lexhair

I had a transient warning some time ago on my 970.2 P4 that my front right headlight was "dipping." It cleared but came back with a vengeance the other day. Sure enough, neither the top nor bottom projectors were lighting. I scoured the internet for anything I could find about this issue for this particularly short run of LED lights. This LED headlight was an option in 2014 and ran until 2016 in the Panamera when the 971 refresh changed the headlight design. See the photo below for the headlight.

Top and Bottom style LED

Could not find anything about this kind of failure on the internet. So I headed over to my local indy and he took the headlight assembly out (1 minute job with most of that time finding the headlight removal tool in the tool kit). Here's the back of the headlight assembly.

Rear of the headlight assembly

There's nothing in the bulb assembly that seems to be user serviceable. Not surprising since the LEDs should last until end of days. However, what is serviceable is the lighting control module which is screwed into the bottom of the headlight assembly with 4 screws. Since the error on my P4 was just the right side, my mechanic suggested swapping the control module from the left side to the right side and test it. Sure enough, the right headlights came on. Here's a photo of the LED controller.

LED Controller

I don't believe there is a more sophisticated method to test the LED controller but considering the cost of a new headlight assembly ($4,000), the labor time to do the test is about 15 minutes and well worth doing. The controller itself runs between $220 and $400 depending on where you source it.

Summary. This is certainly a relatively easy DIY job that can be done in less than an hour. Do not bother looking around for replacement bulbs. Do not bother to search the internet for anything other than how to remove the headlight assembly.

justabout

Thanks for posting. It is likely the part will require registration to the car. Wouldn’t it be nice if the car would “discover” the new components without need for software intervention.

lexhair

Correct. You will need a trip somewhere (dealer or in my case, my indy) to have the module coded. It flat will not work if you just plug and try to play. The moral of my post is don't get railroaded into replacing the entire headlamp assembly without doing some easy and basic testing.

Andy Liu

Bringing the thread back alive again and letting other know. You suppose to move that circle LED controller from the old one to the new one if you are upgrading from non matrix to Matrix. So you unplug it and then twist and pull as the controller basically move the led up and down. In order to put it in, you can slide it in, if the slide don't work, you plug it in first and there is a place where you can put your hand in and pull to connect it.

Rear of the headlight assembly