Km1.8t

Looks good. Thanks again.

Km1.8t

Touareg, Sent you a PM, let me know and thanks again.

bigbuzuki

It could possibly be that the original problem on the left light has broken the right control unit when the swap was done since both now are doing the flicker. Or the housing connector on the right has got connectivity issues since the disturbance.

Km1.8t

Another Update: A friend of mine has an extra battery so I decided to swap mine out just to see what would happen. Over the last two days the problem has not reoccurred. I took my battery to an Autozone to have it checked and they state that it is a "good battery". I am going to keep the friends battery in for a while to see what happens. Maybe there is a weak cell causing the issue. Not convinced but hopeful.

Sorry for dragging out this post but is always nice to see people post a solution to a problem rather then never hearing the outcome. Thanks

Km1.8t

Another quick update for anyone who may experience this problem. Ever since I changed the battery it has not happened again and it has now been two weeks. Seems like a strange way for a bad battery to manifest itself.

Now onto the coolant pipes, just ordered them from Sunset and will replace them before I have a problem.

TommyH

Thank you so much!!!
this mod fixed all my problems with the sync of the lowbeam lights, super easy and quick fix!

mjg928

From experience, best practice for addressing electricals, especially headlight and all wheel drive warnings is to do a good overnight trickle-charge to ensure a FULL battery. Noticed how PICKY the shop manuals are these days about technicians putting a trickle charger on when they do any work that causes a draw with the vehicle off. We Pepper owners are not alone: Tech at the dealer left key in position 1 on my wife's 04 BMW 530i for 2 hrs waiting for the detail guy after a routine service (event recorded by the on-board computer, by the way)...killed a cell in a year old battery. Expensive mistake for them, but shows how sensitive these cars are. In my '04 CS, I left my lights on for 20 min (yes, my warning chime also bit the dust), followed by a 24 hr drive from the great white north, through the recent blizzard, back to Florida after the holidays (I may post my adventure some day but the Cayenne was AMAZING). Started getting wacky, odd, warnings but drove great! When I got back, hooked up my charger at a slow 2amp rate, took hours to reach full charge. Again, 20 min headlight draw followed by 24 straight hours driving, and the alternator apparently couldn't catch up. Think I read another post about how the output/capacity of the stock alternators may be lacking. A week later, no gremlins, no problems, no issues. For those saying, hey...big temperature changes along the trip, maybe the contacts: it was 28 deg when I left NY and it was 28 deg when I reached Jacksonville. Bottom line: Keep these cars fully charged and topped-up...and if you have any quirky warnings, don't spend your money. Do a SLOW overnight top-up charge on the battery; if the problem persists, do a battery check/swap. That should usually do it, but if not, you may have an actual hardware problem that needs a Tech's attention. If battery is not absolutely at 100%, or is long-in-the-the-tooth, replace it and enjoy some peace of mind.

mjg928

Found two things about the short headlight pigtail in my '04 CS with Xenons: 1) the insulation around the wires was completely failing and flaking off, exposing bare wires. 2) pigtails can be easily disconnected and replaced. Don't need to remove the airbox to slide the connector out of the tray. Remove one airbox bolt that's mounted on a rubber grommet near the front corner of the engine bay (same for left or right side), just behind the wire leading to the air mass sensor. Once removed, creates enough play to reach into the open headlight cavity and nudge aside the airbox and slide the pigtail connector sideways out of its horseshoe slot, and around the back of the tray. Gently pull it forward to fully expose the connector with the main wiring harness. I would check both male/female prongs of this connection when installing a new pigtail. A shop Tech Bulletin recommends lightly coating the pigtail's orange gasket with a lubricant (WD40 worked great), prior to headlight re-installation, to ensure it mates tightly with the headlight housing.

altonj

The fix that the OP posted, along with some contact cleaner on both ends of the harness, also appears to fix random turn signal issues.....

Cheers

seankrider

Just did this, and I must say it is brilliant (no pun intended). Here I thought I was the only one shoving my *** into the light every evening just to get it to light up. How many one-eyed Cayennes must be out there.

I went one step further though: I clipped the edges of the black mounting bracket with wire cutters so that the white harness plug didn't have to be sheared off too close to the outer wires.

Elapsed time: 10 mins.

seankrider

Now three weeks later, haven't had a single "Check Dipped Beam" message. Brilliant solution. Solved.

Andrew13

Hey Gang.. Sorry for the duplication on this topic.. but i'm stuck.. Check dipped beam on the drivers side.. Took the assembly out, made sure all the contacts were secure.. and still flickering.. I find it odd that if I wack the lens, it sometimes comes on.. so I thought it must be something loose.. and appears to happen more in cold weather.. thoughts?

Also, any idea on how to change a right front fog light assembly? I have a 05 Cayenne S (no side vents). Hit a snow bank and busted one of the attachements. Is my only option to remove the entire bumper? if so, any thoughts on I how I go about it?
thx!!

ps. I do have the rear mounted spare, I'll post pics soon.

Km1.8t

Andrew,
May want to pull the lamp assembly out and take the balast out and use some contact cleaner on the contacts, also use some of contact cleaner on the wire harness when you slide back in. These are some finiky lights but you will figure it out, good luck.

Andrew13

Thx Km. I did more investigating last night.. It appears that its just not 'dipping'. but after I hit the lens cover a bit, it 'drops' into place. Oddly enough.. my high beam was not working either.. then once it dropped in, it did.. so the bulb is good.. its a contact somewhere.. Luckily, its going to be 60 today in MA, so good time to get out there and pull it apart!

I'm very new to this site and have found a great deal of information.. Thx to all!

Andrew13

hey all.. sorry to keep this dragging.. but a whole new ball of issues today.. I did the dremel routing and toothpicks.. worked for a bit.. then today, hit a pothole (thanx to the state of MA) and nothing appears to work. I took it all out, reapplied toothpicks and now the only light that works is the directional, sometimes. SO, thoughts on if its the harness or should I just replace the assembly?

Sry, its an 05 pepper S w/Xenon.. this is the drivers side.

thx
Andrew