Check Headlight Beam Adjustment

[Bunka]

After searching for several months now I have reached the conclusion that the message "Check Headlight Beam Adjustment" is not uncommon. The uncommon thing is to find out whats wrong and make the message go away. The whole engineering nightmare appears to be overly complicated and at Porsche repair costs could easily exceed the value of an older Cayenne. Yes, it would still be drive able without fixing it. So the issue is how much are you willing to pay to make this nuisance message go away. There have been attempts to change out connectors, wiring, adjustment motors, level sensors, headlight ballasts and even bulbs or swap out HID systems for Halogen or LED headlights. There is no code and third party technical support has no idea. My 2008 Cayenne is at an independent garage now waiting for new headlight level sensors. I suspect that will not do the job, however. in the least it will eliminate a part. My search found a lot of speculation as to fixing this but very little success. In the majority of cases the automatic adjustment still works. The headlights move as they should when you start it, however, the message still appears. Does anybody know this system well enough that they could reply with a list of most likely causes? I did mention to the garage that they might try adjusting the headlights.

[Bunka]

Just an update. As I suspected, the headlight level sensors did not change a thing. They are going to re-set the battery this afternoon. It appears that I will get the car back and it will not be fixed. The next plan on my list is to take the headlights out, clean and check the connections and adjust the headlights. If that doesn't do it, I will take it to a Porsche dealership.

[island911]

What year? I know that the earlier ones often had issue with the headlights seating properly on the contacts.

[Bunka]

The garage did an overnight battery reset and that removed all the memory from the control unit, I guess. This is way beyond my drum brake, roll up windows, generator and driveway mechanic days. Anyways, the control unit, now cleared of memory allowed them to calibrate or program the new headlight level sensors. Bingo, the message is gone and all is good. Antiquity (me) meets technology (the car.) Its like a May December wedding. May is great to look at and performs wonderfully, however, December just doesn't get why.

[Bunka]

The message is back. Looked good for 6 days and I'm right back where I was, except my wallet is a lot lighter. I guess I might as well empty it all together and go to the dealership. The independent garage would probably take another look at it, however, this seems to be on the job training that I'm paying for.

[Bunka]

No message for the past week. Today it showed up again. I pulled over and turned the car off. Waited a couple of minutes and started the car. No message. I drove from Lowell, MA to Nashua NH ( about 20+ miles )and all was good. I cannot think of anything in common with these instances except that the message came on while I was driving. All the other times it came up when I started the car.

[RNajarian]

With these cars one thing always comes to mind when electrical gremlins occur. . .

How old is your battery? I’m not formally versed in electrical sciences, but I have resolved a few issues by replacing an older battery. Though a car may be receiving a charge from the alternator the health of the battery may somehow effect the electrical system.

You never know, but twice I had weird issues with my ‘05 Cayenne which were resolved by replacing a 7 and 8 year old battery.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cayenne-macan-forum/782733-haunted-cayenne-crazy-electrical-malfunctions.html

[Bunka]

The battery is 16 months old. I fully agree that you can get some pretty weird symptoms from just about anything in the car from a bad battery. The present battery is a proper lead acid battery. It replaced a year old AGM battery that I was told was fine and my non-starting issue was my starter. I told them to put a proper lead acid battery in and the car still starts fine after 16 months, still with the original starter. The message came on again earlier this week. I was able to get rid of it by turning the car off and restarting. The battery reset and new level sensors did something. Prior to this work, the message came on when I started the car and I could not get rid of it, now it comes on after I drive the car and I can get rid of it.

[Determined]

I had broken wire going to my level sensor, it’s internal but close to the sensor. Looks like the factory didn’t give it much slack to flex or my off road riding caused the problem.

[Bunka]

What follows is an embarrassing update. I kept on getting the message until it was every day, close to all the time. I would be driving or just starting the car. At that point, its just an audio ding and the dash exclamation mark indicator lights up. Well I looked down at the multi display the other morning and saw the message " Check oil level". OOPS! I wasn't paying attention because I assumed it was about the headlight adjustment. Added a quart of oil and all is good now. So now I don't know where I am on the headlight adjustment. Pay more attention and document. If it was a broken wire from the level sensor, I would think it would be on all the time. It didn't come on at all yesterday. Then again, it could be an intermittent connection.

[Determined]

Correct, my wire was intermittent problem. Good luck it’s not fun I know.

[Bunka]

Can anyone supply me with the correct part # (both sides) for the wiring harness from the level sensor to the headlight, please? I could not find it. The dealership found it and wants over $ 500.00 per side. And then it has to be shipped from Germany which will take 3-4 weeks. I've all ready put more money into this car in the last year than the car is worth. I did find some aftermarket harnesses, however, made in China and cheap leads to further issues. I also do not have much confidence in the young kid behind the parts counter. I took the car back to the people who initially worked on this issue and they found codes pertaining to the control units. With the cost of new control units and the labor the car is basically totaled. Plan "D" is to pull the wiring harnesses and fix any broken/loose/shorting wires. If there is a problem with the connectors I'll have to come up with another plan.

[Gianni at Pelican Parts]

Definitely seems to be a common issue on the early Cayenne's, was able to find a related thread on our sister forum, no quick diagnosis besides being wiring related in the headlight harness which it seems you've narrowed it down to already.

Hope you solve the issue and remember our Porsche parts specialists are available to call throughout the week.

[Bunka]

I had an appointment set up with the garage that replaced the headlight level sensors. I cancelled it. The message said to check the headlight beam adjustment. Not to overthink this I decided to check the headlight beam adjustment. Lacking a screen 24.6 feet away and a 165# weight to put in the passenger seat I resorted back to my days of blissful ignorance and simply looked at the headlight beam shining on the garage door. I could not get a 6MM allen wrench through the adjustment holes so I removed both headlight assemblies and turned the adjustment screws for height about 90 degrees clockwise. I also cleaned the connectors and checked the wiring harness. It has now been 9 days and 38 start-stop cycles without the message. I have probably just jinxed this and fully expect to see the message when I go to the store this morning.

[Bunka]

And there it was!!!!!