Strange Issue with fl2 head lights

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Jensen2k11

New Member
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6
Location
Glos
Hi,

First let me apologise for the size of this post and also apologise if it is not in the correct thread.

I hope someone can offer some advice, I've searched these forums and beyond and found nothing that relates to my problems.

About a month ago I was driving down an unlit lane with lights as full beam when I lost all lights for a moment, my lights came back with in a second but I found I had no high beam, during my journey home my high beam was intermittent, 3 weeks past without any further incident, until last week, I notice I was having problems with my main beam flickering (I'd also notices my High beam was back to intermittently working). if my lights were turned off they would flicker on and my dash lights would dim as if you had just turned your light on, if they were on or in auto they would flicker off and the dash lights would go bright all this would happen for a spit second, my only other observation is that as I dimmed the dash lights using the dial next to the lights switch my head lights would tilt down as well, as if I was using the head lamp height adjuster dial which is to the right of the switch. This may be normal but I've never seen this on any other car.

has anyone seen this before or have any ideas what it might be?
my car is a
FREELANDER TD4 E XS 2179cc DIESEL
 
The dash will dim a little as it thinks it's dark because yer put yer head lights on. The day light illumination would annoy at night as it would be too bright so it reduces the brightness of the dash. Head lights flickering and the dash changing between day/night brightness would make yer think it's being asked to switch the headlights on/oft when it's doing this.
 
Hippo said:
The dash will dim a little as it thinks it's dark because yer put yer head lights on. The day light illumination would annoy at night as it would be too bright so it reduces the brightness of the dash. Head lights flickering and the dash changing between day/night brightness would make yer think it's being asked to switch the headlights on/oft when it's doing this.
Click to expand...
Hi Hippo, Many thanks for your reply,
I realise why the dash lights dim when lights are on, I mentioned this in the hope it would help the forum member understand the issue that I'm having which is essentially that my main beam lights flicker (as in turn off for a very brief moment when driving) as if I have turned them off and on very quickly. any ideas why dimming the dash lights would also affect headlight height adjustments?

Thanks
 
Jensen2k11 said:
Hi Hippo, Many thanks for your reply,
I realise why the dash lights dim when lights are on, I mentioned this in the hope it would help the forum member understand the issue that I'm having which is essentially that my main beam lights flicker (as in turn off for a very brief moment when driving) as if I have turned them off and on very quickly. any ideas why dimming the dash lights would also affect headlight height adjustments?

Thanks
Click to expand...
What year is yer FL2?
I assume it's the earlier version where the headlights were controlled buy a turnable switch instead of turning the little thing ont stalk?
 
I wouldn't mind betting the car's ECUs are 'detecting' a power/heat overload or something and turning the main beam off then on again - however, could it not be something more conventional like the main beam relay on its way out?
 
I was thinking an intermittent switch. Hence hoping the lights were only controlled by the stalk. But not so in his case.

When the head lights switch on/oft when they shouldn't... I assume both side do so at the same time?
 
freelance said:
Dodgy stalk switch as opposed to main switch ?
Click to expand...
I was thinking dodgy stalk switch. But it doesn't control all the light functions.

If he's got combined rotary switch and stalk switch control of the head lights (stalk for high beam only and rest on rotary) could it still be the stalk falsely requesting high beam occasionally. Praps not.

It would be interesting to know if the same flickering head light problem happens when the rotary switch is set to auto. If it doesn't then I would be looking at a fault on the input side of the computer rather than the output side.
 
Hippo said:
I was thinking dodgy stalk switch. But it doesn't control all the light functions.

If he's got combined rotary switch and stalk switch control of the head lights (stalk for high beam only and rest on rotary) could it still be the stalk falsely requesting high beam occasionally. Praps not.

It would be interesting to know if the same flickering head light problem happens when the rotary switch is set to auto. If it doesn't then I would be looking at a fault on the input side of the computer rather than the output side.
Click to expand...

We need the age, as if it has projector lights it could be the shutters, most likely headlamp relay arcing would be first thing to change
 
Hippo
Yes light are affected on both sides, the fault is also seen with lights on auto, I should also point out when the lights Fail (in this I mean I lose high beam but main beam does it's intermittent flicker) it doesn't matter what I do with the light switch off, on , auto they remain on, also in this state fog lights fail to operate,

I did say it was a strange issue,

does anyone know where and which relay it'd be looking for?

many thanks to freelance and grumpygel for your ideas, much appricated
 
If suspect the fault is with the headlight switch

It communicates on a private bus (LIN) to the body controller

Get fault codes read and this should give some ideas as to the potential cause of the problem

How long have you had the car and have you had any work done recently or has water got into switch for example?
 
Hi Ttd4Van,

I've removed the switch from the dash and see no sign of damage,

I've had the car for13 months, it had its MOT a week before (passed with no advisories) they did the tracking and apart from 4 new tyres nothing has been done to the car,

I have connected OBD II device only a cheap one I had for a previous car this displayed no fault codes, but I suspect I probably need a different one for the FL2.
the Main beam height adjustment sometimes goes a bit crazy when displaying this issue also.
 
ODBII is only for engine/emissions. Some setups might talk to ABS, but if you want chassis type stuff, you need a Freelander specific device designed for it. Even then I'm sure there are ones that cover more than others.
 
Hi Hippo,
well I re-seated the relays that I believed were the correct ones and I have not seen the issue since, but previously I had a 3 week period between fault being shown so really just testing it currently, not sure if this is related or coincident buy one of the headlight bulb blew a few days later, I've not changed this yet so testing it without this.
 
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