Xenon headlights. How often should you hear/feel the leveling motors?

[Peter DLM]

How often should you hear/feel the headlight level adjustment motors whilst driving?

I seem to feel mine more often than I think I should. Also, I presume they are the headlight adjusters that you can feel through the pedals?

 

[sspeed]

My present car does not have HID lights but my previous 2 did.. (Golf mkV and BMW 330D)..
On both cars when you turned on the lights they moved up then down then settled at the correct height..
On the golf they had a sensor on the rear suspension which sensed the level of the body of the car when going over bumps and then the headlights would alter accordingly.. It sounds like it shouldnt be effective but actually it was surprisingly good.
Other than that I was never aware of any noise/vibration of them moving..
Sorry I cant give a more thorough answer.

 

[Dieselman]

Also, I presume they are the headlight adjusters that you can feel through the pedals?

No, that's the heater duo valve.

 

[Peter DLM]

No, that's the heater duo valve.

Ok, thanks. Slightyly embarrassing !

It's quite a noisy ol' beast isn't it!?

 

[Dieselman]

Not normally, they make a dull tick every couple of seconds. Noise is normally the SBC unit.

 

[Peter DLM]

Hmmm..... must be something else then. Reason why I thought it was the lights was that it happens exactly the same time that my rear wheels drop into a dip in my parking space so the back is sitting low. It's similar to the noise from an electric mirror, but louder/harsher and you feel it through the pedals for 5 seconds.

This occurs occasionally during driving, maybe every 30 mins or so.

 

[whitenemesis]

I don't think you should ever hear or feel the adjusters once moving, although they are operating. When you switch on ignition you may hear a whirring as the lights settle (I do) but there is no feel through the pedals!

 

[mr. shr]

What car do you have?
Two of my cars have xenons, and I don't hear the range adjustment motors at all.

As mentioned above, it's more likely your SBC pump.

 

[Peter DLM]

Ya, having searched a lot more I've come to the conclusion that it is indeed the SBC pump. But, whilst holding the brakes on in traffic, I've not noticed anything appearing on the dash to suggest that the brake hold is in effect..... I wish the owners manual purchased from eBay would hurry up and arrive !!!

Just out of curiosity, just how aware should you be of the pump operating? It's a bit of a curse having Spiderman levels of senses sometimes!!

The car is a 2004 E320 CDi.

 

[mr. shr]

How noticeable the SBC pump is depends on how loud you set the audio system.