right you lot, i need help to get my lights aligned. my nearside light is pointing skywards so i need to lower it. the adjuster is very tight so i need to know do i need to turn the adjuster clockwise or anti clockwise when standing in front of the car (facing it of course) i am thinking anti clockwise when looking at the car.

And Argonaught, please don't say do a search as i have been looking at an old post of yours from 2005 asking for help on headlight issues

If it's pointing skywards then you've put the bulb in wrongly aligned. It wouldn't suddenly change position


Look in through the front of the headlight, the bulb must be directly behind the circular reflector. It's very easy to get it wrong, it's also easy to get it right if you keep checking through the front whilst you're installing it

TIP have the wiring and connector attached to the bulb whilst you're installing it then you have something easy to hold on to whilst you clip over each side the spring clip with one finger. Once you have one side of the clip on then you can relax whilst you clip over the remaining side

Is your headlight adjuster motor moving the beam when you select an appropriate level from the dash?

It usually goes all the way up when it dies. You should double check that before removing any bulbs.

Does your adjustment motor keep making a noise like it is constantly trying to adjust, possibly being stuck? Because thats the problem that I have, although my lamps are alighned correctly still.

Thanks for your comments Deckchair. the bulb was initially installed incorrectly but i have now installed it correctly. The problem has come since then. All i need to do is turn the white adjuster that you raise or lower each individual light to align it correctly. My lhs light beam is higher than the rhs and is dazzling oncoming cars and also on high beam is lighting up the birds in the trees not the road.

Vladof, neither of my motors are working and that is an interesting point you make. i was just going to drop the light down and not worry about the electric adjuster as i never have a full car (use the wife's for that) I just need to know which way is down on the adjuster. clockwise or anticlockwise when looking at the car from the front.

If you don't hear any motor noise constantly and still get no response from the dash you should check the fuse and maybe you will solve your problem easily.

Personally I'd leave the adjuster well alone (they easily break I gather).

As Decks has already pointed out, the headlamp can't just suddenly move itself (unless you've pranged it maybe).

More likely to be bulb wrongly fitted or leveller motor disengaged from its fitting.

i've only had the car a month and only put in the neckburner bulbs last weekend. the beams from both sides differ in height. the rhs one was a little low so i raised it up a bit. the lhs one is high........i need to check the leveller motors as neither work. If the adjusters break then i will have lost nothing in trying unless by breaking the lights will move over every bump.

it is the same principle as left/right adjustment isn't it. all lights bar hid have a manual adjuster in my experience. Hondas have an allen bolt within the fitting, Fiat solution is to put a 3" bit of plastic on the back of the fitting that can sieze up.......

reference to handbook is take to dealer.

You may have a broken motor and because it was buzzing all the time the previous owner simply took out the fuse.

I have the same issue on one of the stilos, where one bulb is pointing at the trees and I hear a buzzing noise when it's one. The other one, even if adjusted to be fully up, it is still lower than the one with the broken motor.

It's not hard to fix, but you need to remove the bumper and take out the headlight. There are threads written as guides for this.

Personally I would first get some headlight alignment response, then I would see exactly where and what the problem is, then fix it appropriately.

If you don't care about the alignment just manually adjust them, but it's a nice feature to have.

all sorted now. squirted wd40 around the adjusters and adjusted them tonight. i was right, to lower the lights it is anti clockwise when facing the car.

Our 1.2 5 door Stilo failed MoT Friday as LH lamp points much too high and RH lamp is too low. Read forum and sprayed lots of WD40. Got three adjusters to work so far but they don't move the beams at all. Adjustment motors have never worked since we bought the car (at 10 months old) - we didn't know this until after the warranty expired when we asked local Fait dealer to change the LH bulb - ouch! The whole inner bit of the RH lamp is loose but I can't get it to point the right way. Can't get at the LH one. Garage says buy new headlamps. local motor factor says £96 each but these don't come with motors. Can anyone advise please before I take out another mortgage and go to Fiat. Thanks.

the first step is check the bulbs are in correctly. the base of the bulb should be flush with the light fitting all the way round and sit square within the reflector. if they are and the white manual adjusters aren't working you will need new lights. Get them from ebay. One thing to remember is that these white adjusters only move about a quarter turn at a time so will need a few turns before you will notice.

to get to the LH one take the battery out and unclip the battery surround. it moves out of the way and you can get to the back of the lights.

With regard to the motors they do rust up. i read (by doing a search) that VW motors fit and are a lot cheaper than fiat parts. As was said above if a motor packs in it may make the light shine too high. Find a friendly local mechanic rather than a main fiat stealer for this work

Hi, Welcome to the FF.

bens dad said:

The whole inner bit of the RH lamp is loose but I can't get it to point the right way.

Click to expand...

If the inner part of the lamp is loose, It's likely that it's come off the ball joint on the end of one of the adjusters or the adjustment motor.

If you do end up getting a new headlamp, be aware that 3 and 5 door headlamps are different and there are also versions with and without fog lamps. There are also normal filament bulb and HID Xenon types.