Jump to content
Do Not Sell My Personal Information


Mk3 Titanium X Owners - Potential Xenon Headlight Issue


tomo2001
 Share

Recommended Posts

For those who have the Titanium X with the xenon headlights you may or may not be aware of this issue already.

First off my cornering lights stopped working and then strangely started working again. Then last week I got a 'Headlight Malfunction service Now' message come up on the dash and the Xenon's are now pointing down in their lowest position (to avoid dazzling apparently).

Car went into dealers and it is a fault that Ford already know about. It requires replacement wiring looms/connectors and headlight bulbs. The service manager told me that the fault occurs when the wiring overheats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Well, that's a coincidence! I took my car (Titanium-X) out yesterday and the 'Headlight Malfunction service Now' message popped up then disappeared, a sequence that was repeated several times; I didn't notice any malfunction of the cornering lights as my journey was in daylight.

If Ford are aware of this, are they either issuing a recall notice or rectifying the fault when the car is next 'presented' at the garage?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Probably won't issue a recall as it isn't a safety issue (unless car catches fire) :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know i'll keep my eye's open , Cars in for a service friday so i'll ask them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, Ford won't issue a recall for a few reported occurances and this is the first I've heard of it on this forum and on Talkford. However thanks for the headsup...

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Great stuff Preee!

I'd be very interested to know what occurs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd be interested to know if this only affects certain model years.

I have a 2012.75 on the way from Ford Direct, so will mention it to the dealer to check before I take delivery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've purchased mine in Oct 2012, and haven't seen any problems (touch wood) thus far! Appreciate the heads up too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine is a July 2011 build for information.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lol my dealer would probable try and kill me if I bring this up after the amount of time I argued about the excessive condensation I had in one headlamp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been and booked car in for Friday. Seen Technical Bulletin and it does involve replacing the headlight bulbs and headlight connectors / wiring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Car back from dealers with fully functioning headlights once more :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I asked today as my car had it's service .

My dealer are aware of a problem , but claim as of yet have not had any TitX in for the changes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been and booked car in for Friday. Seen Technical Bulletin and it does involve replacing the headlight bulbs and headlight connectors / wiring.

Hi, did you catch the TSB reference number by any chance?

I asked today as my car had it's service .

My dealer are aware of a problem , but claim as of yet have not had any TitX in for the changes.

Interesting seeing as this is the only model that had xenon's from the start..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting seeing as this is the only model that had xenon's from the start..

Yes , does not look like they are going for a recall , unless the problem gets alot worse , i can't understand why they need to change the bulb though if they think its a wiring fault , could it be the bulbs are the true fault causing the wire problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Yes , does not look like they are going for a recall , unless the problem gets alot worse , i can't understand why they need to change the bulb though if they think its a wiring fault , could it be the bulbs are the true fault causing the wire problems.

bulbs run too hot / draw too much current which damages the wiring perhaps ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, if that was the case we'd all have the issue. It is interesting though that the fault comes up when we've just been through our shortest day...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, if that was the case we'd all have the issue. It is interesting though that the fault comes up when we've just been through our shortest day...

Perhaps it has shown up on mine before yours Chris because I'm now on 40,000 miles. Do I use my car more than yours so the headlights have seen more use ??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I don't think that the current draw would increase with age, the resistance and the breakdown of the insulation over time perhaps. Has anyone else done a similar mileage and experienced the problem with the xenons. I think there are those who've done more but it would still, maybe, depend upon the usage of the lights.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lights still not 100%. DRL's now seem to flicker quite noticeably when car first started. Just wondered if this was down to the cold weather with the front and rear screens on and the heater on full demist.

Anyone else's do this or it is a trip back to the dealers ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of power's being drawn with window demisters on and air running.

If the lights are flickering with the screens etc off then I'd be concerned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My March 2012 reg, 11,000 miles Tit X 'misbehaved' with an erronious warning about a failed headlight bulb on only one occasion since when all has been well. It has to be said that the warning coincided with a (correct) message saying that the tailgate was open and I'm wondering if this has something to do with the peculiarities of the CAN-BUS system.

Whilst reading up on the CREE 5w LED lamps, I found this interesting article which readers might find useful:

"To put this into perspective,what is CAN-BUS?
explains it in fancy technical terms.Or in the case of any mark 4 Golf or Bora,it's a digital data network that lets the central locking/electric window module in each door,the CCM (Central Convenience Module),the instrument cluster and on later cars the ECU talk to each other,it's actually kinda like having a small version of the internet in your car.

This is a network that in our case has nothing to do with the car's lighting system,in fact in all cases no light bulbs are directly connected to the CAN and never would be and therefore can't cause errors with it.This is the same as selling household light bulbs and claiming them to be "Internet error free",something which anyone should know can never happen.

This seems to have started with a bad case of Chinese whispers and got a bit lost in the translation from Chinese (they were first made in China).This is significant because some people are starting to blame problems with their cars because they DON'T have CAN-BUS error free bulbs fitted,and think that if they spend money on these little bits of magic,it will cure all their problems

The reason we need the built in resistors in interior light bulbs in our case is because the CCM that controls them needs to see the much lower resistance of a filament light bulb (a couple of Ohms),but doesn't like the almost infinitely high resistance of an LED.This is a problem because the CCM isn't really sure if there's a bulb there or not,so sometimes won't switch it off fully (it will stay dimly lit) and it won't put the +ve supply to it to sleep as it does with the proper bulbs,hence flattening the car battery if left for any length of time.

So yes we do need LED Bulbs with the built in resistors for our interior lights to work as they should with the full fade in/fade out action,but this can never have anything to do with our CAN-BUS system and shouldn't be bought as such.The only time I have ever seen car lights cause this sort of error is cheap Chinese HIDs (yes I know!!!!!!).I've also seen them completely kill ALL radio reception in the car,bring up the airbag and ABS warning lights and stop the speedo from working,another reason to throw crap like this in the bin.
"
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well that post wasn't particularly helpful as the DRL's on the Titanium X are factory fitted not cheap Chinese imitations. The rest of the bulbs are all the factory originals too !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lights still not 100%. DRL's now seem to flicker quite noticeably when car first started. Just wondered if this was down to the cold weather with the front and rear screens on and the heater on full demist.

Anyone else's do this or it is a trip back to the dealers ?

Sorry to show my ignorence but what are DRL's ?

Regards

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lights still not 100%. DRL's now seem to flicker quite noticeably when car first started. Just wondered if this was down to the cold weather with the front and rear screens on and the heater on full demist.

Anyone else's do this or it is a trip back to the dealers ?

Hi, mine and a few other owners have this but only when the drl's are switched on as sidelights. In fact with mine I watched them first flicker on the passengers side then, after a while, the flickers seemed to move over to the drivers side. As of yet there hasn't been a fix from Ford for this however as I do not use sidelights I'm not particulary bothered about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share




×
×
  • Create New...

Forums


News


Membership