Newbie question re RCZ self levelling headlight

[CraigR]

Apologies if this has been done to death but please forgive a newbie.
I bought a damaged 2016 RCZ and purchased second hand xenon headlights ( as was fitted in factory). Both headlights illuminate perfectly, but The issue I have is the driver’a side does the up down left right self-rest when starting but the passenger side only does up down.
Internet searching suggests ballast or levelling motor. I have the 2 original smashed headlights and ballasts are intact so can try that, but does anyone one here have any experience of changing the levelling motors or any other possible diagnosis for the headlight only partially doing self-test. No obvious signs of damage to the light otherwise.
Cheers in anticipation.

[RichardW]

Welcome along.

Did the lights come as a pair off a car? I've got a 2013 3008 with these lamps, and it only does up/down at switch on - but the directional function works OK. So it may be that a L/R check is not made. it won't be the ballast, that is just to do with providing the high voltage for the bulb. If the directional function works fine, I would just ignore it! There are no spares from Pug, but if something is not working it may be possible to swap the motors from the broken units.

[CraigR]

Hi RichardW
Many thanks for responding and apologies for the tardy response as just come across it.
The headlights did come as a pair off a 308.
I tried the damaged one(just a cracked lense) in the passenger side and it does the same- just up/down and not directional whereas the driver side does both. I’m wondering if the issue lays elsewhere. The car is going in for its roadworthy check tomorrow and fingers crossed it gets on ok. The legal requirement is just for levelling and not directional but it does throw a warning light on the dash which goes out after around 10 secs. There’s also a warning message on the pop up screen which also disappears but I’m going to leave that closed when being tested and hope the testing Stn don’t open it.

[GiveMeABreak]

This is what they call the back up mode. If there is a fault with the system it goes into this mode which disables the directional functionality, but retains the vertical levelling.

It needs a diagnostic which will provide the fault code. This can be caused by one or more body height sensors being faulty / corroded. When the headlight levelling ECU doesn't get viable data from the height sensor (s) it will throw the system into back up mode.

[CraigR]

Thanks for the info. In your experience would one of the lights still do the direction check if it was in standby mode?
I’m trying to locate someone with the proper equipment in Perth to get a download.
The rear height sensor had moved and I’ve repositioned it back to where it ought to be and it doesn’t appear damaged. I’ve read it often resets itself but sometimes needs reset via a download

[CraigR]

Definitely not corroded as we don’t suffer that issue here. I’ve got a 1998 Rav 4 which looks like it just came out of the factory underneath and the RCZ is the same.

[GiveMeABreak]

There are no 'downloads' to the height sensors. These are simple analogue potentiometers with 2 tracks inside with 3 connections (live, earth and signal), that just send data back to the headlamp ECU, so not sure where you are getting that info from.

The self-checks are done each time the headlamps are activated and any fault should put the system into back up mode as a safety precaution. A fault with the directional headlamps will usually result in:

• Flashing of the dipped beam indicator
• Appearance of a message on the multifunction screen

Programming of the front and rear height sensors is required using Diagbox with the directional headlamp ECU if the ECU has been changed, the height sensors have been moved or replaced or any work on the suspension that may result in a change of the vehicle height.

The directional headlamp ECU has the following functions:

• To calculate the angle of the vehicle
• To interpret the vehicle speed, angle and direction of rotation of the steering wheel information
• To control the right-hand and left-hand headlamp height correction motors
• To control the right and left-hand headlamp horizontal angle correction motors

Ideally, fault codes will be helpful to get some pointers, along with the VIN Please post your VIN in full without spaces - it will be automatically masked from public view after submitting your post & will only be visible to staff.