New headlights, no more film!
 

Just got back from the dealer after getting new R and L headlight assemblies installed at no charge. Yay!! No more nasty film. Hopefully these new ones will not develop the same condition. Neither the service manager nor the tech could positively identify the origins of the "goo". I'm thinking something to do with the manufacturing process. Oh well, I'm happy now.

For those of you with the same problem, take it to your dealer and have them replaced. It didn't take too much effort to have them cover it. All I did was ask. I have 13,300 mi and have owned her since Feb. '04 so, it was outside the 12,000 mi/12 month window. But, they did it anyway.

On a side note, if you have the standard headlights, asking them to buy you the HID's instead won't produce real positive results. I tried:)

I was in today for the N Flash and the headlight film. They looked and then ordered me new ones. I read somewhere that they changed the manufacturer they were using.

What exactly is this "film" you speak of?

My headlights ('05 with 5500miles) has a very, very slight "haze" to the lights, is that what you mean?

Just asking so I know what to look for.

It looks like moisture build up on the inside of the headlight lens that never goes away! I took my car to my dealership and they replaced them as well. No questions asked, they said it's under warranty and did it.

this is for older 04 builds...I'm not sure if I have this...it looks like I have dust on mine 24/7 is that it? mine is a May 2003 build, 2nd boat

I just turned over 13K miles....I've had this film on mine, but didn't know I could have it replaced...will they still do it?

I think I may have it, but I'm afraid of screwing up the alignment of my headlights, so I think I'd rather just live with it. I can't imagine them getting it exactly right and if they didn't, it would drive me absolutely insane.

Wait, 12,000mi/12 month--What part of the warranty are you referring to? I thought our warranties were 50,000 mi/5 years?

To me it looks like moisture, or an oil film. You'll notice it more at night when the lights are on. I think the composition of the plastic is being affected by the heat of the HID lights. Hopefully it's true that they replaced the supplier.

48 months - 50k miles

The dealer knows of this problem on earlier builds and replaces it no questions asked. Just make sure it's film inside the headlights and it does look like haze. Had mine changed last year. No problems so far.

I have 8k miles on mine and I have aftermarket hid's will they replace it? after all they aligned it for me with the hid's.... hmmmm...

Is this on the TSB? Im too lazy to look

Our warranty is actually 48 month/50,000 miles. What I was referring to was the 12 month/12,000 miles "service adjustment" period. What it basically says is within the first 12 months/12,000 miles the dealer will make any repairs or replacements not normally associated with warranty-type issues. Such as alignment, headlights, etc... Basically, for the first 12 months you're covered against manufacturing defects, which is what this headlight issue falls into. I also had my entire drivers seat replaced within the first year due to the mounting hardware always coming loose. Normally that would be considered "wear and tear" but, within the first 12 months it is covered under the "service adjustment".

If you look on page #9 of your warranty information supplental booklet that accompanied the owners manual it will give a description of what I am talking about.

Hope it helps.

Not that I'm aware of. Complain enough and they should take care of it.

lmao...I had my headlight assemblies replaced about 2 months ago for the film. The first time I drove at night I could barely see 5 feet in front of me. I took it in and they adjusted the lights. Next time I drove at night I could hunt squirel from either side of my car. I was lighting up road signs from a half mile away. I've been tweaking them off and on my own now and just about have them back to the way they were.

Mine is 9 or 11/2003, I can't remember and mine has the film. So May 2003 may have it also.

Just got mine replaced last week. Look fine so far

I see that some people claim their headlights were not aimed properly after the lenses were replaced. Does this pertain to HID or the standard lights? I thought the HID are self leveling, therefore the adjustment corrects itself and aiming is not necessary.

ok I definitely see the film...it looks more like a poorly formed piece not a film...but hey I'm bringing it in...will be nice to have no more dings in the headlight casing :)

I'll complete that and painting the rotors :) all on a free rental car :D

HIDs in my case. The lights still auto-level but if your aim is off to begin with then you have poorly aimed, self leveling lights :)

hmm Great post

I took mine in to the dealer in November 04 to have them do something about the headlights and nothing was done. THey just notated it. Also, how can you make the headlights adjust? I would like to see it.

I just got my car back from the repair shop and they cant seem to aim the HIDs correctly...im frustrated with them already but I was wondering if anybody had the shop manual sheet where it tells you how to DIY...the right HID is still stock by the left HID is new and has a weird curve in the beam...the curve looks like a letter C turned on its side...

That is what they did to mine when they replaced the headlight lenses they told me that there is no way to align it and I have base model I'm surprise even with the Xenon lights are having problems. I took it back again to have them align it its better but its like cm's off which is no big deal when I have time I'll do it myself. After they replaced my headlight lenses the second time I took it there they voided my lighting system lol since they found out I have aftermarket HID's but oh well they replaced my headlight lenses yay!!

