Other XC90 Problem: Override Active Bending Headlights / Headlights Work But Are

[ShadowDancer]

Hi from across the pond. I'm usually on SwedeSpeed, but I thought I would give this forum a try and hope there would be some insight on my problem.

Problem: Both headlights still provide light but are frozen pointing 15 deg to the left. I am confident only the right headlight is the cause of the problem.Frankly, I can live without ABL - I just want the headlights to return to zero. Is there an override or manual defeat?

Symptoms: ABL button's green activation LED is blinking on and off continuously. Headlight Service required message on the info display.Hitting the ABL deactivate button does nothing; LED continues to blink. Turning the car off and on also does nothing. Headlights refuse to return to 'zero'.


Cause:: Deer ran out in front of me on the way home from a fight party. I saw it flash out of right side of my eye, braked hard and cut the wheel hard left which lead to more of a glancing blow on the right corner rather than a direct full-on hit.

I inspected the damage - no dents or scratches, but the top housing of my right front headlight is fractured in a few places.

I can live with the cracks. I'm literally going to fill them with Lexel and call it job done. Outside of the few fractures on the light housing the lens, bezels, reflectors, etc, all look pristine.

[SwissXC90]

Dismantle affected headlight

inspect internals for mechanical damage

Realign internals to point straight ahead

Replace any broken internal parts from a donor headlamp

Reassemble and test

OR

Replace headlamp assembly with a 2nd hand one !

[ShadowDancer]

Do you know where I can find instructions / directions on headlight disassembly?

The last step would of course be headlight replacement but they're shockingly expensive and I would like to to avoid it as, I would probably have to replace it and the left light's bulb in order to maintain color and light out match.

[SwissXC90]

You can easily swap bulbs from old to new lamp

There are no diassembly instructions as Volvo never intended the headlamps to be disassembled and repaired. they are intended to be replaced as one assembly.

The lens are glued on
You have to bake the headlamp in an oven at 50°C to soften the glue, and pry the lens off.
Then inspect, repair, and reassemble, making sure you re-glue the headlamp lens on.

A 2nd hand headlamp is a thousand times easier.

[Tannaton]

If you have access to VIDA you can manually move the headlights up and down and left and right.

However - your problem may not be the headlight at all (though it would seem likely given the deer bump) - get the codes read using VIDA - there is a computer just to control the headlamps and this logs errors etc.

[ShadowDancer]

I'll have to give that a try.
The extent of the damages is so slight too. LF is cockeyed, RF outer housing is minimally fractured.