What Does This Mean?

['mk4-turbo]

It only happens sometimes

if i arm the car the xenon headlights flashes on and off for 1 sec.

doesn't happen all the time though

what does this mean and does this happen to anyone else?

[Vito Roma]

can u explain more please...

[Vito Roma]

You may think it pops on but it really is auto-leveling itself. It pops on then goes down then side to side then even...is that what u mean?

['mk4-turbo]

no
what i mean is

i'm standing outside of the car....push the lock button on my key...car locks...about 15 seconds later the xenon headlights flash on then off...thats it

[bunnn]

that only happens when your ignition is on... hes talking about locking the car..it happens to me too..maybe discharging excess power?

[VZWalex]

wierd i never heard of that. gremlins maybe?

[JGreen76]

You have not lost your mind, it did it to me the other day. After the car was off, already been armed, and then about 15 seconds later the lights flickered... I did not try to arm it again. I thought the car just wanted to be drivin' more!
Not sure what it was... there is another posting about this from a few months ago, but not sure where or what it concluded.

['mk4-turbo]

ok well then at least i know its not a bug...i guess its something to do with the alarm????

well if anyone knows what it is i'm pretty curious to know what the answer is

[Bllzll]

im almost certain that its just the car sending some power to everything. the car does this on start up and probably when you turn it off also..

basically when you first turn on the car there is a surge of power that goes to almost everything to make sure everything is working and is ok.

i assume that when you turn off the car, and lock it. that it just sends a quick power surge through everything to ensure everything is ok and off and in proper condition to arm the alarm system

[A4 S-Line]

It only happens sometimes

if i arm the car the xenon headlights flashes on and off for 1 sec.

doesn't happen all the time though

what does this mean and does this happen to anyone else?

Have you done any mods to the lighting? Change bulbs, LED's, etc.?

[turbo4s]

same with me and I have a B7 S4. Its almost like the car winks at me. I noticed this as i was standing outside infront of my car and a buddy of mine was talking to me about how much he loved the S4, then all of a sudden the car winked at me but with both lights.

[eMacPaul]

This happened to me stock... seems pretty random. Most of the time it doesn't happen, just occasionally.

[Vorsprung]

does this happen to you guys at night or during the day as well?

[80sGuy]

Hasn't happen to me yet, when I locked the car via remote, the only lights that flashes are the signal lamps with a sharp 'beep' sound.

[eMacPaul]

does this happen to you guys at night or during the day as well?

I only stick around long enough after I lock my car at night (dusting)... so I don't know about this one.

[INTEGRATION]

Could lead to a long-term problem. I know my car has been doing it for a while so sometimes at night the headlight goes out (headlight dipped message). I'll be brining my car into the dealership for this issue as it may have caused long term damage to the bulb/ballast.

['mk4-turbo]

let us know if it is a problem when u bring the car in.....i don't think it would be though since its happening to almost everyone who wrote on this thread

[79%N1]

yeah mine does it tooo.. 06 b7 a4... i havent linked it to a time frame after locking the car... but i've seen it just do it randomly hours after i have ever touched it.... the lights just like flicker on... like they barely are on long enough to be full on... just like a spasm or a twitch.....

[whitevdub]

that happened to me the other night...i saw the headlights flash for a second after i armed my car. i was wondering what it was

[edkwok]

maybe it's a warning from the alarm, when it senses something is getting to close to the car? or vibration triggers the blinks?
A lot of off market alarms are programmed to do that.

I haven't not experienced it.

[dave405nyc]

the same exact thing used to happen to me, itll light up for a fraction of a second then turn off (car parked, engine off, etc...)

took it to the dealer and there was a tsb about the xenons going bad. they replaced the bulb and ballast under warranty. hasnt happened to me since

[FLAudiMotion]

Anybody figure this out? I had never noticed it before and i got flashed with APR today and my headlights flashed tonight about 10 minutes after i locked the car. could it be APR related? It's not xenons cause I have halogens.

[B7A4Sport]

Now that I have read this thread, $10 says it happens to me tonight.

[Grishbok]

HID bulbs contain a gas inside. This gas in its natural molecular form, is clear and produces no emitted light. Once you apply energy to the molecule, the outter electron jumps into what is called the "excited state" and spins farther away from the nucleus, this excited state is what produces the xenon light. In order to accomplish this, an even flow of electricity is given.

The reason I explain this, and i hope i did it well enough, is because when the electron returns back to its natural state, no more light is produced, but energy is released. Remember, that energy in the molecules doesnt disappear when the key turns off. It is more than likely residual energy in its most common form, heat, that is "exciting" the molecules in your headlamp unit. The molecules are still bouncing around at incredible speed and are still pressurized causing molecular collisions. It would be more than feesable for the molecules to return to an excited state as a result of a molecular collision (friction on a molecular basis produces energy) which in turn would cause your headlights to flick on and off.

To the best of my knowledge, NO damage could result to the ballast or bulb via an event caused by this.

Just a theory.


if it happens on both halogens and xenons, could be a residual charge in the wiring, 10minute span would be about the same time that the radiator fan might kick off, so it could be something in that wiring.


the original post might be talking about when the alarm is armed, headlights and brake lights will flash as an indication the cars alarm is armed, but will NOT flash if a door is open.?

im bored so i made a long post.

[eLusive]

I got this prblem when i first bought my car. Audi said they didnt see it but i see it all the time. Happens to me only when the light switch is on AUTO. Dosent happen when the light switch in OFF. Weird.

[Kevin2772]

Im in the same boat as you guys. I've noticed my car do it a couple times as well.

[Geoffafa]

halogens FTW lol