Help please--troubleshooting headlight problems

[DMBBV]

Need help troubleshooting a headlight problem on a 2004 V8 Touareg. Driver's side xenon low beam flickered rapidly and then quit working. I replaced xenon bulb with OEM part, still not working. Swapped in known good bulb from passenger's side, still not working. Took to dealership, who said it needed new ballast, which dealer would be happy to install for a mere $900 in parts and labor. Declined dealer's offer, ordered new replacement OEM ballast (from Chrysler dealer for several hundred less than VW), installed new ballast, still not working. Cleared all fault codes using VAG-COM, still not working. Swapped in known good ballast from passenger's side headlight, still not working. Auto-leveling is still working in both lights. So...not the bulb, not the ballast. Any other thoughts? Wiring harness, perhaps?

[Yeti35]

I don't have an answer to your question, but just wanted to let you know that if you have xenons your high and low beam are the same bulb. The inner lights close to the grill are strictly nothing more then passing highbeams since xenons typically don't like to be flashed. Are you sure you are getting the assembly back in the whole way to make a connection for it to work? You may have wiring issue as well. What were the faults you were getting with VCDS?

[DMBBV]

Figured out what the problem was. It was me. I'm an idiot. In the process of swapping what I thought was a "known good bulb" from the passenger side over to the driver's side after installing the new ballast, I managed to do something that rendered the bulb non-operational. I figured that out tonight when I moved the bulb back to the passenger side and realized it wasn't working. So, went to the auto parts store, and bought two new xenon bulbs. Long story short, two bulbs and one ballast later, both headlights are now working.

[Tahoe12]

Glad you figured it out!

I was about to say, it sure looked reminisced of a failing Xenon bulb. They start to flicker at start-up when they are reaching the end of their life. I'm on set 3 in 8 years and everyone started to flicker towards the end. Eventually they stop flickering as they warm-up, until they just wont start anymore.

I've tried the cheap route via Ebay and those bulbs last 2 months tops. Name-brand bulbs are worth the investment on this front.

Happy driving.