scatman200

So I just bought an 04 Cayenne S yesterday. It's awesome, but has a few bugs. One being that EVERY time I flick on the headlights, I get the "Check Headlight Beam Adjustment" warning. No lights flickering, nothing else unusual.

I popped out both headlight units, and my connections/wiring seem solid.

When I first power on the headlights, the beams sink, raise up, then slowly fall into their final position. Everything seems to be mechanically cycling properly, but the error message pops up during the slow-falling portion of the initial leveling process.

Is this indicative that one of the leveling sensors (either on the Front Left, or Rear Left suspension) have gone bad? Is there anyway to test the sensors? I'd hate spend the coin on both if only one is needed.

Km1.8t

Welcome to the forum, Headlight issues can drive you crazy and the dipped beam warning is not unusual. Make sure the lights are seated correctly and the light buckets are secured tightly. You may think this is crazy but, check that you have a good battery. There are some strange things that happen when the battery gets older, especially now that the weather is changing and getting colder.
Do some searches and there are many threads on this issue.

ECS Tuning

I'm pretty sure with bad sensors, they won't move up and down when you turn them on. But you could get under and see if the rod on either of the sensors is broken and tell if they are.

mylai996

Does anyone know if non-xenon cars have those sensors too? Mine is an 08 with regular headlights and I always get Check highbeam warning and my left headlight aims high blinding the car in front of me. Where is this sensor located? I tried to have my dealer in San Bernadino county look at it but they stopped troubleshooting once they see my aftermarket bluetooth module getting power from the fuse panel and say that I have after market wiring tapped to the dimmer which is not true. I plan to remove my stereo and bluetooth so that they will troubleshoot further. Don't know if this is related but my Check Highbeam warning appeared after I had my tires changed and tpms reset on the car. Didn't think much at that time but could this be related? Thanks in advance.

scatman200

Everything is seated tightly, battery seems good, but I'll test the voltage in case. I'm in FL so I don't think the season "change" should be a factor

Can anyone confirm that their headlights still tilt up/down even with bad sensors?

Km1.8t

I am in Florida as well and also have had the same problem. I did replace one of the pigtails on one on the headlamp assemblies and that fixed my problem. I also sprayed the contacts on the back of the lamp and in the pig tail with some cleaner. Maybe that might help. Where are you located?

ECS Tuning

The non-xenon cars shouldn't have the leveling sensors. I'm not a 100% sure if they will work or not with bad sensors. Most cars will not but haven't experienced it with the Cayenne yet.

scatman200

I ordered a new headlight harness because the integrity of the current one seems compromised. I'm going to check battery voltage and install the new harness before blowing any $ on sensors. Details to follow...

scatman200

The new harness didn't change anything. The battery tested fine when I brought it Autozone. I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and pick up the sensors. I really hope this fixes this because I'm running out of ideas!

chasz

I just fixed my 06 S with the Check Dipped Beam issue. Turns out that one of the Xenon (D1S) bulbs was failing. If you check HID failure on the Internet, you'll note that a lot of these bulbs tend to start to cause problems from vehicles with model years from 04 through 06.
After changing both bulbs (real Sylvania from Amazon at about $95/pair) no problems at all.
My 2 cents.

scatman200

I replaced the battery with a brand new one, AND replaced both sensors. Nothing has changed, I still get the "Check Headlight Beam Adjustment" warning. Do these sensors need to be re-calibrated?

Km1.8t

Did you try to clean all the little electical posts in the headlamp where it connects to the harness? Try to use some electrical contact cleaner and conditioner and see if that helps. Seems like you are have some type of electrical current issue fluctuation, do the lights also flicker a little like while stopped behind a person? Keep working on it, you will get it fixed.

Designer

I have the Check Headlight Beam Adjustment warning (NOT Dipped Beam). They dip up and down in unison (as if searching) moving and parked, and on high-beam, occasionally flare or brighten for a second.
And tonight, the Map was having trouble, which makes me suspect the battery (original '06).

Has anyone determined whether it's sensors or battery?

Scatman, you out there?

joeyvaz

Resurrecting the thread because I just started getting the headlamp adjustment error. Any way to determine if it is the sensors, battery, bulb, etc? Where should I check first.

Designer

For me, it ended up being the sensors. Replaced front and rear and no warnings since.