headlight unit height adjustment

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headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

Hi all,

Really noob question this one.

The right hand headlight unit over rotates so it goes past TDC and comes back down a little bit. enough to see it's lower than the other light and enough to make the beam pattern just point very low down infront of the car.

Been searching for 2 days on how to adjust this, but only found how to manually adjust with the twister. this only lasts until the lights are turned off again. the in-car adjustment for the lights works for both sides but doesn't move the unit up, just adjusts the beam up a little. It's not even close to enough to compensate for the wonky light.

One article I was reading said to adjust the length of the rod from the motor to the headlight, this doesn't seem to have any adjustment though?

Please help a simple fool sort his wonky headlight :facepalm:


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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by jimi »

Sounds like the arm on the motor is set too high causing it to go over the TDC, either that or the limit switch is wrong but I'm not sure the limits are adjustable. I think the arm attaches to the motor via a splined shaft so is adjustable. The rod on a MK1 is adjustable and I think the MK2 is as well, but that won't help if it's doing as I suspect and going over TDC, you'd need to adjust the arm. I have a spare MK1 headlight assy that I can check if you like ?
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by SonicSW20 »

There is a bump stop in there, perhaps that needs adjusting?
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

Thinking the arm might be a spline or 2 out on the motor shaft, seems like the only part that could change?

mk2 isn't adjustable, well not on my 2 rev4 cars.

The lower bump stop seems to be correct, but even when down the light over centers and comes up a little too far (not much but it's slightly proud of the bonnet) at the low point it sits correct
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by jimi »

There's an upper and lower limit switch built in to the motor, they should stop the motor just before the bump stop, otherwise the motor could stall while trying to drive through the bump stop.
Moving the arm would obviously affect both the up and down positions but a spline or so may be all it needs.
Remember to pull the 30A RTR fuse before putting your digits into the mechanism ;)
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by TonyleFrog »

BGB BO-8?
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

looked at the bgb, said nothing about the height of the unit. suggesting it shouldn't be adjustable?

not got a copy to hand at work..
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

did have a little play with it last night before driving home. with the lights off but the units up, the manual adjust was able to position the lamp where needed. as soon as the power to the bulbs was applied it moved the small amount back to the too-low position.

with the lights up and on, the manual adjuster only allowed a small correction before hitting the motor's internal limit and preventing further turning. This was better for driving home but still just shy of good enough.

once the lights were turned off then the odd/low position was again adopted.
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by jimi »

Those adjusters aren't "adjusters" they are purely there to allow a method of raising/lowering the headlights in case of electrical/motor failure. The positioning (height) of the lights is mainly controlled by the length of the rod and the position of the lever on the motor shaft, the limit switches control the travel of the motor(and associated linkages) If the limit switches are adjustable (and I'm not sure that they are) then they could be adjusted to limit the travel (height).
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

yeh knew the manual knob is for emergency movement only, the rod isn't adjustable on this rev4 UK car? So no other way to 'adjust' the slant of the headlight? bit stuck with it.

Drove home with the fog lights on this evening, feeling like a right "censored", but they put out more useful light than the headlights at the moment :(

The limit switches don't seem to be adjustable. the BGB doesn't mention anything about the crank arm on the spindle. why would it have ever been removed or moved? who knows what a PO did. it does mention the rod length but it seems firmly fixed?

going to find my other car's ones and have a look at them in the house to see if there is a way to change the length of the rod.

Not simple in the rain and dark these things, roll on the weekend!
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

weird thing is, the rod is the right length, just the motor goes past the ideal point.
going to move the stop in a bit to see if it adjusts the end point of the rotation
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by jimi »

What you could do as a temporary measure is to pull the RTR fuse, then use the knobs to set the lights where you want them. They will stay in that position until you replace the RTR fuse
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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by pbmr2 »

Yeah I think that's going to be the method for a couple of days.

Just took the bar out of the car to have a good look at it. There is no adjustment, the bgb is written for the american market rev1 so could well have changed the design.

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Re: headlight unit height adjustment

Post by TonyleFrog »

If you're still having problems, do you remember the issue you had with your handbrake cables? We found the answer when we checked the relative positioning of the crank arm on each caliper. Try doing the same with the lever on each motor. You might find it easier to do this by removing* both motors and bench testing them side by side so that you can compare the relative angle/s of each lever arm at both ends of their travel.

* Link for the benefit of anyone new to MR2s. :)

If, as jimi mentioned, there is no adjustment on the limit switches then you'll likely be looking at having to find a replacement motor for that side.

Might be worth double checking the electrickery as well while you're at it. BGB BE-38/39.
Not sure if the pin outs are the same for later Revisions though.
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