Here are the pages of the shop manual that deal with aiming the HL's. The reference to the HL Leveling Switch is a bit curious, because they are apparently referring to the dashboard light dimming switch (see the page identifying this switch). :confused:

Good luck!

That is curious..the switch in the third picture looks like the Mz3 hid adjustment.

Yeah--curious. It clearly shows the position of the switch in the far left slot where the RX-8 has a blank (at least in mine). Also, step #9 instructs you to set the switch to the 0 position. (I guess you can assume the switch is set to zero since it doesn't exist. :) )

Hmmmmmm. Looks like the tech writers may have screwed up on this one.

I now see the film on my HID's also. And actually its really bad. I don't have the switch that was mentioned in the post above either...

I am calling my dealer for HID replacement, rust on the rotors, squeaking brakes....and some interior gripes. They are going to hate me.

Remember, they get paid by Mazda for the warranty work, so it's money in their pockets they would not otherwise have if you weren't bugging them. :) So, if they display any hate, take your business elsewhere.

well the left light got replaced bc of an accident i got into...ill have to show you what the lights are doing in a picture...
I can really see a difference in the new housing vs the old one...u can see the projector clearly in the new one. the old one all u see is a blue cloud...

Well my new lenses were ordered and are now in. I'm scheduled to have them replaced next Wednesday. I am hoping they don't screw up the aim, because I will not be happy. I don't understand how that can be, if they are self leveling they should fall into place. :confused:

I'm so stinkin' lazy. I have the film, but have not gone to complain yet...

Lenses (HID) were replaced last Wednesday and they look much better. As for the aim, I didn't notice any difference. I saw the headlights prior and they are one complete assembly, not just the lenses. There is no aiming involved per the service tech, they are completed at the factory and are self leveling. Well, we'll wait and see how these hold up.

I suspect what the tech meant was that he didn't want to bother with checking/setting the aim of the headlights. See shop manual for the headlight aiming procedure. (Tried to upload the pages but received a server error so you'll have to check the Body section of the shop manual if you have one.) Suffice to say, there definitely is an aiming procedure.

Can someone post a pic of this "film"?

You mean a video?

Re: new headlights, no more film...

Let's see, girlfriend bought a new bra and you bought a new digital camera? :D

1.3L

and now the 'aim' is off... :D

Anybody has a TSB for this?

Mazda supposedly is "aware" of this issue with early cars (mine was one of the first ones... July'03) but I am sure the dealer will tell me there is "nothing wrong with it"

I have the film and it's pretty "foggy" "hazy" inside.

My car has 41K miles... Will they still cover this? I am the second owner BTW...

Anybody has an update list of TSBs"

Thanks
Carlos

went in to dealer today.....thought they wud just replace the headlight lenses but they installed brand new headlights instead. no oil film. Cool :p

just found out my headlights are not aiming properly after driving in the night. they seem to be pointing downward compared to previous ones and i can clearly see the separation where the lights end on the road. will bring it in to the same dealer tomorrow hopefully they can be aligned back properly. ughh :(

yeah I had my HIDs replaced last week, I drove at night for the first time just the other day and the right beam is practically aimed at the ground, even when using the high beams the right side is dark, its maddening

draco...has the problem been fixed ?

going in today, to see if they'll fix this...I'm approaching 15k miles...

These look like adjustments related to halogen bulbs, not the Xenon HID.

Mt Lights are definately not as accurate as before the Lens replacment (Stup ass Techs).

How do they adjust? Every thing I read on this forum appears to speak of the halogen bulbs not the HID.

This is how they look now. Is this normal? Maybe I just never noticed because I wasn't analyzing them like no.

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i have never replaced my HIDs and they look just like that salituro. the left side should be a bit lower to keep the bright light out of oncoming driver's eyes.

That is the correct pattern for the HID's. you can verify that this pattern is thrown by each light individually by putting something in front of one headlight at night. both headlights will throw this pattern, usually there is a little squarish area in the center of the z where one headlight is full brightness and the other is in shadow, kinda like this: (the w is the partially bright area, x is very dim. this is caused by the overlap of the two headlight patterns.

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Thanks guys. So I guess I am OK. I just thought that previously the cutoff of the beam was further out. About how far in front would you say the bright cutoff is? To me, mine look like they are 25-30 feet, but this could be a bad guess. Also, when my high beams are on, should I still notice that shadow section between the HID and the high beams or should it then become full.

my headlights have some white film on the outside that seems to scrape off with my fingernail... is this the film everyone is talking about??

finally got my headlights aligned rite today. dealer had a hard time figuring out why my rite headlight still aimed low after replacing it twice so they had to call MNA to get the guidance. i was told auto-leveling wont work on first replacement so they needed to reset the auto-leveling computer :rolleyes: