Litronic Leveling Question

[thom4782]

After dealing with lots of problems over the past year, I finally broke down and bought a Durametric cable. I tried it out for the first time today. The good news is that almost all the systems were clear of codes. The bad news is one system showed some codes which I didn't expect.

The one exception was the headlight system. I have Litronics which are self leveling. Stupidly, I forgot to write down the stored codes before I tried erasing all of them. Two remained after the erase job. They were Fault 1 and Fault 2. The Porsche diagnostic manual says these are left and right motor circuit faults. It could be an open circuit, a short circuit, a bad motor or a bad control unit. Or it could be any of the senors that tell the lights to go up or down. Who knows.

Using the Durametric, I tried to activate the lamps into the low, middle and high positions. The driver side light moved up and down, but the passenger side light didn't move at all. I assume this is a real problem and not just the way the Durametric activates the headlights.

So I'm looking for some advice as to what to do next. These headlight system parts are really expensive and I'd like to avoid the plug and hope the problem fixes itself approach.

Does anybody have any suggestions for next steps. For example, does a particular fuse or relay control the leveling system? If so, I can't identify it. Fuses and relays would be really easy to check. If not or if they are OK, what would you suggest I try next. Could it be something as simple as re-seating the headlight units.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[thom4782]

After doing a little more web searching, I'm not sure if my Litronics are self leveling or merely have the tilt up feature. In the past, I would notice the low beams tilting up when I first turned them on. They don't do that anymore. As to self leveling, I'm not sure my car has that if it was an option at the time of sale.

The problem is still there. The lights no longer tilt and I don't know why at this point.

[Johnny Danger]

Only the factory equipped Litronics are self-leveling. The retro-fit Litronic kits that Porsche offers contains a "black box" device that slightly rotates the low beam upward when the highs are activated .

[thom4782]

Thanks JD

Problem solved.

I decided to see if the factory Litronics were seated properly and inspect the hardware. I opened the passenger side and noticed only one socket had wires plugged in...the one that snaps into place on the mounting bracket. I didn't give it much thought because the lights seemed to light up, put the unit back in and tried the lights - no change.

For kicks, I took out the driver side assembly and low and behold there was a second cable attached to the unit. So I went back to the passenger side and started feeling around for the missing cable.

Sure enough, it had fallen down behind the assembly. I reattached it, tested the lights and the they tilted. I got out the Durametric, cleared the codes, they stayed cleared, and I was able to activate the three tilt positions. Yippee...

I must have forgotten to reattach the second cable long ago when I changed a bulb and never noticed the difference.

Don't I feel the fool..

[thom4782]

Well, upon further review, problem almost solved.

I have factory Litronics so they are self-leveling as JD pointed out. After I plugged in the passenger side cable, the leveling feature started working once again. With my Durametric, I am able to tilt the lights in all three positions - high, middle, or low.

I assume the default position, that is when the car is stationary on level ground in the garage, is the middle one. My car's default position tilts the lights to high. The front and rear sensor assemblies seem OK, meaning no obvious damage or breakage.

Am I correct that the default position is middle? If so, is this a problem that I need to take to the dealer to have the self leveling function re-programmed? If there is a way to reprogram it using the Durametric, I haven't figured out how to do that.

Thanks

[thom4782]

Problem solved and who would have guessed what the solution was...

I moved two years ago and tried an independent shop closer to where I live now. Apparently, the local shop disconnected the rear level sensor and re-installed it so the sensor lever was 180 degrees off from its car level position. In essence, they put it in backwards so the car always thought it was in a nose down position. This tilted the low beams up to their highest angle.

I found this out this morning when I took the car back to the old shop and they put it up on the lift. After re-positioning the sensor lever, the litronics are working properly once again. Needless to say, I won't be using the local guys again.

[ohhh my]

Where is this sensor located?

[Timco]

Originally Posted by ohhh my

Where is this sensor located?

One on each lower control arm, driver's side.

Poor man's test. Car off. Turn on headlights. Turn key to right but don't start. Lights should light up, raise, lower.

[ekam]

I was also having issues with my factory litronics as my driver's side low-beam would turn on normally when you start the car but always turns itself off after moving the car 10 feet. Auto-leveling had also stopped working - it no longer does the headlight dip when you start the car.

They found a defective driver's side bulb and headlight relay and all seems to be good now.