Headlights malfunction

[Peter Knowlson]

Mondeo mk4 Titanium X 08, shows headlights malfunction. Apparently it was fitted 6 yrs ago with ordinary bulbs, as the originals were £400 a piece. Can anyone tell me what the original fitment was, or can the error message be deleted. All bulbs and fuses work and no error codes show up on fault code reader.

[Cobraone3]

Hi, I would suggest that you have 'adaptive lighting', which means that the headlights move in the direction of your steering wheel. The 'malfunction' notification comes on when it is not working properly. There is nothing wrong with your bulbs or fuses. It does though matter what your lights do. When the notification comes on your lights will move about (side to side) and the beam will even cross over, then it will stop. Where it stops is what is important is that you can still see well enough to drive. If so you can ignore it and use the issue as a project to sort it out using plenty of research if you find the time. DO NOT take it to the stealers, they will empty your pockets over this, because they do not know what causes it, or how to fix it.

When you do find the issue and the fix, please let me know, as mine has been doing it since I bought it two years ago. Mine is an '07 1.8tdci tit x and luckily when the malfunction note appears with a ping, the lights settle back fairly centrally, so no issues driving. I do look into the issue occasionally, but nothing definite yet. The only mildly annoying thing is the yellow dot at the front of the car icon on the dash (convers+). Good luck. 

[EvoUK]

I have the same issue on mine but they reset themselves and the warning and yellow dot go away. Some say its to do with the swivel motors inside the headlamp that causes the problem. Just check the internal wiring isn't loose as some of mine weren't clipped into the lugs on the side of the housing. I think there was a software upgrade from Ford.

[Frembrit]

Sounds like the OP has the error because the whole light units were replaced with normal (non-adaptive) headlights. Can't imagine the bulbs were £400 each as they are halogen.

As mentioned above, the original units would have been the adaptive type headlights that swivel left/right when you turn the steering wheel. Assuming working replacements are fitted then the error should go away. I don't know if it's possible to remove the error if you keep the standard headlight units though, maybe ELM Config can do it.

[Mark M]

It's more likely the originals were Xenon/HID's as a replacement HID bulb from Ford would be an extortionate amount, adaptive headlights just use regular halogen bulbs.