[Aragorn30d]

I've had a problem with my Xenons since i bought the car, the lights were pointed very low and driving at night was bordering on dangerous.

Luckily its been summer with the light evenings so not done very much driving in the dark.

When i scanned for fault codes it had a fault for the rear level sensor, so i went and bought a new one from the dealer and fitted it quite a few weeks ago and ticked it off as sorted.

Error! Driving home at the weekend in the dark and sure enough the lights were still hopeless.

Cracked out INPA tonight after work and sure enough the fault code was still there. live data was showing 5v for the rear sensor and 2v for the front one. I unplugged it, and it continued showing 5v. Removed the arch liner and carefully inspected the wiring, and ahha! found a section that had rubbed thru on the bodywork where it passes behind the liner. Cut back a few inches of wire, unfortunately it was a bit blackened and corroded, but plenty of flux and solder and i managed to splice in a new section.

Plugged in the old sensor to test and sure enough INPA live data now reads correctly, and sweeps up and down as i move the sensor, so there was nothing wrong with it! Replugged the wiring into the new sensor and had it reading a nice 3v, lowered the car down and it dropped down to 2v. Now its actually working!


Decided to take the car out for a test drive, more to bed the brakes in (changed them at the weekend but hadnt actually driven it yet) than to test the lights as its not really dark enough yet. Jumped in and hit the start button. Wuub... click.

Grr. This is the second time its done this after having the doors open and working on the car. The last time it did start after some very slow cranking, this time however it didnt. Jump leads and wifes car got it running and i took it for a drive. I can only imagine the batterys on its last legs, as an hour with the door open and/or sidelights on shouldnt be enough to flatten the ginormous battery thats in there.

[bishbosh]

Sounds like a duff battery to me. How old is the battery/car? Mine started playing up after 7 years or so.

[Aragorn30d]

Its a 2006.

Car sometimes sits all week and then you can hear its cranking fairly slowly but does still always start.

If its used daily it cranks noticeably faster (not a huge amount, but enough that you can hear the difference)

[bishbosh]

Good going, although probably time for a battery change being 9 years old I would think.

I did an audio upgrade last year but it was only this year that the clock kept losing the time every couple weeks or so. Eventually it didn't start one morning and I had errors galore. Started on the second attempt but since replacing the battery I've had no issues

[Aragorn30d]

Oddly enough i had NO errors at all. Engine cranked once very slowly, then stopped dash went out and then came back on with the time zero'ed (it might have beeped as well). Tried again and got a couple very slow wubs out of it before the dash blanked out again.

Went and got the jump cables, but trying to get a good connection to the negative was bloody hard work, they provide a nice live terminal in the engine bay, but nothing to connect the negative to... After trying a couple bolts near the strut tower with little success i eventually jammed it on the alternator mounting bracket and it fired right up.

[bishbosh]

I think the negative terminal is here - circled in black.

[Aragorn30d]

I'll check that out, looked all round there and dont remember seeing anything like that stud...

Luckily the engine cover wasnt fitted so getting at the alternator was pretty easy.