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Can you show me on this pic where the headlight adjusters are?

196K views 159 replies 51 participants last post by  Victorio1985 
#1 ·
Can someone just show me where on this pic of my 2002 E39 the headlight adjustments are?

I've read many threads and am confused about "servo adjusters", "replacing adjusters", "auto leveling adjusters", etc. Mine doesn't seem to be fancy automatic stuff ... the lights are just set way way way too low.

I can replace a headlight bulb ... but I need a bit of help identifying where the up/down headlight adjuster screws are.

Can you kindly circle the adjusters for me in this picture below of the left and right headlight assembly?

 

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#2 ·
I don't know how to do that circling stuff... but they're inside the lights. You need to take the lens covers off to get to them. On your model year, that involves baking them or something. There are DIY's on it. On my year, they're held together by clips and are very easy to take apart. Pre-vanos wins yet again!
 
#4 ·
all the lights have manual adjusters, which are the white things that accept an allen wrench. The halogen 01+ lights do not auto level, the xenons do. The xenon lights still have manual adjusters too- the manual adjusters are what aims the lights and keep them aimed.

9 times out of 10 if your lights are too low the adjusters need to be replaced.
 
#6 ·
all the lights have manual adjusters, which are the white things that accept an allen wrench. The halogen 01+ lights do not auto level, the xenons do. The xenon lights still have manual adjusters too- the manual adjusters are what aims the lights and keep them aimed.

9 times out of 10 if your lights are too low the adjusters need to be replaced.
:thumbup: Thanks for the info.
 
#7 ·
The adjusters are never able to be seen unless the light is completely disassembled. The little white knobs that can adjust the headlight up and down and inside to outside are able to be seen, but not from your pictures as they are on the backside. If you turn these white knobs (either of them) and the headlight beam does not move, it means the adjusters which are the "link" between those white knobs and the headlamp assembly are broken. The adjusters are also the "link" between the motors which auto-adjust your lights and the headlight assembly.
 
#8 ·
I lowered my 530i and had to adjust the Xenons to shine higher. This was a year ago but I think I remember turning the white allens closest to the center of the car. The Xenons shine just fine since. Had to have the car face a nice wall 20 ft away to see that turning the screw made a difference.
 

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#9 · (Edited)
I think I remember turning the white allens closest to the center of the car
I'm confused.

First off, I don't think I have Xenon (in my 2002 525i) since I use a normal H7 bulb; and I don't think I have automatic adjusters ('cuz I've never seen them move ... but maybe they're just broken ... ).

Secondly, I found an E39 headlight adjustment procedure here and I did find a really nice picture here that concurs with the top circle done on my picture (kindly annotated by javee_2003) but the two diagrams I found (see below) seem to show adjusters in the "back" of the headlight, not on the top (which is what is circled in the two pictures below).

I'm confused. How many adjustment screws are there, per side or per bulb? And, of those, how many are on the top and how many are in the back of the headlight? Do I really have to disassemble the headlight to get to those adjustment screws? (I find that disconcerting.)


 

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#10 ·
You have 2 adjusters per light (1 for lift right and 1 for up down.) The inner ones, that are circled are the ones for Up/Down adjustment IIRC. The black thing that's crossed out is for adjusting the gaps between your hood and fender, nothing to do with the headlights. Try to face a white wall and start turning those inner circled adjusters with an allen wrench that fits. If they don't move it means your actual adjusters(inside the headlights) are broken and need to be replaced.
 
#44 · (Edited)
Clear circles



Hi everyone. For those of you who want to know what those circles are, maybe it is because you have U.S. versions, and you don´t need this mechanism. For european versions, instead of these clear circles we have a black cover, which has to be removed in order to access a lever. It is used when you are going into a country which has a different traffic direction than the car. For example if you travel to England with your car, you remove the cover and flick the lever, and the lights realign themselves so as not to blind incoming traffic. It is an interesting feature, which to me symbolizes how much attention to detail german car manufarcturers devote. I am including some pictures of how it looks, and another one from the manual, sorry for the quality but my camera´s shutter decided to malfunction. I just learned that on another forum, so not only these cars are the ones who give us inconveniences, LOL.
Hope this clears the issue.:thumbup:
 

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#14 ·
Are these statements true or false?

To summarize, can you confirm the true or false'ness of these statements?

