Xenon Headlight Settings For Driving In Europe - Mk2.5

[jbeer]

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any damage or injury caused as a direct or indirect result of someone following all, or part, of this guide. If you are ever unsure about anything you will be doing during the guide, then you are advised to seek further advice or have a professional mechanic to carry it out for you instead.


Hi All,

Well I will be completing a driving holiday around Europe this summer and in my preparations for the trip one of the must haves is the use of stick-on headlight deflectors to stop dazzle to our European friends.

Well I did not want to use the stickers on the headlights and had heard that Xenon headlights had a lever that when switched would bring an internal shutter into play that stops the dazzle of the headlight beam thus avoiding the need to use the stickers. Well after much searching and finding very little about the MK2.5s I thought I would write this guide of how to do it and it is very simple.


How To Guide:


1) Make sure the ignition is turned off, now turn the headlights on and off and on and off this discharges any remaining electricity and therefore avoids electric shocks.

2) Firstly unscrew the nut holding the headlight in place.



3) Use a long screwdriver to release the 2 tabs that hold the headlight in place be very careful with these as they can easily break.



4) Disconnect the wiring loom and remove the headlight. It possible to do this without fully removing the headlight unit but for a first time it is easier to remove the entire unit.



5) Now remove the dust cover for the Xenon bulb.

6) You will see a metal hoop/clip, move this to the right which in turn moves the shutter lever on the right downwards thus raising the shutter.



Here are some quick pictures of how the beam looks normally and after the change for Left Hand Drive driving

Right Hand Drive



Left Hand Drive




I hope this helps anyone planning on driving around Europe.

I've also posted this up in the Guides Section.

Jason

[JW1982]

Note that this is for temporary use only. This is not a permanent solution. The RHD and LHD HID headlights are different.

I have seen before that people in europe bought RHD HID headlights in the UK and thought they could be switched to LHD headlights by moving the lever. This is not the case. The lever only prevents the headlights from blinding other traffic. The headlights remain RHD headlights and will fail the annual safety inspection.

[jbeer]

Correct mate, only a temp solution and not for permanent LHD use.