mmitev

I was driving on a bad patch of highway at night and when passing a road surface change when the whole car shook a bit, my headlights suddenly pointed down just 2-3 meters in front of the car. Within the next 1-2 seconds, the light beams of both headlights went up to the normal level.

This happened 4-5 times that night and I guess you can imagine that driving with 160 km/h in the dark with headlights pointing down is not exactly "sheer driving pleasure".

Has anyone experienced the same problem and what was the solution in your case? Is this a software issue or a mechanical/electrical issue with the levelling sensors of the headlights?

mmitev

noone ever heard of such problem?

DSF

There are 2 sensors on the suspension, one on the front axle one, one on the back. They control the headlights vertical adjustment (like when you have heavy load , the headlights will point straight on the road) via some adjuster motors.. I suspect there is a problem with one of the sensors.
In the old e39 there were also some plastic headlight pins, that broke often and headlights were pointing down. I don't think this is the case with e60.
You should check the sensors. I think they trigger an error on the scanner only when they are broken.
The sensors are mounted to the suspension with some mechanic linkages. Maybe it's something wrong with that.

Cwest

Check to see if your light switch has a blinking green light? If so then you have an AHL module failure.. I had the same thing happen to me where the AHL pointed down and thats what my problem was.

mmitev

thanks for the suggestions
the green light on the switch is not blinking, so the AHL module should be ok
I will have to go to a shop to raise the car and have a proper look at the front sensor

mmitev

Updating everyone on how the problem was solved.

It turns out the (idiot) mechanic who replaced my shocks did not tighten the headlight sensor properly, so the nut fell off and the sensor had no connection to the suspension any longer.

When I was going through bumps, the sensor started to shake up and down from the inertia and was giving random signals to the headlights.

Sensor now tied back and everything working perfectly!

healthservices