S211 face-lift xenon headlight level out of sync?

[Willber]

Morning

I have a 2009 S211 with Xenon headlights (normal ones not the bendy ones with cornering action)

When I start the car often the left headlight goes straight up and doesn't come back down. The right one turns on and does the down-up level sequence correctly.

If I turn the car off and back on, most of the time the left hand headlight will go right back down and then level up correctly.

There doesn't seem to be a pattern as to why it sometimes does it and why it doesn't. On occasions it can go several start ups without going out of sync, but last night I tried restarting the car and it wouldn't go down. I moved it off the drive and then pulled up, turned car off and back on and it worked OK. Doing this would have moved the front or rear sensor at the back.

Has anyone got any ideas? Headlight motor? Level sensor? Calibration? Low battery??

The level sensor rods/linkages are all intact and not seized.

Ive read of other owners having similar issues but no fixes known that I can see.

The car has two non genuine ballasts on it if that makes a difference?

Anyone else had this issue?

Thanks!

 

[Blobcat]

I’d be looking in the headlight to see if the mechanism is moving freel and lubricate accordingly

 

[Willber]

Do you know how to access it? Does it require removal from the car?

It feels like it does work as it moves up instead of down, but I also read something about a fix for the motor with some M4 washers, but I think thats on the pre face-lift motor which is accessible

 

[Wighty]

There might be a fault code logged that will help ?

 

[Blobcat]

Do you know how to access it? Does it require removal from the car?

It feels like it does work as it moves up instead of down, but I also read something about a fix for the motor with some M4 washers, but I think thats on the pre face-lift motor which is accessible

I don’t, they’re normally jammed in pretty tightly - open the bonnet and take a look if you can access the back of the headlight would be my first step.
I’d also look up parts diagrams to see how it all goes together

 

[Willber]

Ive looked at pictures online and think theyre buried in the headlight rather than being accessible from the outside. I'll scan the car and see if its says anything

 

[Willber]

Thought I'd update this after reading a post on an American forum about it occurring when the battery is low.

I changed the original 14yr old battery for a new one and its fixed the issue and also is much less lazy to turn over and start up. The electric rear load cover is much faster too, so the old battery was definitely tired!