Xenon Headlights - Need Advice

Just the other day I was driving at night and noticed that the high beams did not work. When I got home also noticed that the high beam flashers and the fog lights did not work either. Since the car is still under factory warranty, I took it to the dealer for service. Two days later get a call from the dealer and received a surprise. The car is a 05-C4S and I purchased it from the same Porsche dealer with only 10k miles. The surprise is, according to the dealer, is that the Xenon lights in the car were not installed at the factory and that the Xenons were probably installed by the original owner. Apparently the connections to the headlights from the factory are different depending on the type of lights. If the car does not come from the factory with Xenons, the owner can up-grade to the same, but the connections to the high-beams, high-beam flashers and fog lights are different and will not work unless you do extensive new wiring. The dealer told me that I have the option to reverting to the original lheadlights at no charge since the car was certified by the dealer. I reviewed the original window sticker and sure enough the Xenon's were not listed as optional equipment. Would you guys revert back to the original headlights or stay with the Xenons? All other headlight functions work as intended. To all you guys buying pre-owned cars, you might want to check this item out if the car is equipt with Xenons.

Sounds very fishy to me....To my knowledge there is no additional wiring needed. If it is different, you only need a light harness, which is NOT extensive. maybe a few hundred in parts. Since the car was certified, I would have them fix my lights, not give me cheaper lights...tell them you bought a car that had Xenons on it and you want them working....period. Its not your fault they didnt check them thouroughly....how do you know its not the bulbs? If they wanna put halogens on it, then tell them you want the Xenons. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES would I let them take my Xenon lights and give me Halogens in return....what will happen is some parts guy or mechanic will either sell them on ebay or simply ask someone without Xenons if they wanna upgrade at a "good price"....they will make some money on the side.

Is it possible the original owner upgraded using an aftermarket kit and mulched the wiring harness to the headlamp in order to get it to work?

AFAIK, Xenon lights and Halogen lights ARE significantly different, not just different bulbs. For one thing, the Xenons are self-leveling. I have no doubt that extensive re-wiring is needed to convert from Halogens to Xenons and have them work right. It is possible the previous owner shoe-horned the Xenons in there without the needed re-wiring, and that's why things don't work well now. Fair is fair, I suppose. Here is my .02. If the wiring was not done right by the previous owner, and the car was sold as-is with no specific mention of Xenon lights, then it is fair that the dealership will fix it so that the original Halogen lights will work right. If the wiring was not done right, but the car was sold to you advertised and certified as having Xenons, then it is fair that the dealership should now do the correct extensive re-wiring for Xenons and shoulder the cost. Just my .02.

if you use xenons in a non xenon car you only have low beams. but as you bought the car with xenons i would make the dealer pony up s they should have checked high beams and fogs on the cpo inspection

Thanks for the input guys. I am going to the dealer tomorrow to speak with the sales rep. that sold me the car. This is my third P car that I have purchased from them. I'll see how good they really are????? Will keep you guys informed.

did they change this for 02+? I know the 99-01's it was simply to install the lights. FWIW...I have 02+ Xenons, with high beams and fog lights working on a non Xenon 99. When I did the facelift, I got Xenons....the shop that did the facelift didnt say anything about getting xenons or non xenons as I supplied the lights...They used factory wiring harnesses...maybe they got the appropraite harnesses for the Xenon lights? But I was under the impression that it was like the 99-01's and they would work WITHOUT the auto leveling.

hey newport, when you did your facelift, did you have to buy new wiring harness for the 02 xenons? it won't work with your existing 99 wiring harness correct?

Exactly....the new lights need a new harness. Be VERY careful who you go to...some buy the VW connector, then splice your old harness to it....My guy uses only Porsche parts and uses the factory harness so the lights just plug in to the 99-01 car.

manny please pm me what dealer this is ?