Troubleshooting driver side low beam short?

[nm_]

Hi everyone! I'm having a weird problem with my driver side HID on a 2008 mkv gti. I thought the bulb was just out, but after further looking into it, it seems like both the ballast + igniter are dead as well. I swapped them one at a time into the working passenger side to confirm this. I then swapped both the working ballast + igniter + bulb from the passenger into the driver side to see if that would fix and it didn't. I figured at this point maybe the housing itself is bad, but the blinker + bottom marker lights are still working and the wiring inside the housing itself seems in good condition?

I checked fuse 47/48 in the engine bay box (what i believe is for hids) and those seems ok, so I got a multimeter just to double check the harness before buying a whole new headlight.

I noticed that the low beam pin (pin 6 i believe) on the harness specifically always has 12v power even when the car is off? I double checked the passenger side pin 6 and it only shows 12v of power when the headlights are switched on.

I am new to all of this so need help interpreting the results here. This means I likely have a short or some sort of problem with that low beam wire correct? Just doing a visual inspection, the pigtail connector itself seems to be in pretty decent shape, there is a bit of dirt on the wires on the back, but the connections itself seem ok from the outside. I guess the next step would be to disassemble the pigtail to inspect inside and/or just replace the pigtail with a new one completely?

I definitely would appreciate any guidance here, kinda on a lower budget and wanted to try and take care of this myself

 

[GTI's]

So I take it you did not swap the complete working left headlight and plug it in to the right side plug and see if it would work. Have a scan tool that can look at the modules that control the HID? Any Dtc?

 

[nm_]

Thanks for the tips. Tried plugging the entire working housing into the driver side and it doesn't work. Also got a new ballast + igniter for the driver side, plugged the entire driver side into the passenger side harness and it 100% works on that side.

When plugging into the driver side though, the low beam + high beam don't work at all, but the DRL + blinker are running fine. Passenger side is working fine. I don't have a scanner yet but ordered an OBDEleven and have that on the way. Hoping I can get some codes from that

Double checked the fuses in the engine box + driver side panel and they all seem ok when tested with a multimeter.

The weird thing I'm seeing is that pin 6 of the driver side headlight harness has 12v power when the car is off, but when I flip the headlight switch on it cuts out to like 2-3v?? The passenger side pin 6 is at 0v when the car is off and 12v when the headlight switch is on. Driver side seems wonky to me but I've never measured that when it was working lol.

Will update when I get OBDEleven and can scan for codes


PS: I don't know if this is related but the lower front fogs have never worked since I've owned the car in 2010. There has never been a bulb out warning. Sidemarker bulbs work fine. I can flip the headlight switch + pull out to turn the fogs on and the light illuminates on the headlight switch itself. I don't know if there's supposed to be an icon lit on the dash, but nothing pops up + they don't turn on when doing that. Bulbs + housings test ok, it doesnt seem like there's any power going to them when u flip the switch though.

 

[GTI's]

The factory stock setup in your GTI is your Drl are your HID Bi-Xenon in low beam and your high beam is the same headlights with the shutter removed for the high beam pattern.

Power for the headlights comes out of J519 Cecm based on what you are seeing(pin 6) I would say you have an issues with J519.

 

[nm_]

Thanks again for the help. I got an OBDEleven finally and have some fault codes to go along with this! Here's what I've found:

Static Faults -

Control unit: 09 Central Electrics
02071 - Local data bus No signal/communication
00978 - Left low beam headlamp bulb Open circuit/short circuit to B+
01520 - Rain/light recognition sensor No signal/communication

Control unit: 55 Headlight Regulation
01534 - Activation for left headlamp beam adjustment motor Open circuit/short circuit to B+

Control unit: 56 Radio
00870 - Left front bass speaker Open circuit
00871 - Right front bass speaker Open circuit
00872 - Left rear bass speaker Open circuit
00873 - Right rear bass speaker Open circuit
00003 - Control module Faulty


Any advice on where to look/troubleshoot would be appreciated. From what I'm reading checking the harness -> J519 is the next steps. Also I'm not even sure what the radio issue means - I was under the impression it was working lmao

 

[GTI's]

Please clear all fault codes in those modules or the complete car and see what comes back.

 

[nm_]

Here's what I'm getting after clearing faults + driving the car around for a bit

Date: 2021-06-30 08:52

Car: Volkswagen Golf GTI
Year: 2008
Body type: 3-dr hatchback
Mileage: 114560 KM

---------------------------------------------------------------
09 Central Electrics

System description: Bordnetz-SG H54
Software number: 3C0937049AJ
Software version: 2202
Hardware number: 3C0937049AJ
Hardware version: 063
Serial number: 01000007498257
Long coding: F68D0F214004150047140000001400000028770B5C000100000000000000

Subsystems:
System description: Wischer 060102 021
Software number: 1K1955119E
Software version: 0501
Coding: 0038805

System description: Fehler Lin-Slave 02

Trouble codes:
02071 - Local data bus No signal/communication
static
00978 - Left low beam headlamp bulb Open circuit/short circuit to B+
static
01520 - Rain/light recognition sensor No signal/communication
static

---------------------------------------------------------------
16 Steering Column

System description: J0527 636
Software number: 1K0953549BD
Software version: 0070
Hardware number: 1K0953549BD
Coding: 0002022

Subsystems:
System description: E0221 002
Software number: XXXXXXXXXXX
Software version: 0010

Trouble codes:
00883 - Ignition/starter switch (terminal S) Electrical error in circuit
Intermittent

---------------------------------------------------------------
55 Headlight Regulation

System description: Dynamische LWR
Software number: 1T0907357
Software version: 0003
Coding: 0000003

Trouble codes:
01534 - Activation for left headlamp beam adjustment motor Open circuit/short circuit to B+
static


---------------------------------------------------------------
56 Radio

System description: Radio DE2 011
Software number: 1K0035180C
Software version: 0015
Hardware number: 1K0035180C
Hardware version: 000
Serial number: VWZ4Z7F2115046
Coding: 0010400

Trouble codes:
00870 - Left front bass speaker Open circuit
static
00871 - Right front bass speaker Open circuit
static
00872 - Left rear bass speaker Open circuit
static
00873 - Right rear bass speaker Open circuit
static
00003 - Control module Faulty
static

 

[nm_]

Disregard the radio fault codes. I just needed to reprogram the radio after changing the battery recently. Swapped the coding and no more radio codes. Just have the headlight issues now.

 

[GTI's]

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/02071

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01520

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00978 Headlight works on other side so I would be checking the wiring

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00883 This might be the electrical part of the ignition switch which can be replaced without removing the steering wheel and is not to expensive.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01534 Perform output test

 

[nm_]

All fixed!! The J519 was faulty, got a new one and driver side dipped beam works again!!

01520 - Rain and Light Recognition Sensor (G397): Implausible Signal (disabled rain/light sensor in CECM)
02071 - Local Databus: No Signal/Communication (this went away when disabling rain/light sensing)
00883 - Ignition Switch (D) Terminal S : Electrical Fault in Circuit (installed new ignition switch)
01534 - Control Circuit for Left Headlight Range Adjusting Motor (V48): Open or Short to Plus (installed new motor)
00978 - Lamp for Low Beam / Open Short to Plus (J519 was faulty, replaced with a new one and fixed the problem)