Hello,

I’ve had in the last fortnight, an error pop up on the display: Headlight Malfunction. Helpfully, nothing is pointing out what it is. I have a 2014 S-Max Titanium X Sport, 2.0 TDi, headlights are Bi-Xenon’s. 
 

It comes up as soon as the ignition is started, whether the headlights are on or not. I have noticed that when you turn the headlights on, they start a bluey kind of colour and gradually  come whiter. However, watching the passenger headlight, it goes the bluey/white colour, and slowly become more white: so no blue tint. At rhe risk of sounding like an idiot, I’m presuming the headlight should be white with a blue kind of tint?

Initially, I changed a bulb as both headlights looked different, but when the error came up straight away, I swapped it to the other headlight: same error, and the bulb behaved the same way in each headlight (bluey white in one, then just white in the other). Figured it must be the ballast in the underside of the headlight. 
 
So, bought and fitted a new ballast unit. Same error message: so fitted to the opposite side. Same again. And in both instances, the headlight colours did the same (bluey white on drivers side, just white on passenger side). 
 

Im at a bit of a loss now as to what to look at next. I’m nearly £100 in and do t want to keep buying parts in the hope I’ll find the issue. I don’t have access to a scanner, but wondered if there was anything else I could look at, or have over looked. 
 

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Do the headlights do the up and down sweep when you first turn them on? If not then it could be one of the level sensors mounted on the near side front and rear suspension.

Ideally you need to read the codes. If you have a laptop then all you need is to download Forscan software HERE and buy a lead, they recommend one of THESE (I bought one of these as my old one began not working so well with the newer versions of Forscan)

Thanks for the reply: I can’t tell to be honest. I don’t have one of those cables, but, would a leveller make the light go a different colour. 
 

It’s interesting you say about the rear suspension: we had a bearing replaced on that rear about 3 weeks ago-could the work have disturbed anything there? 

The light sweep up and down is very noticeable, even without facing a wall or fence. When you turn the headlights on they point up and sweep down and then back up to a level determined by the level sensors. This is my Mondeo doing the sweep Link here

Wheel bearing change shouldn't cause any disturbance to the sensor, but then it depend how competent the mechanic was. 

Thanks for your help so far. 
I’ve just been outside to check the headlamps to see if it performed the sweep-it doesn’t. I don’t tend to have the car unless it’s the weekend and it needs a clean, so not noticed it wasn’t doing that!
I’ve checked the fuse under the bonnet and it’s fine, so it’s not the fuse. 
So, it looks like it’s an issue with the levelling system. Is there a relay I should/could check before I start looking at replacing more parts? And, would it cause the light to be a different colour?

Edited December 8, 20232 yr by Danorak
Additional info.

To add to this: it wasn’t the wheel bearing that was replaced, it was the passenger rear trailing arm bush-and after stumbling across a thread by another member, he posted pictures of the headlight levelling sensor in his rear wheel arch. 
I’m wondering now if this may be the culprit, as it happened 2 days after that work was carried out. But, if this is the case, I still don’t understand why my bulbs are different colours to each other. 

I would suggest taking the wheel off and having a look at the sensor. If it was moved/removed, they may have the little arms angled the wrong way.

Don't know if there's a relay and no idea why the bulbs would output a different colour.

I’ll get underneath the car at some point over the weekend: there is, in the near side rear wheel arch, some wiring that is connected to the levelling sensor (not sure if it completes a loop and feed the offside too), but it is visible, and after a little more digging, can be prone to corrosion and perished rubber. The thread I read was posted when his was in warranty, the car was only a year or so old-apparently it is a common failing on the S-Max: but strangely, that’s the only thread I’ve found with it mentioned. But, it does run right by the trailing arm. I don’t have a jack or brace, but I can get under to see it if I reverse the car up on to some bricks, so that’s where I’ll start. 

So, I’ve still not had the time today to get underneath it-but I’ve realised it was the drivers side trailing arm that was replaced, not passenger side. So, maybe they did disturb something or a cable has perished because, when my partner got in the car this evening, the headlights visibly adjusted-they didn’t go up and then down, they started down and then went up. We restarted the car a couple of times and it did it each time, but then when I went to film it, it didn’t do it (typical). However, even when the lights did adjust, the error still popped up. And the beams are still a different colour. 🤦🏻‍♂️