Automatic Headlight Leveling Sensor

[ianb4310]

Hi my amber warning light for the automatic headlight leveling comes on intermittantly could tell me where the sensor is located and possibly what it looks like so I can take it off and clean it if thats possible please its a 2004 rx300 before I have to take to Lexus ive heard its quite an exspensive part

thanks

ian

[TigerFish]

Not sure about the RX specifically, but one is normally located on the front OS suspension, one on the rear NS suspension arm. They are just a box with a moving arm, connected to the bottom suspension arm by a little rod.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[ianb4310]

Thanks I will try and have a look will it need to be on ramp

[Billy Garrett]

You can make a replacement rod with 2 ends for approx.£10.from Rapid Electronics (competitors to Farnells and RS etc)

OR pay over £100 for a new complete unit.

This has been posted in one the forums last year , but I forget which one...

My garage did a repair for coppers anyway!

[Danby]

Hi there I have just had my 1006 RX400h fail it's MOT by my local Lexus Dealership because of a broken rear headlamp levelling sensor , I have had the warning light for the AFS flashing on the dash board for the past week , and have been told by Lexus that this is the same thing!!! but in the Owner's manual it stats the AFS is to swivel the low beam headlights, and that if the head light levelling unit fails I will get a warning light and a flashing triangle appear on the speedometer, which has not happened.

has anyone had this problem as I have been quoted over £500.00 to have it replaced.

[billygarrett]

See my previous post which said:

You can make a replacement rod with 2 ends for approx.£10.from Rapid Electronics (competitors to Farnells and RS etc)

OR pay over £100 for a new complete unit.

This has been posted in one the forums last year , but I forget which one...

My garage did a repair for coppers anyway!

It looks like a miniature double ended track rod end.

It is prbably snapped because the top end has sezed.

I did a temporary repair by joining the broken rod using some heat shrink sleeving and it lasted nearly 3 years until the MOT man spotted it!!! He missed it twice before!!!

It worked well 'cos the rubber sleeving allowed the flexing!

You will find it attached to the rear offsid axle and is attached to a potentiometer. You would have to buy the entire unit otherwise and that is expensive, around £200 . The fitting charge is a rip off. My garage did the repair for almost free!!!

It worked well but he didn't like it!!!

[Crowtree]

I have had the same issue, Lexus Norwich quoted me over £500 just for the part and said it was an MOT failer which isnt entirely true because if the lights sit at the correct level when the car is tested they are fine.

I searched the internet and found more than one company who supply these units, I was quoted £156 for a second hand one and for a part you cant see it would make sense and save you a fortune !

Dont get me wrong I love my car but that price is taking the p*ss !

[ColinBarber]

Lexus would fail it if they carried out the MOT because they would know it doesn't work.

http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/doitonline/bl/mottestingmanualsandguides/mottestingmanualsandguides.htm

Vehicles equipped with High Intensity Discharge (HID) or LED dipped beam headlamps may be fitted with headlamp washers and a suspension or headlamp self levelling system.

Where such systems are fitted, they must work; however, it is accepted that it may not be possible to readily determine the functioning of self levelling systems. In such cases, the benefit of the doubt must be given.

Reason for failure:

A headlamp levelling or cleaning device inoperative or otherwise obviously defective.

[Crowtree]

Well yes I see what you are saying but as you say its difficult to determine if they are actually working as the garage floor would mean the car is sitting level.

Its a bit like them not testing the emissions thats awesome mines a 3.3 V6 and would produce heaps of bad **** if it was failing but they wouldn't know lol crazy rules eh ?

[Parrot of Doom]

I fixed the broken one on my old LS400 with a Tesco value meat skewer.

[katabrontes]

I had the same problem yesterday after driving in some heavy rain. When I checked the sensor today both it and the linkage seemed OK but I noticed that the multiplug has quite a gap around the joint. I removed it and put some Vaseline on the contacts which seems to have done the trick. I suppose some thick silicon tap grease might be better. On Colin Barber's advice some time ago I have greased the UJs on the link and this seems to have kept them free from seizing up.

[katabrontes]

Curiously after a few weeks when the AFS system seems to be behaving a bit erratically (does the dance on starting but then stays too high, about x1 in every 3-4 starts, usually corrects itself after restarting engine once or twice) it has not settled down and works Ok every time. Colin Barber suggested in another post that it might be caused by water in the headlights. I had it fault checked while it was misbehaving but neither the garage's system (not Lexus) or my one little one showed any fault even when the AFS light was flashing. Very odd but seems OK now so good news in the end.

[Billy Garrett]

You can do the repair for around £10 with parts from "Rapid" or pay over £100 for a new unit

There is a thread with details somewhere on this forum.

Good luck!

[doro708]

This sensor can also get water inside and get corroded, but it is quite simple to sort it out. Just take the sensor out , unscrew all 4 screws and check if any of the 3 springs acre corroded. If they are , just replace them with something similar, clean the corroded part and that's it, job done. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://my.is/forums/attachments/f89/22707d1242594435-front-height-control-sensor-disassembled-assy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://my.is/forums/f89/front-height-control-sensor-disassembled-389386/&h=585&w=892&tbnid=qZHWTkBSAsk8RM:&zoom=1&docid=bjdKMeZLgwBATM&ei=GqLKVNPzD4-f7gbh3IHoCQ&tbm=isch&ved=0CCQQMygGMAY