D4 high-beam alignment

Graham - I'm no longer doing anything direct, but am most certainly cheering you on! I wrote to LRA re my possum-spotters back in May last year, but received the standard verbiage about "complying with ADR's blah blah blah", and since then have concentrated on getting adequate lighting via a pair of Lightforce spots and some upgraded headlight globes. Despite this, the issue remains unresolved and unsatisfactory - and I'm happy to do what I can to support your case.

If you'd like to send me a PM with your email address in it I will happily email you a copy of the letter I sent to LRA, as back-up to your material. And good on you for pursuing this - I'm glad someone has more patience and perseverance than I!

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Originally Posted by GrahamB

Is there anyone else out there, apart from Graeme, doing anything about this far from satisfactory situation?

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My attempts seem to have stalled, having not received any reply to my request for an update from my earlier RTA contact.

Thanks Graham for your resolve in keeping on pushing this and not letting the b*ggers get away with it. I took the soft option and paid some $$$ to an autoelectrician to bodgey up a modification of the lights using hot glue and HID inserts to put some useful light where it needs to be. I'm much calmer now, but still cranky about LRA's dishonesty about this issue and the BS they expect us to swallow.

Like Jesse B, I am more than happy to send you copies of my correspondence with LRA and photos before/after the fix if you want. Just send me your email address by PM and I'll dig it out for you.

All the best. I'm cheering you on and I am hoping to have some faith in the regulatory system restored by seeing them actually do something about an obvious failure. I would dearly love to see LRA's nose rubbed in it properly, after the contempt they have shown to us as their customers raising a serious complaint. I think we've given them every possible opportunity to keep themselves out of trouble, so I can't feel any sympathy for them now.

Apart from that, I really love this car.

I have what may be a stupid question. I had my D4 SE for just over a month and done 7500 km. I understood when I bought it that it was fitted with Bi-xenons. I have actually popped one of the light units out to have a look at it, without taking any bulbs out.

If the bi-xenons are an option, rather than standard fitting on an SE, how do I know whether I have bi-xenons or not? I assume that I have them but it occurs to me that I would not necessarily know if I hadn't.:(

I also have "possum spotting" lights, I have not noticed particularly any black spots (but I may just not have noticed) and I have a very sharp cuttof on the low beam, which is useful. I have been generally quite happy with the lights, although being used to having a spot / driving light combination on previous vehicles, I notice that I don't have great long range centre penetration.

When I start the car up ( with the lights on auto) there is always a bright white/blue flash of light as the lights come on. I don't know what causes this.

Cheers

Al

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Originally Posted by NauticAl

... how do I know whether I have bi-xenons or not?

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If you haven't got them , you'll see bulbs ( just like the
old-style car lights ) , otherwise it's the mag-lens and blue light
that takes 4 seconds to get to maximum from cold.

Hi Neil

OK, I have the small lens just outboard of the conventional high beam reflector. This means that I have bi-xenons? There are no other combinations that use the small lens and non-bi-xenon lighting?

There appear to be a lot of things that should/might be in the package that are/are not/might not be there that I am getting cautious about assuming anything. I only know I have an E diff lock beacuse I crawled underneath and found the operating servo motor.

I still have not worked out whether I have auto dipping reversing mirrors or not. Apparently there is supposed to be an enabling option on the driver information screen but it does not come up as an option on my SE. I don't have the touch screen on mine.

The owners manual is a great disapointment. There is no indication as you read the manual what features are standard or what are options. Apart from the purchase contract, I have no documentation what the vehicle was built or equipped with. Not very professional in my opinion.:thumbsdown:

Its a shame - the D4 is otherwise a great vehicle and I enjoy every drive!

Cheers

Al

I'll tell you a funny story . When the D3 came out in Sept '04 , the
Owner's Manual had features in it that hadn't and never were made !
I really don't see why each country can't have its own dedicated
model book . It's pathetic really . And to this day there are many
aspects that people don't know about , such as the 5 sensitivity
settings for the auto wiper rain sensor . It's a bit like early "Windows"
: the info is in the system , but buggerif the user can find it or
alter it ...........

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NauticAl

I have a very sharp cuttof on the low beam, which is useful.

When I start the car up ( with the lights on auto) there is always a bright white/blue flash of light as the lights come on. I don't know what causes this.

Cheers

Al

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These two things indicate you DO have the bi-zenons. HID(Zenons)start blue & gain brightness & whiteness quickly thereafter. The shutter which gives the full(on high)beam creates the very distinct & sharp cutoff on low beam.

Regards,

Les.

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Originally Posted by NauticAl

... there is always a bright white/blue flash of light as the lights come on. I don't know what causes this.

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Hi Al

This white/blue flash is a dead give-away that you have the bi-xenon lights. From what I've read about how they work, I think this flash is the xenon bit doing its work, helping to ignite the arc and make the warm-up process a lot quicker than it would otherwise be.

If you haven't noticed dark areas along each side of the road where Skippy is waiting patiently to saunter out of the inky void to ruin your evening, your possum-spotters are probably OK.

As for having to refer to the contract to see what you've got, my D4 SE is one of the early batch that didn't even get an SE badge on the back (or even TDV6, for that matter). I haven't been able to find a single indication anywhere on the car that it is in fact an SE, or even that it's got the 3.0 motor although the right pedal removes all doubt about that. I actually prefer the clean look of the back without all that badgework, but I'm a bit curious what I can do at sale time to prove which model it is.

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Originally Posted by Beamin

As for having to refer to the contract to see what you've got, my D4 SE is one of the early batch that didn't even get an SE badge on the back (or even TDV6, for that matter). I haven't been able to find a single indication anywhere on the car that it is in fact an SE, or even that it's got the 3.0 motor although the right pedal removes all doubt about that. I actually prefer the clean look of the back without all that badgework, but I'm a bit curious what I can do at sale time to prove which model it is.

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Mine didn't have any badges initially either, due to a lack of badges! Badges are fitted upon delivery anyway so the dealer just fitted them later. I would have preferred not to have any badges excepting that I would require them when selling it.

Your dealer should supply the badge.