Changing Headlight Units

[tsmithy]

Hello

I'm having a bit of a mare this morning, had my MOT this morning and was told that my headlights are continental and can't be used in this country. It appears that my car could be a RHD Euro import (Jersey maybe?).

Anyway, my car has the convienience pack and has the Xenon headlights on it (pic). I have been quoted £273.57 each from the dealers for UK lights. Has anyone else had this problem?

What I want to know is can I do a straight swap to some NON Xenon UK lights from the scrap yard, are they the same connector?

My local scrappy has Ibiza's with both the single and double so I'm hoping one of these will fit instead. Alternatively, could I get through an MOT with some black tape on the lenses like when you go abroad.

Any help would be great,

Tom.

 

[zach225]

i would go with the tape option mate, if this were true surely you would get flashed all the time??

i would take it for a second opinion.

to replace your headlights you would need new wiring harnesses and new units and bulbs etc, no cheap mate, just stick a bit of tape on them

 

[tsmithy]

Thanks for the quick reply,

To be fair on the testers I have noticed that the light does shine over to the right so I probably have been pissing some drivers off.

I'm going to give the tape ago on Monday but worried about cost (and transport) if that doesn't work.

I've sourced some uk lights for £45 each just in case, any idea what wiring harness I would need?

Tom

 

[zach225]

sorry mate no idea,

as another possible option can you not adjust them horizontally over the other side more?

 

[tsmithy]

Been though the hand-book and there's no mention of adjustment on them, seems silly considerign the price of the unit.

There's just a section on where to stick your tape!

 

[zach225]

on a standard unit there are two separate places where you can adjust them laterally and horizontally, i guess this isnt an option for the xenons, which in themselves are rare as fook

 

[tsmithy]

on a standard unit there are two separate places where you can adjust them laterally and horizontally, i guess this isnt an option for the xenons, which in themselves are rare as fook

I've just had a look and the adjuster screws are there.

Maybe the MOT tester didn't do his homework, does anyone know if there are actually euro/uk specific lights for an ibiza. I'm hoping now that the unit is the same part.

Anyways gonna try and get it booked to have the lights re-aligned tomorrow, hopefully that'll sort it.

 

[Neo]

I've just had a look and the adjuster screws are there.

Maybe the MOT tester didn't do his homework, does anyone know if there are actually euro/uk specific lights for an ibiza. I'm hoping now that the unit is the same part.

Anyways gonna try and get it booked to have the lights re-aligned tomorrow, hopefully that'll sort it.

Proper UK spec xenons have a straight line at the top of the beam which kicks up at 45 degrees at the left edge - to illuminate the N/S kerb. If your 45 degree kick up is on the right then you indeed have LHD lights.

No amount of adjustment will convert them to RHD, some xenons have a switch inside to convert them for driving abroad... but not on the Ibiza!
If they are LHD they will always have the "kick up" on the right sides of the beam. you could crank them way over to the left but the main beam would be useless! Or you could lower them so they don`t dazzle on-coming cars but you would`nt be able to see where you are going... and in either case it would`nt pass the mot.

You don`t need to change any wiring to convert to halogen headlights, I have xenons as an upgrade and they connected straight in. I would say get the twin reflector headlights though as they are better than the singles. With these you will need some H3 bulbs for the main beam, all the others are interchangeable... well, apart from the D1S of course!

 

[tsmithy]

Proper UK spec xenons have a straight line at the top of the beam which kicks up at 45 degrees at the left edge - to illuminate the N/S kerb. If your 45 degree kick up is on the right then you indeed have LHD lights.

No amount of adjustment will convert them to RHD, some xenons have a switch inside to convert them for driving abroad... but not on the Ibiza!
If they are LHD they will always have the "kick up" on the right sides of the beam. you could crank them way over to the left but the main beam would be useless! Or you could lower them so they don`t dazzle on-coming cars but you would`nt be able to see where you are going... and in either case it would`nt pass the mot.

You don`t need to change any wiring to convert to halogen headlights, I have xenons as an upgrade and they connected straight in. I would say get the twin reflector headlights though as they are better than the singles. With these you will need some H3 bulbs for the main beam, all the others are interchangeable... well, apart from the D1S of course!

Thanks Neo,

bugger, that's bad news as my kick up is on the wrong side.

I will put some tape on for the re-test and see what happens and then look into buying some UK lights . It's very annoying that there is not just a switch.

Just to confirm, should some lights like this link go straight in without any messing around. Is it an easy job?

Thanks, Tom

 

[Neo]

Thanks Neo,

Just to confirm, should some lights like this link go straight in without any messing around. Is it an easy job?

Thanks, Tom

Yes, that`s the twin reflector light.
To change them the bumper needs to come off, which is 4 screws underneath, 4 in each wheel arch, 4 at the top above the grill and one in each foglight section. Plus the two foglight grills, the fogs themselves and the air temp sensor.
Then you can remove the lights which have 4 screws each and a very annoying plug that`s a pain to unclip without mashing it.. patience is the key with these.

They will also need aligning but that`s not too tricky, either take it to a garage or do it yourself, there`s a guide here: clicky

Oh, and prepare for a serious drop in lighting performance, even when aligned properly halogens are pants when you`ve had xenons!

 

[Guinness]

Changing the headlights might be easy, but is the wiring different for the Xeons to the halogens? Presumably it has some self leveling kit in there to comply with EU leg.

 

[mexicorich]

Put the twin units in from the scrappy and sell me your Xenons pleaase
PM me if you decide you want to

 

[mexicorich]

Go on you know you want to.....
Go on, go on, go on.
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on

 

[Neo]

Changing the headlights might be easy, but is the wiring different for the Xeons to the halogens? Presumably it has some self leveling kit in there to comply with EU leg.

I thought about the self-leveling, but my research suggests that this is only linked to the electric adjustment in a similar way to the adjuster on the dash... it`s simply done automatically, but you can still do it manually too.

 

[Neo]

Put the twin units in from the scrappy and sell me your Xenons pleaase
PM me if you decide you want to

You know they are no good in this country right?

 

[mexicorich]

You know they are no good in this country right?

Yes..
But its a reply from tsmithy that I need..

 

[mick-fr]

Yes..
But its a reply from tsmithy that I need..

So your planning on using them on the continent or elsewhere?

 

[tsmithy]

Hello again,

Halogen lights now ordered from the scrap yard, so I'm going to have to down-grade.

Its been a bit of a goose chase but after speaking to Seat (who wanted to charge me £60 an hour for an investigative fee plus £800 to supply and fit new Xenons). We worked out that the car was originally supplied with UK Xenons but at some point they have been swapped over due to a previous owner living abroad and they were never swapped back.

The cheapest I could get the Xenons for is £270 each as they only supply the units as a hole, (they don't supply the units without bulbs etc).

On the Vosa site the past 2 MOT's have the lights as an advisory saying they used light tape to correct it. We tried this at two MOT stations but there was no way of correcting it with tape as the Xenons are way to bright and focused on the wrong side. Seems like some test centres have been a little lenient.

Will let people know if the Halogens work, if so then I may be selling the Xenons to any left-hookers or splitting for bits.

Tom