Headlight Adjustment

[anthony.manders]

I have been trying to light up the road ahead in my 52reg MINI cooper but i have a fault with the electronic adjustment. Using the adjuster only the drivers side headlight moves up and down, the passenger side headlight stays in one fixed position.

Is this normal? Not been the case on previous cars i have had, but this german afterall. If not can anyone give any details on how to repair this, I had a quick look at the back of the headlight mounted in the bonnet and couldn't see anything that would adjust the lights electronically (only saw the manual adjustment screws)

Any advice/photo's would be muchly appreciated.

[BlackMiniMac]

Ahh (me puts on dark wig so as not to look 'blonde') i had this problem the other week. Took the car in and they fitted me a new headlight. Apparently the headlight ajustment motor is an integral part of the unit.
Hope this helps.

[cooperblack]

i have had the same problem i took the headlamps out and greased the motor driveshafts and hey presto they work again it is a fiddly poxy time consuming job but cheaper than buying a new light
PM me if you need advice on how to go about it

[anthony.manders]

So if i take the whole headlight unit out, it should become a bit more evident as what actually does the adjusting, ok. I work as a mechanical engineer and so i usually have a go at fixing things before buying new so i will try taking it to bits and greasing it up.

thanks for the response

[MiNiGuY]

Quote: Originally Posted by anthony.manders

So if i take the whole headlight unit out, it should become a bit more evident as what actually does the adjusting, ok. I work as a mechanical engineer and so i usually have a go at fixing things before buying new so i will try taking it to bits and greasing it up.

thanks for the response

hi, type "headlight miniguy" into search for info on the lights.
Maybe you'll find something useful.

[anthony.manders]

Well got the girlfriend to operate the adjustment whilst i watched the lights and there didn't seem to be a problem, have to watch a bit more closely when i'm driving again

[skip taylor]

i have a 2005 mini s with the xenon head lights. the manuel says to take it to a dealer for adjustment but i live 150 mils from a dealer. is there a procedure for doing it at home, i have tools and am an experiencd mech.

[S-Driver]

I too would be interested in how to, or if you even can, adjust the xenon's beam up a little. Aside from the fact that they throw out some nice light, I really don't think it goes out nearly far enough. I swear the light stops about 25 ft out and it seems that there shouldn't be such a sharp dropoff of lit area beyond that. But with self leveling units, how can they be adjusted?

[iaa]

Quote: Originally Posted by anthony.manders (original)

So if i take the whole headlight unit out, it should become a bit more evident as what actually does the adjusting, ok. I work as a mechanical engineer and so i usually have a go at fixing things before buying new so i will try taking it to bits and greasing it up.

thanks for the response

Quote: Originally Posted by cooperblack (original)

i have had the same problem i took the headlamps out and greased the motor driveshafts and hey presto they work again it is a fiddly poxy time consuming job but cheaper than buying a new light
PM me if you need advice on how to go about it

My offside headlight height adjustment has started to play up again, just before the MOT is due. Unplugging and reconnecting the connector from the back of the headlight unit a couple of times fixed the problem for a day before it stopped working again. This evening I found that unplugging the nearside headlight unit caused the offside one to start working and keep working when both were reconnected - weird. Almost as if there was a shortage of current to drive both motors at the same time, until the sticky one freed itself.

It's a couple of years since I last posted on this subject after I had both headlight units replaced under warranty for the second time!

[Dietsch1]

Quote: Originally Posted by cooperblack (original)

i have had the same problem i took the headlamps out and greased the motor driveshafts and hey presto they work again it is a fiddly poxy time consuming job but cheaper than buying a new light
PM me if you need advice on how to go about it

I have exactely the same problem with both my headlight. I have seen that problem starting last winter and now its back. How did you grease those motor driveschafts? The headlight seems to be one unit, which acnnot be disassembled? Did this fix cure the problem for good or did it reappear?
My dealer said: replace them, of course. My Cooper is 3.5 years old.

[JohnWB]

I got sick of my Zenons being too low so i had a go at adjusting them with great success. I gave the up/down screw half a turn out which made a big difference. They could be a bit too high now but no one has flashed me yet.
The main beam lights were also too low and I could not see any adjustment for them. So I removed one bulb and bent the locating lug, at the top of the bulb locating collar, inward towards the front about 1.5 mm.This causes the front of the bulb to lift up slightly, which has raised the beam up to where i wanted it
I hope this is of some help to someone.

[Union Jacks]

i've got the HID Xenons with the Angel Eye surrounds - anyone know if the two adjustment screws are purely up/down & left/right? cos mine down seem to be throwing the light very far - even after i've twiddles the adjusters and moved the lights up using the roller switch