Impossible to find VW Passat Headlights

$ausage$

Hi,

So I failed my MOT due to my lights being too dim.
Now I have been told I need two new headlights as mine have become faded etc.
I have a 1.9 vw passat 2004 B5.5 with gas discharge lights. I can not find any spares anywhere. VW want near £400 each but the car is not worth 400.

I can not scrap her just yeat need another year out of it.

Anyone any idea where I can get them. You can they them from the others as the indicator is between the side lights and the main beam.
I have attached a pic of one i found online.

Please Help!

Phil_Lives

Ask a Polish friend to look on allegro.pl for you or else try to polish(verb, not nationality) up your clouded lenses with cleaning solution.

$ausage$

Thanks but the adjusters are broken on them too so i need a new set.
I also need them by Sat for my retest.

Does anyone know if I can go backwards to just regular lights? They are only £35 each.

Phil_Lives

Es gibt viele Scheinwerfer für ein VW Passat bei www.ebay.de auch.

Duvetdays

Did you try ebay my laguna failed nct over lights. local auto parts place wanted €400 euro got them on ebay brand new for €114 inc delivery from a UK auto parts shop

Chimaera

Going back to halogen lights is going to be a nightmare since there's a controller built into the car for the headlamp auto-levellers and that'll probably register a fault if normal lamps are put in there. Get the part number for the housing off the back of the unit and search for it on eBay.

Alternatively, as another poster suggested, you can probably polish them back up well enough to pass. There are a few threads on doing this in the detailing sub-forum.

Kimbot

THey have them here: http://www.gsfcarparts.ie/parts/electrical-lighting/lights-lenses/headlight

zarquon

Phil_Lives wrote: »

Ask a Polish friend to look on allegro.pl for you or else try to polish(verb, not nationality) up your clouded lenses with cleaning solution.

If you go this route be careful that you don't buy left hand drive lights.

Phil_Lives

They're shipping huge amounts of cars to Poland just to break them for parts.

$ausage$

Hi Jonny, Thanks for the link but it wont work without a ROI numberplate which I don't have how much are they?
If I clean the lens then what can I do about the adjustment being broken?

Kimbot

€125 each mate, you can select car model and all on the left hand side, no need for a reg.

$ausage$

is it part number 942VG1081? if so they are the wrong ones for me

Kimbot

Yeah thats the part number, whats the part number you are looking for.

Did you try a scrap yard?

$ausage$

Tried every scrap yard in NI and no joy one had a set but sold 2 weeks ago.

Not sure of exact part number but will take it apart tonight to have a look.

Thanks though.

skibum

Could this guy clean them up for you?
http://www.adverts.ie/car-parts-accessories/headlight-restoration/4452859
Thinking of getting him to do my Passat.


edit, just seen that the adjusters are broken on yours...
have you tried any vw forums eg: http://www.autostadt.ie or vagdrivers.net?

$ausage$

I thought I would try the best board first
I have a friend who I hope can help me out but need the parts first i guess.

Chimaera

$ausage$ wrote: »

is it part number 942VG1081? if so they are the wrong ones for me

No. It's going to be something along the lines of 3Bx-xxx-xxx-x with the possibility of an extra character in the last part.

$ausage$

Chimaera wrote: »

No. It's going to be something along the lines of 3Bx-xxx-xxx-x with the possibility of an extra character in the last part.

Sorry that was the part number from the website not off the unit.

Thanks though for your reply!

Kimbot

Try this site?

http://www.mister-auto.ie/en/headlight/volkswagen-passat-3c2-1-9-tdi-105hp_v18522_g259.html

$ausage$

The link you posted was for the 05 model i need the 04 one.
This is the only one they have.

My question would be this would this still work?
In my set-up the indicator is in the middle. Maybe this is due to the repeaters being in the wing mirrors I don't know but in the link below would my gas discharge work in the middle portion?

http://www.mister-auto.ie/en/headlight/volkswagen-passat-3b3-1-9-tdi-4motion-130hp_v15782_g259.html

zarquon

jonny24ie wrote: »

Try this site?

http://www.mister-auto.ie/en/headlight/volkswagen-passat-3c2-1-9-tdi-105hp_v18522_g259.html

Avoid them like the plague. Slow shipping and likely to send you LHD lights from France. Plenty of horror stories about them on here including mine if you feel compelled to search.

$ausage$

Thanks for the reply!

Chimaera

$ausage$ wrote: »

The link you posted was for the 05 model i need the 04 one.
This is the only one they have.

My question would be this would this still work?
In my set-up the indicator is in the middle. Maybe this is due to the repeaters being in the wing mirrors I don't know but in the link below would my gas discharge work in the middle portion?

http://www.mister-auto.ie/en/headlight/volkswagen-passat-3b3-1-9-tdi-4motion-130hp_v15782_g259.html

That's the halogen version which is not compatible with your car. Search ebay for the VAG part number like I suggested and you should find something.

$ausage$

I have Vag at home so I should be able to get it without take the tools out!
Never thought of that thanks!

Truckermal

Try www.ukpassats.co.uk they have a for sale section along with a dedicated Passat forum.

