DIY: B8.5 ecode headlight install

[IceFour]

I know there's a thread floating around showing how B8 ecodes are installed and it's very useful, very similar. There are only slight differences between the two but I figured i'd make one anyway because I have too much time on my hands right now. This is also my first DIY write-up so if it's crap let me know.

**All of the screws you need to remove have a torx head**

Step 1 - Removing headlight housing from car

First off you need to remove the plastic shroud connected to the grill that's covering access to the headlight housings. Remove four plastic tabs via using a small tool able to punch the center in a little to allow you to pop the tabs out. Be careful not to push too hard or they will fall through the bottom and be lost. Also when pulling the tabs they tend to fly once they release so keep a hold on them.

These are the tabs you need to remove


Illustration of pushing the inside of the tab down


Once those are removed you need to pull up on the front of the shroud to release the several tabs connected to the grill, pulling straight up worked for me but some say to pull up and away (toward the windshield). The shroud should be fully removed now, set it aside. Now you have access to the screws required to be removed in order to remove the housing.

There are 5 screws holding the housing in place: two up top, one in the middle rear (held by a uclip), then two at the bottom of the housing.

The two up top:


The two at the bottom and at the middle rear:


Another of the middle rear:


The two at the top need to be removed completely, the one at the middle rear needs to be loosened alot. It does not come out all the way. Once it's loosened you need to remove the entire clip assembly the screw is attached to. The two at the bottom only need to be loosened slightly in order to release the housing. Once all these bolts are removed you only need to remove the electrical connector. There's a tab that you need to pull in order to release the connector. You can use your nail or in my case I used a flathead to wedge it carefully. Once that's removed the housing is ready to be removed from the car.

An easier way to remove both headlight housings -

Two things to add: When removing and putting them back in, it makes it pretty simple if you pull the inside corner out first when removing and, conversely, the outer part should go in first when putting back in. Secondly, to aid in removal, take that top bracket thingy off that you have to transfer to the new light once you get it wiggled out a bit. That way when you're pulling up and out on the inner part, it doesn't get in the way of that. That's how I did it anyway, and once I figured that out, the second one was a snap.

Now we can move on to Step 2...

Step 2 - Transferring ballasts and bulbs from OEM lights to ecodes
You can do this anywhere you feel comfortable, I did this on the floor on carpet.

Here's a picture of the underside of both the OEM and ecodes side by side:


Same, but the topside:


This is a pretty straightforward procedure, as you see in the first picture of the two housings you see the ballasts. We simply need to transfer them over.

Each ballast is held in by 3 torx screws. Once unscrewed don't be alarmed it will take a little pulling to remove because there's a rubber gasket sealing it. The ballast for the HID is connected by two electrical connectors:

^as you can see there's not much room to work with, you'll have to get your hands in there to disconnect the wires.

The metal connector you just need to pull out, it will take some force. The white plastic connector has a tab you push in to release it.


Transfer to the ecode housing, reconnect the connectors(they're exactly the same) and screw the ballast back in using the screws you removed from the other housing.

Now for the ballast for the LED strip, same thing: 3 torx screws, there will also be a rubber gasket. There's one large plastic connector connected to this ballast, remove it.




Transfer again to the ecode housing and do the reverse procedure.

Now it's time to transfer the HID bulb from the OEM housing to the ecode housing. Here's what they look like with the rubber grommets removed.
OEM on the left, ecode on the right.



You need to remove the metal electrical connector to the HID bulb, I did this after removing the bulb. Up to you if you want to remove it while the bulb is still in. To remove the bulb turn the square housing counterclockwise, it can only turn a little bit. It will look like this when it's at the right angle to be removed:


Pull the bulb straight back be careful not to bang the bulb against anything and do not touch the bulb itself.
Removed from OEM housing:


Transfer to the ecode housing, put bulb in same way it went out at an angle like this picture:


Turn it clockwise until it can't go any farther, the bulb is in. Connect the metal electrical connector. Put the rubber grommet back on.


The last thing to do is to transfer the two brackets up top from the housing you removed to your new ecode housing. (I bought mine second hand and did not have the brackets, some may already have the brackets and this step will not be necessary.) These are the two brackets to transfer:


The one on the left is held by one torx screw horizontally. Pull straight up the bracket will come off easily. Transfer to ecode, line it up and push down. This suprised me but for me you have to press it down with some force until the holes line up to re install the screw.
The one on the right has two smaller torx screws, vertical, that you need to remove. Same thing, pull up and and transfer. This did not require any force, reinstall the two torx screws.

Now you're ready to install the ecode housing into your car.



Again, easier method to reinstall the housings -

Two things to add: When removing and putting them back in, it makes it pretty simple if you pull the inside corner out first when removing and, conversely, the outer part should go in first when putting back in. Secondly, to aid in removal, take that top bracket thingy off that you have to transfer to the new light once you get it wiggled out a bit. That way when you're pulling up and out on the inner part, it doesn't get in the way of that. That's how I did it anyway, and once I figured that out, the second one was a snap.

At this point it's just reverse order of step one. Put the uclip back on, screw in the top 2 screws, tighten down the middle rear(uclip), then finally the bottom two. Reconnect the electrical connector. Now you can move on to the second housing or...

If you're finished put the shroud back on first line up the clips for the shroud and the grill:


and press down, re install the four tabs to complete installing the shroud. Be careful when re installing these. The first one I tried to put back in I nearly broke off one of the flanges.


When you press the inside through it spreads out the flanges. So, what I did was press the flanges inward to help it slide back into the hole.

At this point you're done, test them out to see if they're working correctly. You'll have to VAGCOM the side marker out error codes if you haven't already done so. I hope this helped!

VAGCOM code to remove side marker out error message/code -

I believe it was this:

[09 – Cent. Elect.]
[Coding - 07] -> [Long Coding Helper] -> Byte 10 Bit 3 - Change 1 to 0

Additional Credit to @Nastybutler for providing a better method to remove and reinstall the headlight housings
and @pwdrskr for providing the vagcom code