Hey guys... I have a problem with the sensor. So I was adjusting my swaybars and stupidly thought it'd be a good idea to loosen the headlight leveling pendulum arm thing (later found out what this was) in order for me to adjust the endlink. Well I must have done something as now the malfunction indicator light on the dash has appeared and didn't go away after a battery pull. Now my headlights are totally fine height wise, so I'm thinking all I need to do is adjust that leveling arm properly? Does anyone know how to do this? Is it supposed to be aimed at a certain degree? I also wasn't sure of the torque specs from the service bulletin if anyone can shed some light on those? Thanks.

 

As long as it's approximately in the same position, I don't think the actual angle of the sensor matters. Once you reconnect it, you would need to manually level your headlights (following the guide). Then any change in the pitch of the car would adjust the headlight level.
Why you are now getting the error light might be a couple of things. 1. you may have mounted the arm in a totally bad angle and have busted the sensor (should be easy to check), or 2. you have moved it beyond its' normal operating range and may have had a borderline sensor that has now failed. Only way to check this one might be to open it up.

That's about all I got. Good luck.

 

So I discovered yesterday when I when to take off the arm that the sensor works like a potentiometer and you can adjust it by turning the bolt inside the sensor that holds the arm on. So I started playing with it and forgot where it was initially, so I just turned it from one end to the other and tried to approximately determine the center. After this, the light disappeared. I turned my lights on, then got in the car and turned it on, watching the headlights raise ever so slightly meaning the sensor is indeed working just fine.

Now I went for a drive and everything seemed ok, but when I later drove a little farther, I noticed the malfunction light will now intermittently come on for about a second or two randomly, then go away. I don't think my headlights are messed up at all though, so is there some calibration that needs to be done to the sensor by varying the input voltage or something to a specific setting? I didn't "break" anything when I mistakenly removed the arm a few days ago, but I know something isn't set properly for the light to be coming and going even with the lights off in the day, which leads me to believe the calibration isn't right.


Oh and btw, are you saying that if I just re-aim my headlights, the sensor should basically recalibrate itself and I should be fine. My headlights could potentially be a little lower than before, but it's not that easy to tell since I've been driving in well lit areas anyways, but I'll adjust them if necessary since I've done it in the past and it was relatively easy.

 

Bump. Anyone have advice regarding the sensor? Mine is NOT bad, but intermittently will come on then turn off, and all I did was unscrew the pendulum arm last week by mistake for this all to occur. Lights still autolevel fine as hard as it is to believe. Should I just reaim them eventhough they seem fine, just so the sensor recalibrates I guess you could say?

 

I would try having someone sit in the driver seat, all other seats and trunk empty, and mark on the sensor where the arm sits. Then, remove the sensor, remove the arm, open it up, turn it so that the variable resistor is in its mid-point, then re-attach the arm to match the mark you made. Then, re-install the sensor.

I had to do something relatively similar today, as I discovered that the brackets for the rear sensor were totally bent out of shape, and the link arm was broken. This was causing the MIL that was on when I bought the car a couple weeks ago. I had to take the sensor and "main" bracket off, bend it back into shape, and then re-assemble and attach the sensor and bracket and duct-tape the link arm back together.

Obviously my bent bracket was not putting the sensor in the exact location as it was out of the factory, but by noting where the arm was in a "neutral" position and setting that to be where the variable resistor was in the middle, I was able to clear the MIL and get the auto-leveling to work without even having to re-adjust the headlights at all.

Note that everything I've mentioned only has to do with the rear sensor, if your forward sensor is having issues, I haven't even so much as located that part, so I'm no help.

For mine, all I need is to find the little connector arm at a junk yard or something, and I'm as good as new. The dealer would have undoubtedly charged me for a new sensor assembly, and I was able to fix it for the cost of a foot or so of duct tape.

 

Actually, the front sensor is the exact same procedure as when I accidentally removed the arm while adjusting my swaybar the other week, I caused the light to come on the dash permanently for the time being. A day later, I read a page on how the sensor works and figured that I might have just hit the resistor toward one end too far, so I played with the turn piece and set it to the middle, then put the arm back on, lowered the car, turned on the headlights, then the car, and watched the autolevel adjust slightly to compensate me sitting in the driver's seat, then everything worked again.

One guy said he thought the position of the sensor didn't matter, but I feel it is, because mine went from permanently on (but still working auto-level), to now intermittent on (like barely happens, but still does every now and then), but still functioning fine. My headlights also aren't aimed at the sky or ground during this, so I think I'll just have to play with the sensor again and turn the piece until I get it within what spec should be, then I'd hope everything is back to normal.

But yeah, thanks again for the info. I don't have to re-aim my headlights for nothing. Haha.

 

I have factory hids, and just recently I noticed my driver's side projector hid is dimmer than the right. Could this have something to do with the auto leveling? And where is the auto leveling sensor located? I have taken my headlights out completely and have not seen anything like it.

 

The sensor is on the chasis near the sway bar endlinks on the front and rear subframes. And this could be related to the sensor as I believe my friend noticed the same on my car, but I am yet to confirm

 

One of the three prongs also came off as I removed my sensor. Hate to ruin anyone's appetite but here goes. Guess I will be looking for a new front sensor now go get rid of that $#^%@ MIL

 

That link doesn't seem to work anymore...
Is there another link to the TSB somewhere? that's the only one I can find on the forums and googling only takes me here

 

Does anyone have a link to the TSB? I was hoping to do this DIY this weekend, but the updated link is dead, too.

 

As my mother used to say to me "use your bloody eyes", there is a TSB on the first page of this thread in post #1....

 

oh superdurp.
I didn't see that the attachment was there at the bottom under the pics. *facepalm*

 

I had the same problem. When I got the connector off and looked in, I could see lots of corrosion and the end of one of the pins.

Any recommended way to replace the pin? or should I just bite the bullet and buy the replacement sensor?

 

Oh BTW...

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...4/#post3258119

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I just wanted to say thanks to the OP.

I opened mine after getting a malfunctioning indicator on my dash. Despite the horror stories here mine was just very mildly corroded.