept the “reprogramming” of the headlight height.

As luck would have I found the perfect flat long stretch of parking lot that face a warehouse wall.

Set it up and just put it in adaptation mode through OBDEleven.

Fine tuned the lights using the aiming guide someone had posted on a previous headlight adjustment thread.

From there it took a few times to both swipe to start the programming and then instead of swiping back to stop - I sort of just tapped all over the screen but what did it was when I did a half swipe of the screen as if I was swinging to a new window and boom.

It went from slide to stop to saying “adapted”

Weird but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.


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[sQ5inSD]

how low are you now - fender to ground? I still have not bothered to re-aim mine, I rarely drive after dark and live in a brightly lit town. I did upgrade the HIDs with deAutoKeys and when I do drive at night I can use the Hi beams

[A2andres]

how low are you now - fender to ground? I still have not bothered to re-aim mine, I rarely drive after dark and live in a brightly lit town. I did upgrade the HIDs with deAutoKeys and when I do drive at night I can use the Hi beams

Front is 30.25” FTG
Rear is 30.50” FTG

I definitely had to re-aim mine. They were pointed low enough that I couldn’t even tell when I turned the fog lights on or off. The headlights were “drowning out” the fogs.

Appreciate your offer for VCDS use in my other thread! But glad I don’t need it.


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[djn876]

When you lower the car the headlights end up being aimed into the dirt most of the time.

Using the manual adjustment works, but if it's too far out, the range that the auto adjustment has is limited and may result in the error code, especially once the car is loaded with any kind of weight or trailer.

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