View Full Version : Tons of problems: OEM HID Upgrade
So i took today to upgrade to the OEM HIDs. It took me about 3 hours to get it all in (minus coding/other issues). I got everything in hardware wise (besides the fact that i couldnt tighten the lower bolt on either sides housing mount! does anyone know who to do this?), and when i went to wire into the control module with the kufatec harness i ran into a problem; the connectors from the harness were much too large to fit in the sockets on the wiring harness (carside). First i pulled out the wires that were in there already, as i needed to plug the kufatec harnesses in. I got one out fine, but the other snapped in half and will not stay in the socket. (note that these are the wires for the highbeams, not DRL). [headbang] Now i have a useless wire with a broken pin that i cannot fix. Does anyone know a way around this or where i can find another replacement pin if possible?
My next issue is what the car is doing now. I didnt have time to run vag-com on the lights, but i do not know if these issues are related or not. Please reply with any info you might have. I plan on running vag-com this week sometime to atleast set the car up for the bi-xenons.
1) The color DIS has light out warnings for all front lights including the sidemarkers.
2) The passenger sidemarker stays on with the car and the domelight. It goes off with the domelight if the car is running, but stays on as long as the car is running.
3) No foglights whatsoever
4) The headlights/running lights stay on when the car is on, except when the switch is moved to citylight mode. They are even on when the switch is in OFF mode.
5) I bought the LED resistors from MC Hammered, and my citylights both blew. I wired it correctly and everything, not sure if this is VAG related or not.
I have yet to run the wires for the DRL's, as they would need to be VAG'ed in anyways. I also have no highbeams because of the broken pin. Currently there is only one highbeam wire run, but it is the non Kufatec wire. The other side is hanging out because it is the broken one and will not stay in.
Please reply with any info you might have, as this will not only help me out, but help others in the future, should they come across this. All in all the lights look good minus the problems, but it wasn't worth my time. I have heard horror stories about upgrading to the bi-xenon housings via Kufatec harness, but none as bad as mine.
Nobody has anything to say!?
update, i coded to no avail. i removed the load resistors for the LEDs and they work fine.
a new issue we ran into was that when we turn on the hazards or right turn signal the headlights turn off.
im starting to think that upgrading with the color DIS is impossible and will take them out.
Alex@Creative
06-11-2007, 10:51 AM
wow bud. honestly, the only thing i could think of, is that you got the adaptive or non adaptive headlights, and the kauftec harness tha you recieved was not the correct one.
which one did you get, adaptive or non adaptive?
I indeed do have the adaptive housings, but jens knew that and sent me the kufatec harnesses. but with the amount of problems i'm having, i wouldnt doubt that that is the problem.
waiting for him to chime in...
One thing i forgot to add is that the wires running from the harness for the highbeams/DRLs weren't pink and gray, but purple and gray. I just assumed that purple was in the place of pink. The only error message i get now is for the right side marker, but im still having all of the same problems.
lowestA4
06-12-2007, 10:56 AM
Kufatec has only one harness for sale.
They change the colours from time to time (what a bad idea in my eyes) but the wires for DRLs and highbeams are always located at the same pin, no matter which colours they have.
To proof my statement I have wrecked a bixenon headlight and extracted the internal harness for demonstration. Then I connected kufatec's harness and studied the wires.
So here is the pin configuration of a B7 bixenon AFS headlight:
(The pins are the numbers on kufatec's harness)
pin 5 + 6 : xenon ballast 12 volts power (lowbeams)
pin 9 : turnsignal plus
pin 10 : citylight plus
pin 12 : DRL plus
pin 7: central minus for turnsignal, citylight and DRL
pin 11 : highbeam impuls
(pins 11+12 are the two little additional wires).
All the required pins are wired up with kufatec's harness. The levellers are dead-ended. The non-AFS headlights have 1 leveller (for up/down). The AFS headlight have a 2nd leveller (for left/right). Both levellers are dead-ended.
To resume:
-> When you retrofit bixenons it makes no difference if you get AFS or non-AFS housings
-> Kufatec sells only 1 harness for both versions. All the required pins are physically wired up.
http://home.arcor.de/jens21/B7wiring 001.jpg
I hope my work helped a bit.
they are all lined up correctly then, unless right and left sides matter, which they shouldnt.
anybody have any insight?
EDIT: upon further inspection, i came to find that both sides are not wired the same at all, both via the stock wiring and the kufatec harness.
right side wiring from stock to kufatec:
1-4 unused
5) Big brown-> kufatec
6) yellow w/ white-> kufatec
7) little brown-> kufatec
8) white w/ yellow (ends)
9) black w/ gray-> kufatec
10) gray w/ red-> kufatec
11) (kufatec only) purple
12) (kufatec only) gray
left side wiring from stock to kufatec:
1) gray w/ purple (ends)
2) gray w/ yellow (ends)
3) brown (ends)
4) not used
5) brown w/ white-> kufatec
6) yellow w/ black-> kufatec
7) Big Brown-> kufatec
8) white w/ black (ends)
9) black (ends)
10) gray w/ black-> kufatec
11) (kufatec only) gray
12) (kufatec only) purple
can someone pull up the stock wiring for both halogen and HID to see if there is maybe an issue with the harnesses? I have checked everything multiple times and everything is run to its proper location under the dash, and all harnesses are in solid. It has to be a kufatec issue.
booch
06-12-2007, 05:06 PM
pyro shoot me your email address i'll send you some wiring diagrams
just for reference, here is a reply made by a VW tech on the local forum in regards to the issue.
http://www.floridagerman.com/forums/showthread.php?p=87479#post87479
well we came to the conclusion that since the kufatec harnesses had the wrong connections, we fried the central control for the lights since it had all the wrong inputs and outputs, as we put it all back to stock and we have the same problems. nothing has changed. there is something grounding out somewhere to make the lights on all the time, as well as the right sidemarker. we are going to try and source a replacement control box sometime this week. this has all become one big nightmare. it definately wasn't the right kufatec harness for the headlights.