[true/false]There are two headlight assemblies (driver & passenger side)
[true/false]There are two beams per headlight assembly (high and low)
[true/false]There are two adjusters per headlight assembly (up'ish & down'ish)
[true/false]The headlight adjusters are INSIDE the headlight assembly
[true/false]A white 6mm allen-head twist knob OUTSIDE the headlight assembly turns the adjusters that are inside the headlight assembly
[true/false]The inner 6mm allen white knob does up/down movement (sort of)
[true/false]The outer 6mm allen knob controls side/side movement (sort of)
[true/false]Actually you have to twist both knobs to get true up/down or side/side movement
[true/false]You don't control the high or the low beam; you control both at the same time
 

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#15 · (Edited)
To summarize, can you confirm the true or false'ness of these statements?

[true/false]There are two headlight assemblies (driver & passenger side) true
[true/false]There are two beams per headlight assembly (high and low)true
[true/false]There are two adjusters per headlight assembly (up'ish & down'ish)true
[true/false]The headlight adjusters are INSIDE the headlight assemblytrue
[true/false]A white 6mm allen-head twist knob OUTSIDE the headlight assembly turns the adjusters that are inside the headlight assemblytrue
[true/false]The inner 6mm allen white knob does up/down movement true
[true/false]The outer 6mm allen knob controls side/side movementtrue
[true/false]Actually you have to twist both knobs to get true up/down or side/side movementfalse
[true/false]You don't control the high or the low beam; you control both at the same timetrue
there ya go. :) regarding aiming the lights, the dealer has a fancy setup to do it. You can get on hidplanet forums and find a good how to for your average weekend mechanic though.
 
#18 ·
Headlight adjuster DIY attached

Found this most excellent DIY thread on fixing the actual headlight adjusters themselves (the white parts that are INSIDE the E39 headlight assembly).

I also took the liberty of recombining the DIY into a single PDF file (and shrinking to fit the 500KB upload limit).

 

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#19 ·
I tried adjusting my 2002 E39 headlights and failed miserably.

I tried adjusting my 2002 E39 headlights and failed miserably.

Only the innermost adjusters did anything; the two outer adjusters didn't seem to move anything. I suppose that means they're broken ... sigh ...

I do seem to have a strange pattern now, that I didn't notice before. Do you guys notice anything strange about this headlight pattern?

Especially that prismatic stuff right in front of the car?

 

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#23 ·
IMO, your adjusters are indeed broken.
I wonder why all these adjusters are broken when headlights should almost never need to be adjusted.

Are they breaking on their own?

Or are they only breaking from overzealous tweaking?
 
#41 ·
Did you check your lights?
Yes. They are Hella.

I wonder, since the adjusters are so easily broken, what everyone sees in these Hella headlamps anyway? I mean, I understand from the discussion above that they are "the best" ... but what particularly makes them better than whatever is their competition? (Certainly not the adjusters.)

 

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#42 ·
I see Jared at EAC Tuning has kindly made available the aluminum headlight adjusters! That's wonderful.

Before I go out and buy a full set of four, I still am not sure mine are broken. Of course, I know enough now how to take apart the headlights but rather than take apart the headlights twice, do we have a definitive procedure for testing if the headlight adjusters are truly broken?

My symptoms (collectively) are:
- Headlights are pointing downward too much
- I can adjust up/down but not enough up to compensate
- I can't seem to adjust side/side for some strange reason
- On each side, the one bulb in rubber wiggles a lot (but it's in rubber)
- On each side, the other bulb doesn't wiggle at all when I move it with my hand.

Of course, I 'suspect' the headlight adjusters are broken ... but is there a more definitive test I can perform?
 
#50 ·
No problem at all...



Well, that is no problem at all, really, in fact, we should be very happy of how informative all people on this forum are. In fact this new post should know better about the use of this mechanism, since he lives in Ireland and probably should need to use it, whereas I live in Costa Rica, and will very likely never need it. Of course I might turn those levers someday to see what happens, LOL. Thank you for the replies...
 
#51 ·
after reading above, my 2000 528i H-7 halogen headlight prob might have been answered. Priced new aftermarket headlight assem's @ $190 each, & factory replacements were a joke approachin $450 each.....ouch, but it IS a Bimmer. Aim is low, & both sides are shaky. Sounds like both vert & horiz adjusters on both sides are shot. Wanted some pointers on removing the headlight assembly, since ALL of the plastic is ridiculously brittle....really don't want to unknowingly move something I don't need to for fear of snappin it. Anyone have simple instructions on not only removing the headlight assem, but also accessing/replacing the adjusters?? Just didn't want to touch any part that doesn't need touching, don't ya know. Appr any help...........
 
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