Technical Headlight Beam Adjustment

Currently reading:
Technical Headlight Beam Adjustment

Argonought

It's about GO! not SHOW!
Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
7,593
Points
1,070
Location
POOLE, Dorset
Has anyone got any technical info on beam adjustment? I realize this would normally be considered a main dealer job but there must be a guidebook setting for at least a basic setup.

It seams fairly obvious that all 4 beams should be adjusted on setting '0' but there seems to be only a vertical adjustment provided for each light unit (no horizontal that I can see). Precious little info on the FIAT technical CDs about this.
 
I think Argonought means he actually wants to set up/check the headlight alignment. An MOT station will normally do this for you for in minutes for a small fee. Trying to set your headlights DIY style is real hit and miss stuff and not recommended
 
Deckchair5 said:
An MOT station will normally do this for you for in minutes for a small fee. Trying to set your headlights DIY style is real hit and miss stuff and not recommended
Thanks Deckchair (y)

Mine's going in for an MOT/Service on Monday so I'll ask them to check it then.

I've always thought there was something slightly odd about the dipped beams and after upgrading the H7s noticed the beam was very clearly out of alignment. It was obvious that one of the bulbs had been changed so I think there's a possibility that the original bulb may have been inserted offset :eek: .

It will be interesting to see how the lights perform after re-alignment. I just hope the "Nationwide" garage knows how to do it. :)
 
My lights were badly adjusted when I got my Stilo so I took it to my local mechanic and he took one look and said take it to Fiat! It was a bit of a job apparently. I took it to Fiat and when they mentioned a small charge, I informed them that had the pre delivery inspection been carried out to a good standard, then this would not have been an issue! They did it for free!

Hope that helps.

Dave P
 
In response to your comment regarding the pdi, headlamp adjustment is carried out during pdi but as soon as the car goes out the car suspension settles, during use, the car will drop in height as the springs settle in and this effects the headlight alignment. Tyre tread depths also effect them, bald on front and new on rear will point the lamps down, the opposite will cause the lamps to point up.
 
Last edited:
NumanR said:
Tyre tread depths also effect them, bald on front and new on rear will point the lamps down, the opposite will cause the lamps to point up.
These affects could easily be corrected with the dashboard leveller and I don't think too many people would make a fuss about that. ;)

I'm talking about major mis-alignment.
  • mis-alignment between main beams
  • mis-alignment between dipped beams
  • Relative mis-alignment between dipped and main.
This can only be due to poor configuration during PDI, body damage, headlamp replacement, someone fiddling or slight variation in filament position due to bulb change.

Can you offer any pointers as to what adjustments are available as I'm sure there must be some provision for horizontal adjustment? :confused:
 
There is horizontal adjustment of dipped beam certainly, I will find he details tomorrow and post them for you, (i dont want to give out wrong info). he most common cause of major alignment differences between dip and main are bulbs incorrectly fitted.
 
Ooops did you not recently change a headlight bulb (nearside:D ) recently Argonought?
Could be (and most prob are) but doesn't the self leveling device behind fuel tank have something to do with beam adjustment,only I heard someone talking about it etc...might of picked up conversation wrong tho so,wouldn't be like me!
 
NumanR said:
In response to your comment regarding the pdi, headlamp adjustment is carried out during pdi but as soon as the car goes out the car suspension settles, during use, the car will drop in height as the springs settle in and this effects the headlight alignment. Tyre tread depths also effect them, bald on front and new on rear will point the lamps down, the opposite will cause the lamps to point up.

My headlamps were out of alignment so badly that it was not safe to drive at night! They were so far out of adjustment that it would not have passed an MOT and was therefore in my opinion not roadworthy. The car was an ex demonstrator that had apparently had another pre sale PDI and this was why I certainly didnt want to pay for the adjustment. Maybe in this case the car had never been driven in the dark and therefore the fault never detected. It could also have been missed on both PDI checks!?
 
@NumanR, Thanks.

T14086 said:
Ooops did you not recently change a headlight bulb (nearside:D ) recently Argonought?
Could be (and most prob are) but doesn't the self leveling device behind fuel tank have something to do with beam adjustment,only I heard someone talking about it etc...might of picked up conversation wrong tho so,wouldn't be like me!
I've actually changed all four and certainly had a hell of a problem with the nearside. My biggest mistake was not checking the orientation of the near side bulb before I removed it :bang: (it's obvious that at least one bulb had been changed before as they weren’t matched). It seems to be fairly easy to check for correct installation by just carefully examining the bulbs with a torch from the front.

The dipped beam seemed slightly odd to me the first time I drove the Stilo down a dark country lane (but could be normal for all I know). However, something has definitely changed since changing the bulbs and the only conclusion I can come to is that one of the original bulbs was mis-aligned and I've now corrected it (at least I hoping that’s the answer) :confused:

I’ve also checked the levelling motor for correct operation and all four beams move up/down quite smoothly :)
 
Last edited:
Just collected car after MOT test - it PASSED!

I specifically mentioned the lights would need aligning when booking the car in so afterwards I quizzed the service manager as to how it managed to pass.

He said they actually get quite a few cars which fail their first MOT due to poor headlamp alignment which he put down to the lights never having been set-up properly at the factory but that didn't apply to my car as "all its lights were pointing to the right place".

More confused than ever now as I've got a pair of eyes and they say otherwise :confused:
 
NumanR said:
Well as your car lights passed the MOT Argo, maybe your eyes need realigning?LOL
Thanks NumanR but I've already made a visit to Specsavers :p :D

More likely I'll be getting the whitewash out and drawing lines on my garage wall! :mad:

Any chance of the technical stuff you promised :)
 
T14086 said:
Ooops did you not recently change a headlight bulb (nearside:D ) recently Argonought?
You get your full 10 points for that one T14086 :eek:

Here's the full story:

Took the car into Westover Fiat (POOLE) (y) today for a full headlamp alignment and it took one of the tech guys about 30 secs to tell me the nearside bulb wasn't seated properly. He was very surprised the car passed the MOT and advised me of an easy check to make after fitting each H7 bulb (preferably before you’ve bolted everything together :mad: ).

Either have the car pointing towards a wall or hold a card in front of each dipped beam. You should see a very clearly defined horizontal cutoff. If it looks defused and out of focus then that indicates the bulb has not seated properly.

This time I didn't bother removing the battery but just removed both battery and light covers. Bulb was correct way up and looked OK so I kept one finger on the back of the bulb, released just one of the retaining clips, wriggled the bulb and then felt it snap into position!

The moral here is just because a bulb looks like it's in the correct position (including from the front) that doesn't mean it is.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top