2010 Cloudy Headlight Lens Warranty Repair Leads to Broken $600 Sensor

[stas_]

:complain

Long story short, I went in for a free recall repair of my headlights and now I have an annoying, permanent, flashing AFS OFF indicator on my dashboard.

I left the car in for the day (7:30 AM). At 5PM they were still working on it. Turns out that there is a sensor (part# BBP3-51-21-Y) underneath the car that measures how far down the suspension is and auto-levels the headlights. It was corroded and when they lifted the car up, it snapped. They claim that it was just bad luck and that anyone who lifted the car would run into this.

The dealership said that they could sell me a replacement for $600+tax. It's basically a $3.00 potentiometer.

I googled the issue and it looks like this problem also comes up a lot with RX-8s and with Prii, because the sensor is not adequately weatherproofed.

So now I have to decide between:

a). Paying through the nose. (I found the part on some online OEM resellers for "only" $400).
b). Living with a flashing light on the dash, non-leveling and non-swiveling headlights. (This feature also gets disabled when the sensor is missing).

[ottoyu34]

Dealership? if so, ask them to pay for it.

[stas_]

Dealership. They weaseled out of it. They said that the car is quite rusty and that it's not their fault.

[Lmmorden]

Dealership. They weaseled out of it. They said that the car is quite rusty and that it's not their fault.

I always take a vid of my console to note the km as well as any indicators before giving the keys

[Dave_The_BMXER]

2010 quite rusty?

Fight more. Cause a stink. Poop on their floor.

[stas_]

Yeah they said "it looks like it's been sitting".

I just bought it with 126k on the odometer.

[XTOTHEL]

Escalade the situation. Talk to managers, if manager doesn't want to talk, request to talk to the owner. You just need to be persistent. Don't back down until they fix it for you.

Also which part of the sensor broke? Maybe you can fix it yourself?

[Lmmorden]

Escalade the situation. Talk to managers, if manager doesn't want to talk, request to talk to the owner. You just need to be persistent. Don't back down until they fix it for you.

Also which part of the sensor broke? Maybe you can fix it yourself?

Please don't " escalade " anything ... Only desperate housewives do that

[McGuyver_3]

Rusty has NOTHING to do with your headlights AFS not working. Take a look at the headlights possibly something was not plugged in correctly. the tech not immediately noticing this would arise my suspicions.
Be persistent with the dealer. If WORST comes to WORST then I do not know how hands on you are, I would suggest removing the headlights and removing the Xenon control unit, You will see the connections going in to the swiveling part of the projector. There will be 2 plugs one for the BI-Xenon shroud and one for the AFS. Make sure they are also both plugged in. Could have come out when the headlights were separated. Technically speaking from experience they should NOT separate easily but considering dealers are opening and closing them with a heat gun.... I would be very sketched out by this.

[stas_]

They said rust caused the headlight leveling sensor to seize up.

The head tech claims that he disassembled and reassembled the whole headlight assembly to make sure that everything connected up.

He also said that they tested the sensor unit with a multi meter and found that it produced flat resistance (he wrote 1.5V in the report though, weird) regardless of lever position.

[TheMAN]

your car went in with fully functioning headlights, why should you expect less afterwards?
the fact that mazda screwed up these stupid headlights to begin with means this unnecessary trip to the dealer.... they screwed it up, someone other than you should be paying for it!

[McGuyver_3]

They said rust caused the headlight leveling sensor to seize up.

The head tech claims that he disassembled and reassembled the whole headlight assembly to make sure that everything connected up.

He also said that they tested the sensor unit with a multi meter and found that it produced flat resistance (he wrote 1.5V in the report though, weird) regardless of lever position.

Resistance and voltage are 2 very different things. Not sure how the headlighting system functions with 1.5V as to me that sounds off. I would be expecting more of a 5V or 12V. Or if it runs can high and low it would be more like 2.4V and 2.6V. I would ask what the heck that means. I would lay in to the dealer, like TheMAN has said, it went in working and came out non functional. Something just doesn't make sense to me. I work at a dealer and if something new happens when the car goes out and it was within reach of something I have done you better believe I am double and triple checking my work because generally it is something I DID

[goodcase]

I'd make a big stink about it. If they insist its not their problem, get the attention of the media.

[stas_]

McGuyver_3 he said they took the unit out, put it in a vice and measuree it there, so it wouldn't have been in the headlight circuitry...

[m_bisson]

You went in for a recall repair of your headlights. The head lights no longer work because of the work the dealer did.....


So, you gotta grow a pair and go back to the dealership.

[TheMAN]

and why did they go ****ing around with the sensor when all they were supposed to do was fix the headlights?
something doesn't sound right to me

[gotak]

Look for a junk yard part?

[greyseason]

and why did they go ****ing around with the sensor when all they were supposed to do was fix the headlights?
something doesn't sound right to me

This.

id be pissed

[Booter22]

At worst case inform mazda canada. They usually bend to try and help if there dealer is useless.

[stas_]

At worst case inform mazda canada. They usually bend to try and help if there dealer is useless.

What do you mean?

[S.F.W.]

What do you mean?

Call Mazda Canada, explain the situation, see if they will help out.

[zzz3]

Which dealer was this?

[stas_]

Which dealer was this?

Avante

[McGuyver_3]

Avante

sorry to say but ever since they switched owners they were never the same. My reason for not going back

[Lmmorden]

To switch owners and stay the same would be some feat

[zzz3]

homieG

[homieG]

Thanks zzz3

stas_ please PM me your name & number and I will have someone in Service contact you to try to resolve this.

Thanks