Crossed headlamps?

Hi guys,

I am about to take my 2003 TDI Jetta Wagon in for it's first oil change and I have a couple of questions before hand if you don't mind. I have decided that after the 16,000km oil change that I will use Mobil Delvac synthetic and do the oil changes myself but the first two times I wouldn't mind them checking the car for abnormal break-in signs etc and I would like to see how they perform the oil changes.

1. Has anyone here been to Crosby VW/Audi in Kitchener, Ontario for Service? If so, would you recommend me going there again, do you know if they will do the EGR mod for me? (I don't have a vag-com yet)

2. My stock headlights seem aimed too low (i always feel i am over driving the lamps at even 90km/hr) and I just noticed in the fog the other night that my highbeams seem to cross and form an X. Is this normal? I don't want to sound like an idiot when i go to the stealership and get them to re-align the headlights (I will be getting e-codes in october when i go to germany but until then I want the best out of my stock lamps)

3. Can anyone from ontario tell me where to go to get the fram quick drain plug mechanism that replaces the oil plug to allow quick oil draining via a valve (and also hopefully reducing the chance of the stealership x-threading the oil plug) If you have a part number or a good description of one that would work good for VW a4 tdi engines that would be great, as well as opinions on these devices (ie is the valve more likely to fail than the oil plug seal, is it worth it? etc.)

Thanks in advance to all those who reply to my message.

Mike

2. My stock headlights seem aimed too low (i always feel i am over driving the lamps at even 90km/hr) and I just noticed in the fog the other night that my highbeams seem to cross and form an X. Is this normal? I don't want to sound like an idiot when i go to the stealership and get them to re-align the headlights (I will be getting e-codes in october when i go to germany but until then I want the best out of my stock lamps)

Click to expand...

Adjusting the headlamps can be done with an allen wrench if it is like the Golf. Be careful when adjusting them, so that the hot spots of the low beams do not go into the windows of other cars.

Crosby VW/Audi in Kitchener (on Weber St, near Fairview Road ) is a top-knotch dealership in regards to their service department. The dealership has been there for decades ( there was an article in the local newspaper recently about the owner starting his business selling Beetles in 1960 - or whenever ) and many of my friends take their VWs there, despite the fact that they bought their car from a different dealership in town.

Go with Crosby, you'll be happy.

Thanks for the reply guys!

What about the headlight issue? It seems as if my left headlight points to the right and the right headlight points towards the left??

This is only noticable in the fog though where i can clearly see the beam pattern: does anyone else notice this?

Mike

Hey Mike. I take it you were driving late at night this past Saturday? (June 6th) It was really really foggy in Hamilton... I live near there. I noticed the EXACT same thing with my headlights. It's as though they criss cross and intersect each other in a grid like pattern very odd. I actually have one individual beam from each headlight that shines way the hell up in the trees like a friggin search beacon. It is odd...

My guess is that since both my car and your car are behaving the same way... they must normally be like that. I personally found the light beams hypnotic--not a good thing when driving in dense fog.

Mine are the same way, but they are not crossed. The light beam just extends across eachother. On my Jetta, a regular cross screw driver can adjust them.
Will

My parents just picked up a Jetta Wagon from Autohaus Orangeville. Headlights were WAAAAAY out of aim, pointing up to the stars and airplanes. Could be an item neglected in the PDI?

Hey Mike. I take it you were driving late at night this past Saturday? (June 6th) It was really really foggy in Hamilton...

Click to expand...

No kidding ! I was driving from Oshawa to Waterloo Saturday evening along the 401 and when I got to Hamilton, the road disappeared ! I haven't seen fog like that since I lived in Nova Scotia.

Are you sure that there is an actual problem with the headlights - perhaps they were designed they way they are performing (something to do with the reflection of the headlamp lense and the lightbulb )? As long as you can see the road fine. It's worth asking a dealer since you'll be there anyway, who cares what they think if it's a silly question - they're professionals.

I only say this because a few people have indicated the same results with their cars (Leads me to believe they are supposed to do that).

Horatio78: You are right! saturday night i was actually on my way home from seeing the 2 fast 2 furious in kitchener and it started to get really foggy as i was heading from guelph to orangeville. I was almost wishing I had my rear fog installed and the e-codes but I dont want to pay tons of money + import duties etc when I can easily to go a dealer when i am in germany/austria and switzerland in October. I also want to get the "real" hella headlamps, hopefully with leveling motors.

will & horatio:

it seems that they almost try to make the beams come to a point at a certain distance ahead of the car, and normally you don't notice this when driving in normal conditions but in the dense fog where the beam can be seen more clearly. I just dont want to get the dealer to do something that isn't important. I do notice that

a) the headlights are aimed too low (especially the low beams) and I am over driving them

b) the high beams (maybe low beams too?) definately cross each other. I was under the impression that the beams were supposed to be parallel to each other, most aiming guides i have found on the internet do not state that the beams should cross.

Now i dont know if the lights are just not bright enough no matter how well they are aimed and I am plannign on getting e-codes but untill then i want to make sure that the stock lamps are correctly set up so i can get the safest ride for now.

Mike

Import duties? you can buy them in Canada. pgperformance.com is in Vancouver, I thought.

Whether they 'cross' is a function of the beam pattern. I know that the Ecode patterns are designed to 'overlap' beyond a certain distance. [So that the _/_/ pattern becomes __/ after 3 or 4 car lengths.]

Okay, you guys kill me. It's funny that we were all freaking out about the same thing last weekend. I seriously thought my headlights were out of whack, but I guess they are normal. I have never seen so many intersecting beams of light from a car...

Yah, that fog was TERRIFYING! I was praying the whole time: "Please God, don't let me smash up my baby..."

I also honked my horn a lot while driving to scare any people and animals off the road... hahahahahah

OKAY.. somebody explain to me... what are "rear" fog lights, where do they go, and what purpose do they serve?

This one is easy!:

Rear fog lights can either be on both sides of the car or just the one side. Many cars in europe have them.

Basically a rear fog light is an extra bulb in the tail assembly (either on drivers side or both sides) that can provide extra illumination in foggy situations. They shouldn't be left on in no fog though as it can be confusing to some people because they look like the brake lights are on, although they are not and when you brake it will be brighter.

hope this makes sense:

if you own a sedan, VW actually puts the socket and everything in the tail light assembly, so all you have to do is put the extra bulb in to enable the rear fog, as well as run a wire up to the front to power it. If you have the euro switch, you would then hook the wire up to the switch. (the switch has 2 fog light settings, front fogs AND front fogs and rear fogs. It is also interesting to see that the euro switch allows you to put just the front fog lights on and the running lights, leaving the main headlights off, the way it is supposed to be done. Many NA cars make the front lights come on when the fogs are turned on which is completely dumb as the purpose is to illuminate under the fog layer (fog will never go right to the ground, but 2-3ft up from it).

if you own a wagon, this mod is harder because they seemed to have changed the locations of the fog/turn signals compared to the sedan tail assemblies and people on this forum have suggested that rear fogs on a wagon might melt the light because of the heat generated in a small light enclosure. This seems not to be the case with sedans though.