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After only three weeks of ownership I had to say goodbye to Monty (my Audi S5 Sportback).

On the morning commute into work a yellow headlight warning light flagged up in the Driver Instrument System (DIS) screen. The DIS also showed the following warning text:

"Headlight Range Control Defective!"

I didn't catch an image of the display showing the warning message as it only shows for a few seconds, but here's how the Headlight Range Control Defective warning light looks.

Audi S5 B8 Headlight Range Control Defective Warning Light Message

And here's a mock up of how the warning message appears.

Audi VAG Headlight Range Control Defective message yellow warning light 00471

How to Call Up Audi Fault Messages In The Instrument Cluster (DIS)


Turns out, having done some research into what the warning lights meant, I found this quote in the owner's manual;
"A red or yellow symbol appearing in the instrument cluster display is normally accompanied by a corresponding message. The message will disappear from the display after about 5 seconds. If required, you can call up the message again by briefly pressing the SET button".





Headlight Range Control Defective! Warning Symptoms


As this happened in March, it was still very much dark during my commute. Unfortunately, this meant for the most part I couldn't see where I was going. By default, when the Headlight Range Control Defective warning appears, the lamps move to the lowest position (or at least they did on my car), i.e. pointing at the floor about 10m in front of the car. I presume to avoid startling on coming traffic.


Not Again...


After the pain of replacing the turbos on my N54 engine'd BMW E92 335i in the first week of ownership, at a personal cost of just under £3k, it made me swear I'd never buy private again. Fortunately, that lesson had paid off, I called Andy Page (the dealer I bought the car from) and arranged that I would take the car to M G S Motors in Corby (this is where he sends all his cars for repair), to be fixed under warranty.


Headlight Range Control Defective! Audi / VAG Fault Codes


Being the curious type, and wanting to give Mick (the owner of M G S Motors) a fighting chance of diagnosing the issue quickly, I borrowed my mates Carista Bluetooth OBD2 adapter and app* (version 3.5) to run off the fault codes, if there were any.

Here's the data that the Carista app spat out:
Headlight aiming
Part #: 8K0907357D
Coding: 3 (decimal)
Component: Dynamische LWR
Fault codes:
00471 Controller for EGD electronically regulated absorption (J250)
Suspension
Part #: 8R0907364B
Coding: 050181 (hex)
Component: DAEMPFUNGS-SG
Fault codes:
00774 Level Control System Sensor - Left Rear (G76)
03262 Comfort Limitation





Headlight Range Control Sensors


There are a number of level control system sensors on the car, one on each of the suspension arms. According to Carista, my problem was with the Left Rear.

Which part numbers you need will depend on the model year of your car and the suspension system you've got fitted (air suspension vs electronically controlled for example).

To find the right part number put your car's details into realoem.

For my 2010 B8 S5 Sportback with the optional electronic Damper Control, the part numbers for the Rear Left Headlight Range Control Sensor is 8K0941309D.

The sensors can cost anywhere between £80-120.


Fixed


I dropped the car off and left the keys with Mick. After a day's diagnosis, he'd confirmed it was the level control sensor that was at fault. Frustratingly, Audi sent him the wrong replacement part, which pushed out the repair another day.

One, agonisingly long, week later I was able to pick the car up. I started it up and confirmed the error had gone and, after a short test drive of a few miles (the warning light was appearing within 1 mile before), I was convinced the problem had been solved and went off on my way home.

On the one hand I was glad the problem was resolved, but equally disappointed the problem had arisen in the first place.

Let me know in the comments below if you've had this problem and had to deal with it yourself, any pointers you could give others?

Have you been as unlucky as I have with your cars, have they had faults within the first few weeks of ownership?

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