Headlight fault - is this an MOT failure?

[gc123]

may have missed the idea looks like you have a connector?

 

[danlightbulb]

may have missed the idea looks like you have a connector?

Only the one that is on the car itself, I haven't bought a new one yet - that picture was from the bay but they are only cheap.

I suppose I need to try and de-pin the current connector one by one and see if the pins/wiring is damaged inside.

 

[jpaul]

tricky -

so you'll switch motors out of new headlight too (maybe with sellers auth) and see if it new motor inside new unit could be faulty, and maybe try new motor in old L body. ?

but, maybe, diagnostics on left light get supressed if there is fault on right, so left has another problem on top of motor (connectors yes - but seems weird if aforementioned connector can't be provoked into failure by wiggling)
would be nice to get your hand on ford diagnostic manual, if it has hints, but, as you say, additional diagnostics/secondary boot loader might be needed.

 

[danlightbulb]

Possibly good news.

Dont want to speak too soon but... just been out for 15 minute drive around and didn't get the dash warning. Swivel lights were fully functional.

Only thing Ive done extra is that I hadn't driven the car since I ran the calibration diagnostic on the car earlier today. Even though it didn't appear to do much on the surface, perhaps it does something underneath and now the signals are calibrated.

Here's hoping. Will see how it goes for a few days.

BTW this is my beam pattern - all look ok for MOT?

 

[danlightbulb]

Yup.
OP can you post a pic of the rear of the lamps to see where the hex adjustment screws are.
If they're there and i've no reason to think that they're not, then it's the easiest/cheapest solution.
If you try and anchor the internal part of the lamp, how will you know it's within spec?

Hi there.

I thought I'd let you know I found the large hex screw adjusters. They were on the outside of the rear housing, and they are large hex screw adjusters that drive a rod which goes inside the light. I couldn't see what you meant because I was looking inside the light cavity.

There are two hex adjusters on the outside of the light. The left right adjuster does nothing - its not connected to anything inside the light itself - presumably because I have the adaptive lights. However the up/down adjuster is connected through the internal up/down leveling motor so there is some adjustment there on top of what the internal level motor does.

 

[JonRGV250]

Beam pattern looks good, although you won't know it's in spec until it's looked at on a beam tester.
Why not run it down to your testing station (pre MOT) and let them set it for you, then as long as you book your MOT with them, i doubt they'll charge you.
It really is a two minute job.

 

[Semple]

They wanted to break the "repair at home mentality" and it seems it worked.

hardly anyone fixes anything these days, barely ever see people working on their cars outside like you would in the 90s.

people would rather just pay someone else even if it's simple like replacing an oven element...

undo 3-4 screws + a connector, swap out part, put things back how they were = too much trouble we need a professional

I think a lot of that has also come with the fact that more cars are modern and are harder to do stuff.

My car is 10 years old and a new battery needs coding in (i think it'd work without coding in, but i suspect that'll cause other issues), so you're then having to pay £100 for the vagcom device to code it. Which is fine if you intend to always own a vag car, but as soon as you swap to another manufacturer, you then need another device. The more generic readers that work across multiple manufacturers like snap-on tend to cost ££££ and have subscription fees to stay updated.

 

[jpaul]

BTW this is my beam pattern - all look ok for MOT?

if the mondeo doesn't have a left kick-up, yours doesn't appear to, then it's just the height that matters 850mm -2.75% -> +0.5% , which you can measure, parked on the level, against a wall
is the active behaviour now working, on turning corners.

My car is 10 years old and a new battery needs coding in

I'd like to know if stop-start use of batteries really diminishes their life too (and replacement cost offsets the fuel saving) .... but, I would be asking around work colleagues to share coding devices.