We learned that in the C6, the headlight bulbs are so called Bi Xenon HID bulbs, and the high beam is achieved by a little flap being moved. In Xavier the high beams were not working, and it will need to pass the ITV very soon.

The biggest issue with this car, is that we had no way to remove the headlight, because it´s not very simple to do so, and we don´t have access to a garage where we can do such things.  In order to get to see what´s  inside the lamp, it had to be taken out from the car.

“Bi-Xenon HID headlight bulbs also have a more complex design compared to regular Xenon bulbs. Activating the brights on regular Xenons is done electrically as opposed to mechanically for Bi-Xenons.

As such, Bi-Xenons have a special mechanism to create the extra light for when the brights (high beam) are activated. Typically, this mechanism either pushes the bulb forward or pulls it backwards, which impacts the amount of light and the direction of the light beam, creating incremental light exhibited by high beams.

Bi-Xenon Vs. Hi-Low Headlight Bulbs

Bi-Xenon and Hi-Low HID bulbs have one main thing in common, they are both dual-beam bulbs. As explained above, dual-beam bulbs cover both the high and the low beam in one single bulb.

The difference between Bi-Xenon and Hi-Low Xenon HID headlight bulbs is that Bi-Xenons are powered entirely by Xenon gas while Hi-Low Xenon HID bulbs are powered by Xenon gas for the low beam and halogen for the high beam.” (source)

As a fun fact, there are technicians at the ITV (MOT) who suggested  a C6 owner to change the high beam bulb 😀 This is how little is known about these cars…

In our case, there is a very very obvious problem with a cable, and it surely looks like it is going to the mechanism that activates the high beams. Now we need to collect the lamps and fix this broken cable.

P.S. It is not advised to fix this things at home. Xenon lights are quite dangerous, components can store high voltages.