General Main Beam Adjustment

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General Main Beam Adjustment

widemouthfrog

semper in merda
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I've just replaced the main beam bulbs. What a weird way to fit a headlight!

Having taken the units out, I wonder how you're supposed to adjust the aim? Both horiontal and vertical adjusters are only accessible when the light units are removed from the car.
 
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There must be a fast way of doing it as on my mot the bloke adjusted my drivers side and it was pretty quick at it when he done it this iS on a mk1 though its might not be the same
 
If you pop the little cover off (the one that accesses the securing screw), there's access to one of the adjusters under it (up/down adjustment I think).
Once they're set, they shouldn't really need adjusting again.

Had my r/h unit out on Saturday to find out why it wasn't working.
bulb was fine, as was the fuse.
For nearly a year, the r/h Hi-Beam had flickered when the wipers were on, so I had an inkling what it was anyway.
The r/h wiper arm had been chafing away at one of the wires, so momentarily shorting with each pass of the arm, and had finally cut it right through.

The wires have a plastic shroud over them, but it had migrated slightly, enough to uncover the wires.
I had to unbolt the section that the lights are mounted in to get access to the damaged wire, then it was a simple job to splice a new piece in.
Luckily there was just enough length from where the loom comes through the bulkhead to do it.
 
I've got both of the main beam units stripped out at the moment - separated the lens from their bodies so that I could give them a good clean inside. Despite appearances, the lenses are glass (not plastic), bonded to the housing with a mastic.

The adjuster that you can get at with them in situ is for height aim. The left-right one can only be accessed when the unit is removed. Bit of a crap design (n)! The height adjuster needs a tool that must look something like a small chuck key; I'm going to give the Fiat dealer a call to see what they'll will be charging for one of those.....

BTW, I've just replaced the lamps with Osram Nightbreaker+. A marked improvement over the old ones, but it highlighted just how wayward the beam aim is!
 
Well, cleaned them up and stuck the lenses back in with black silicon. Did the inside of the lenses with Fog-X before that:

IMG_6381_zpsbfe5d43f.jpg


Will trim the silicon back in the morning when it's cured, then wait for tomorrow evening to battle with the alignment. The adjusters just about work with a Philips driver - would probably be better with a no.3.
 
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