Auto High Beams not working

[Mrob1]

I would go on the drive with the techs and have them show me when the lights are going to high beam and functioning properly.

I've told both dealerships and the concierge multiple times that I'm happy, willing and ready to show up anytime so they can demonstrate it's working or to verify that it's not. Neither dealership is willing to do that.

The 2nd dealership was originally supposed to have someone ride with me when I dropped it off to verify it's not working. Just a theory, but after hearing me describe what the first dealership did to try and fix it and looking up the service history in Oasis, the 2nd dealership could have decided this was a can of worms they didn't want to open, hence, suddenly, no one is available to ride with me, leaving them free to say it works fine for them, just like the first dealership did.

 

[Black Label]

Wow. Good luck, I hope it gets resolved.

 

[Mrob1]

Wow. Good luck, I hope it gets resolved.

Thank you!!!

 

[Jeyaar456]

These are the AHB options on the dash, the APIM and IPC on my model, 4 of these can be disabled or enabled via a OBD diagnostic tool.
1 on the APIM
3 on the IPC
The dash option.
I'm not sure if the AHB Telltale light is the blue or the white logo.

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[Action]

Would some of those choices be outlined in the owner's manual?

Action

 

[Jeyaar456]

Would some of those choices be outlined in the owner's manual?

Action

Only the dash option,[ page 93]
the dealership should be able to access the others.

 

[Mrob1]

Only the dash option,[ page 93]
the dealership should be able to access the others.

That's awesome information, thank you so much! The AHB telltale is white, it looks like a light with the letter A in it.

 

[Mrob1]

Time for another update...it's a good news/bad news situation.

The good news: After hours of testing, experimenting and false leads, I finally figured out why the auto high beams were not working, it's a weird interaction between the system and my dash cam. If I turn off the dash cam, the auto high beams start working perfectly. What's really strange is that once the system starts to work, you can turn the dash cam back on and the auto high beams continue to work until you shut off the car. When you restart, you have to turn off the dash cam again. Even stranger is I have the exact same dash cam in my Mustang and the auto high beams work just fine there, never a problem.

The bad news: There's still no auto high beam (AHB) indicator light in the instrument panel. The 2nd dealership replaced the instrument panel cluster and it didn't make any difference. They also didn't set the odometer to the correct mileage, left a trim piece hanging off the bottom of the steering column and didn't reapply the firmware update that fixed the missing song title info in the upper left corner, so I ended up with more problems than I started with.

The 2nd dealership now says it's either A) Continentals don't have the AHB indicator even though it's clearly shown and described in the owner's manual OR B) the selling dealership screwed something up when they replaced the AHB sensor in the rear view mirror when they first worked on it, take your pick.

The Lincoln concierge wants me to try a 3rd Lincoln dealer, but I'm not sure I'm up for that. The "service" from both larger dealerships has been really bad. There are 2 small, rural Ford/Lincoln dealers left within about a 90 minute radius to pick from, but I might try and get my local Ford only dealer to take a look. I've bought 3 new Mustangs and a new Taurus SHO from them in the last 12 years. Their service department is much better than anything I've gotten from the 2 Lincoln dealers, although they didn't seem like they wanted to get involved when I asked them before going to Lincoln dealer #2. Might be time to step away from all this for a bit!

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[Jeyaar456]

Dash cam ?
How is it wired that it can interfere with the car’s in built systems ?

 

[Mrob1]

Dash cam ?
How is it wired that it can interfere with the car’s in built systems ?

The dash cam has both front and rear facing cameras in one unit. After a lot of research, I figured out that the rear facing camera has infrared lighting to help it see better in the dark and that infrared light is causing the problem. The dash cam is mounted just below the rearview mirror, which has the light sensor for the auto high beam system. Somehow the infrared light affects the AHB light sensor and prevents the system from coming on. I can even cover the rear camera with my hand and the AHB system will start working and stay working after I remove my hand!

Turns out you can disable the infrared light in the dash cam menu settings, which is what I decided to do. If someone rear ends me at night, I think their headlights will be enough for the dash cam to capture it.

 

[Incoln Own]

I would have never guessed a dash cam could cause these issues. Planned to buy a dash cam soon so I'll be looking to find one without IR or at least some setting that can disable it.

Thanks for chiming in on the solution. Too many posts that don't ever see the solution.

 

[Jeyaar456]

Glad you have a resolution, Ha,ha, resolution? dash-cam, geddit ? Cough cough.

But if we'd known you'd fitted an aftermarket dash-cam system our collective Lt. Columbo glands would have throbbed somewhat and the thread might have been a bit shorter.

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[Mrob1]

Glad you have a resolution, Ha,ha, resolution? dash-cam, geddit ? Cough cough.

But if we'd known you'd fitted an aftermarket dash-cam system our collective Lt. Columbo glands would have throbbed somewhat and the thread might have been a bit shorter.

It just never registered with me that the dash cam could have anything to do with the problem, especially since I have the same dash cam in my Mustang and the AHB system has always worked perfectly in it. I really just stumbled on it by accident in the Continental!

 

[G-999866]

Since the car is under warranty, I shouldn’t have to pay a 3rd party tech to diagnose and repair this issue. I also doubt the ability of any 3rd party tech to be able to work on today’s computerized vehicles successfully.

I know you probably already checked this but is there anything blocking the through the windshield sensor. My high beams don't work if its a little foggy out, it doesn't take much to fool the system.

 

[Mrob1]

I know you probably already checked this but is there anything blocking the through the windshield sensor. My high beams don't work if its a little foggy out, it doesn't take much to fool the system.

That wasn't the problem, although I did check to make sure the area was clean. It was a real challenge to finally figure out it was the infrared light on my dash cam causing the issue!