EDIT: today we were getting both turn signal warnings, as well as pulling right sidemarker and light switch error codes when vag'ed. however we tested the switch in another car and it isn't bad.
Quattro
06-17-2007, 08:01 PM
can you send me some diagrams?? to
[email protected]!!!
the diagrams arent mine, but the pin-outs are all posted in the thread i linked to on florida german above.
Quattro
06-19-2007, 09:44 AM
wow pyro sorry about your experience i hope you can figure it out before!!!
I will do the same upgrade soon..
-randy
well we came to the conclusion that since the kufatec harnesses had the wrong connections, we fried the central control for the lights since it had all the wrong inputs and outputs, as we put it all back to stock and we have the same problems. nothing has changed. there is something grounding out somewhere to make the lights on all the time, as well as the right sidemarker. we are going to try and source a replacement control box sometime this week. this has all become one big nightmare. it definately wasn't the right kufatec harness for the headlights.
EDIT: today we were getting both turn signal warnings, as well as pulling right sidemarker and light switch error codes when vag'ed. however we tested the switch in another car and it isn't bad.
can anyone give me more information on this? it is only giving me the right side turn signal warning now. i found the module, it is $360. we are going to do the swap today.
Quattro
07-12-2007, 08:55 AM
hey pyro, stupid question cause I saw you post it. You sure you vag'd the car correctly with the codes??
are the bulbs LED or just regular
Quattro
07-12-2007, 08:58 AM
where did you source that box? take it to the dealer tell them it messed up
we came to realize that the car was not VAG'ed first. i read somewhere that people didn't code them and they still worked, so we didn't do it ahead of time.
we did VAG it after they were installed, but the problems were already arising. we coded it back to halogen when the halogens were put back in and they had the same symptoms. does that sound right that the lights fried the module? it is the only thing we can come up with.
TWiST
07-12-2007, 09:29 AM
I feel so bad for all your problems bro!!! I was looking to do this to my car but after all this im scared :(
After $700 spent on a new CEM and labor at the dealership, and my actually working with the tech's, we came to realize the issue.
What had happened was that by accident we had tapped into wires 19 & 20 on the 32 pin connector instead of 21 & 22, which fried the CEM. When we took both wires out because of the broken pins, we accidentally got them backwards. (one is a blue wire w/ black stripe, one is black w/ a blue stripe, go figure) This is what caused the signal to be on all the time, because wire 20 goes to a ground that controls the lights, and 19 is the side marker. Another thing i learned was that you are NOT supposed to use regular taps on our wiring. It is controlled by resistance, and any time you tap into it with a wiretap or splicers that cut into any of the wire strands, it kills some resistance, which is why my headlights wouldn't shut off.
Everything works fine on the car, it was all a stupid mistake that had i known, i could have fixed. All i have to do is sell the lights to make some of this money back. :/
Anyways, I thought i'd update you guys on my car, and actually i plan on trading it in on an '05 Red USP Quattro 6 speed.
Buttafuoco
07-27-2007, 06:56 AM
Another thing i learned was that you are NOT supposed to use regular taps on our wiring. It is controlled by resistance, and any time you tap into it with a wiretap or splicers that cut into any of the wire strands, it kills some resistance, which is why my headlights wouldn't shut off.
Something must have been lost in translation because this is a ridiculous statement.
thats what he told me, and i am speaking from experience because i w as standing there watching him fix it, and he wasn't lying. i also took the tap off of the light switch for the independent fogs because the wires were frayed.
Sanjman
07-27-2007, 08:08 AM
It is controlled by resistance, and any time you tap into it with a wiretap or splicers that cut into any of the wire strands, it kills some resistance. Think of water being forced through a thick hose versus thin hose...
When you tap into a wire you create a load on that line. The circuit was designed and optimized to minimize the amount of current being drawn. When you put a heavy load on that line you can in fact pull too much current, therefore dropping the voltage on that line and thus creating false undetect/detect.
Sanjman
07-27-2007, 08:48 AM
I forgot to add...
Splicing a wire HARDLY affects anything unless it's some form of wire for an antenna. It doesnt kill resistance, it in fact INCREASES resistance, but it is very nominal for wires for a car versus connections made between components in cell phones. (I work for a major mobile device corporation)
It's all good... just hope you feel it was worth it all in the end...
Buttafuoco
07-27-2007, 08:49 AM
When you tap into a wire you create a load on that line. The circuit was designed and optimized to minimize the amount of current being drawn. When you put a heavy load on that line you can in fact pull too much current, therefore dropping the voltage on that line and thus creating false undetect/detect.
This is true, but doesn't apply in this case. The word 'tap' is somewhat misleading here...it's actually just making a new connection since the wires previously connected to the ECM are now floating. It's simply an access point and has absolutely no effect on the controller's operation.
Buttafuoco
07-27-2007, 08:57 AM
Splicing a wire HARDLY affects anything unless it's some form of wire for an antenna. It doesnt kill resistance, it in fact INCREASES resistance.
Also true. Talking about the added resistance from a wire splice is silly unless you're dealing with communication/microwave circuitry or extremely sensitive analog circuit. Its typically in the 10's of milliohms region.