Removing and installing gas discharge lamp L13/L14, headlights with gas discharge lamps and cornering lights — VW
Removing and installing gas discharge lamp L13/L14, headlights with gas discharge lamps and cornering lights on VW: factory workshop procedure.
Workshop procedure for VW — the factory write-up, straight from real workshop data.
📋 Procedure
Removing and installing gas discharge lamp
L13
/
L14
, headlights with gas discharge lamps and cornering lights
WARNING
Risk of death due to high voltage! Risk of injury and environmental pollution!
High voltage is supplied to the gas discharge bulbs. If they are not handled properly they can cause serious or fatal injuries.
If work on high-voltage components is to be performed after a headlight has been removed (e.g change gas discharge bulb), the battery earth strap must be disconnected and the residual voltage in the headlight must be discharged before the headlight is removed.
Observe operation and safety notes for gas discharge lamps
Electrical System, General Information
Rep. gr.
94
Operation and safety notes for gas discharge lamps
.
Note
The illustrations show the renewal of the
left gas discharge lamp
L13
.
Renewal of the
right gas discharge lamp
L14
is analogous.
Left gas discharge lamp
L13
and
right gas discharge lamp
L14
can be checked by the final control diagnosis for the
onboard supply control unit
J519
Chapter
.
Removing:
Special tools and workshop equipment required
Torque wrench
V.A.G 1410
Switch off ignition and all electrical loads, and pull out ignition key.
Headlights with gas discharge lamps and cornering lights
Chapter
Turn cover cap
1
anti-clockwise and remove it.
Pull connector
arrow
downwards off
gas discharge lamp starter unit
N195
1
.
Turn
gas discharge lamp starter unit
N195
1
in
direction of arrow
and carefully remove it from reflector together with
gas discharge lamp
.
Gas discharge lamp
L13
/
L14
: D3S, 42V/35W
Installing:
Installation is carried out in the reverse order. When installing observe the following:
Caution
Risk of damage to the headlight.
Do not touch the glass part of the bulb with bare fingers. When the light bulb is switched on, the heat would vaporise the oil of the finger prints which would then settle on the reflector, impairing the brightness of the headlight. Wear clean fabric gloves when inserting bulbs.
Make sure the housing cover is correctly seated when installing. The ingress of water will lead to permanent damage to the headlight.
Check functions of headlight.
Check headlight setting and adjust headlight as necessary
Chapter
.
TorqFix answers live for your specific car — tell it the engine code and it serves the matching sequence, torque figures and wiring for that exact variant.
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Who makes these pages, and how
TorqFix was built by a mechanic — after a 2,700 km drive with five roadside repairs that no diagnostic tool could explain.
The figures on this page come from manufacturer workshop documentation and are shown as they are. The page is assembled automatically from that data — it is not written by an AI. The AI works in the chat, where it answers for your specific car. It writes nothing here.
Variants of the same model differ. Cross-check torque against the factory manual for your engine before final tightening.
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The story behind TorqFix →Workshop data on this page last updated 20 Sep 2026.