Tropheus

The factory xenons on the B5.5 Passat are very rare. I've only seen a couple of Irish cars with them. I'd say your best bet would be eBay.

The factory xenons on my Audi allroad have levers at the back for changing from RHD to LHD. Hopefully yours are not RHD specific or that will limit you even further.

It's bad when you have a perfectly decent car and something like this goes and brings the future of the car into doubt. I'm like that with differentials on the allroad. It's a 2003 that I've had from new, but if a differential packed in I would have to seriously question the economics of repairing it.

$ausage$

My VAG errors
this is historic need to get my battery charged before I can head out to find part number

Address 55: Xenon Range
Controller: 4Z7 907 357
Component: dynamische LWR D09
Coding: 00007
Shop #: WSC 00028
4 Faults Found:
01535 - Control Circuit for Right Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V49)
30-00 - Open or Short to B+
01534 - Control Circuit for Left Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V48)
30-00 - Open or Short to B+
00774 - Level Control System Sensor: Left Rear (G76)
28-00 - Short to B+
00776 - Level Control System Sensor: Left Front (G78)
31-00 - Open or Short to Ground

$ausage$

this is what my VAG shows but no part number?

$ausage$

A vid of the offending light

http://youtu.be/TuTzLeuZEnI

Tropheus

$ausage$ wrote: »

My VAG errors
this is historic need to get my battery charged before I can head out to find part number

Address 55: Xenon Range
Controller: 4Z7 907 357
Component: dynamische LWR D09
Coding: 00007
Shop #: WSC 00028
4 Faults Found:
01535 - Control Circuit for Right Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V49)
30-00 - Open or Short to B+
01534 - Control Circuit for Left Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V48)
30-00 - Open or Short to B+
00774 - Level Control System Sensor: Left Rear (G76)
28-00 - Short to B+
00776 - Level Control System Sensor: Left Front (G78)
31-00 - Open or Short to Ground

From my experience with other VAG errors, Open or Short usually points to a wiring problem. Have you checked all the wiring to the lights and sensors?

I wonder if you can get parts for the lights like the adjusters rather than buying the whole unit.

$ausage$

I have tried that but no luck. In face I just got an email for a scrap dealer who said I should just scrap the car lol

Kimbot

$ausage$ wrote: »

Tried every scrap yard in NI and no joy one had a set but sold 2 weeks ago.

Not sure of exact part number but will take it apart tonight to have a look.

Thanks though.

Why limit your search to NI, have a look on www.partsfinder.ie

$ausage$

Sorry but that link dosent go anywhere.

I have decided to get a second had standard pair and try the re wire.

$ausage$

Ok so I found in another forum that they are

3B7941017M and 3B7941018M or "Bi Xenon Scheinwerfer 3BG"

found some in germany second hand £200 each no the race to get them here next day begins!

Joe 90

By pure chance Pistonheads have been playing with a Tesla.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/roadtests/doc.asp?c=47&i=30052

$ausage$

Uagh so that hurt!
Just dropped £400 on head lights from germany!
They will be here next week some time, Its a holiday in germany tomorrow so prob mid week.

They better be worth it! suppose I can sell my current ones to offset the "damage"

I will keep you all in the loop.

what i went for btw
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOP-Bi-Xenon-Scheinwerfer-links-VW-Passat-B5-Typ-3BG-Bj-00-05-Original-Hella-/111310088845?pt=DE_Autoteile&hash=item19ea992a8d

Chimaera

$ausage$ wrote: »

My VAG errors
this is historic need to get my battery charged before I can head out to find part number

Address 55: Xenon Range
Controller: 4Z7 907 357
Component: dynamische LWR D09
Coding: 00007
Shop #: WSC 00028
4 Faults Found:
01535 - Control Circuit for Right Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V49)
30-00 - Open or Short to B+
01534 - Control Circuit for Left Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V48)
30-00 - Open or Short to B+
00774 - Level Control System Sensor: Left Rear (G76)
28-00 - Short to B+
00776 - Level Control System Sensor: Left Front (G78)
31-00 - Open or Short to Ground

FWIW, I think you misunderstood me a lot here. VCDS (formerly VAG-COM) is diagnostic software. It can report part numbers, usually for whatever controller it's accessing (4Z7 907 357 in your case above), but not for components like headlamps.

VAG is Volkswagen Aktien Gesellschaft, the parent company for VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, etc. I mentioned the VAG part number as they use a standard format for part numbering across all brands and models. This part number is used a lot by eBay sellers, as it's a reliable way of getting an exact match for the part by both buyer and seller.

On your headlamps it's either stamped into the body of the lamp, or printed on a label on the back of it and starts with 3B (as you later found).

$ausage$

ah thanks

$ausage$

So they arrived

$ausage$

Update

I have standard lights in now.
Also I am selling both sets of lights. I am told the Uk ones just need TCUT for anyone who could be arsed.

The EU ones are brand new if anyone is looking a set.

maticm18

try ebay. You can find everything there.

$ausage$

yeh thats where I got my EU set so selling them all now