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

Originally Posted by bluebee

If this is a pic of your car, you don't have Xenons... I don't see the silver ballast for the Xenons like below:



Also, your passenger side headlight has a broken tab. See green circle:


I received my plastic adjusters yesterday and will be changing them this weekend.

Originally Posted by Max_VQ

If this is a pic of your car, you don't have Xenons... I don't see the silver ballast for the Xenons

Yes, that's my 2002 E39. That's great you pointed out the "square silver ballast" as I had read about that but didn't know what it was. I seem to have a differently shaped silver ballast (if that's what it is).

It's great that we now know what it looks like (from your picture) so we can identify the type of bulbs we have based on the "ballast" thingey.

Originally Posted by Max_VQ

your passenger side headlight has a broken tab

You are very astute. Maybe that's contributing to why I can't adjust my headlight aim!

I don't know if that broken tab is part of the headlight itself (in which case I need a new headlight) or if it's just part of the bracket that holds the headlight onto the car.

Does this broken part belong to the headlight or the bracket?

Originally Posted by bluebee

Maybe that's contributing to why I can't adjust my headlight aim!

I don't know if that broken tab is part of the headlight itself (in which case I need a new headlight) or if it's just part of the bracket that holds the headlight onto the car.

Does this broken part belong to the headlight or the bracket?

There are 4 tabs that attach the headlight to the car. I don't think it is a big deal if one is broken. However, it has nothing to do with your headlights not being adjustable.

Originally Posted by bluebee

Yes, that's my 2002 E39. That's great you pointed out the "square silver ballast" as I had read about that but didn't know what it was. I seem to have a differently shaped silver ballast (if that's what it is).

Xenon lights require high voltage to work. The ballast increases the 12volts up to 20,000+ volts.
Halogen lights simply use 12 volts, just like any other bulb.

BlueBee-
Do you have OEM hella ballasts or not?
That will tell you if you have Hella Xenons or not.

The first picture you show on post#27 is an OEM Hella Xenon headlight.

I can not tell from the other pictures if your other side looks the same.

I have OEM Hella H7 Halogens with projectors (apparently).

Do you know whether the broken tab is part of the headlight or if it's a separate bracket.

540s came standard with xenon, it was an option on the I6.

Originally Posted by bluebee

I have OEM Hella H7 Halogens with projectors (apparently).

Do you know whether the broken tab is part of the headlight or if it's a separate bracket.

I think it is part of the headlight. Don't worry about it, you still have 3 tabs holding the headlight.

Originally Posted by bluebee

Do you know whether the broken tab is part of the headlight or if it's a separate bracket.

The tab is part of the headlight.

If you want to fix it, just take your headlight off and use some JB Weld to patch the crack up.

Originally Posted by bluebee

I have OEM Hella H7 Halogens with projectors (apparently).

Do you know whether the broken tab is part of the headlight or if it's a separate bracket.

Roger that.
I have the same.
I thought I was the only unlucky fellow with OEM 2001 Hella Halogens...

Most 2001-2003 Hella's have xenon.

Originally Posted by rrcompton

The tab is part of the headlight.

If you want to fix it, just take your headlight off and use some JB Weld to patch the crack up.

or some Quik Steel Plastic Repair putty migh work!

Originally Posted by Jason5driver

I thought I was the only unlucky fellow with OEM 2001 Hella Halogens

I would like to check if my 2002 E39 H7 Halogens are actually Hella brand. Is the word "Hella" stamped anywhere on the headlight assembly?

Originally Posted by bluebee

I would like to check if my 2002 E39 H7 Halogens are actually Hella brand. Is the word "Hella" stamped anywhere on the headlight assembly?

Yes it should say "Hella" at the bottom middle of the front.

Originally Posted by bluebee

I would like to check if my 2002 E39 H7 Halogens are actually Hella brand. Is the word "Hella" stamped anywhere on the headlight assembly?

Did you check your lights?

Originally Posted by Jason5driver

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.)

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?

Yes they do break, but replaced they adjust the low Xenon and high QI beams at the same time. Do it with the engine running, then the auto system corrects for load. I find it difficult to understand how anyone can expect to adjust these without using beam setting equipment.
Ian

Originally Posted by fortunateson

What are the clear circles at the top front of the housing for?

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.

sanchorb....you the man. i was just trying to check out what that was for. thx. as for bluebee bring your car into a garage they dont charge you if broken and cant be adjusted properly....save you lot of time

Originally Posted by sanchorb

you remove the cover and flick the lever, and the lights realign themselves so as not to blind incoming traffic.

OMG! I love learning this kind of stuff! Thank you so very much. I've been wondering about that "thing" ever since I first started trying to adjust my lights! Thanks. Bluebee

Originally Posted by sanchorb

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.
Hope this clears the issue.

Hot damn i was always wondering why the euro hellas had that access panel but not the nam spec ones..

Originally Posted by bluebee

Paint.Net Windows freeware

Re: what is this thing?

I don't know if you have this on US cars, but on Euro E39's there is a large plastic knob there that you can use to adjust the headlight throw, depending on whether you are driving on the left side of the road (UK, Ireland, a few other places) or on the right side of the road (rest of Europe).

So you just turn the knob to change the throw and avoid blinding other drivers, instead of putting stupid opaque stickers over the front of the lights.

^ that question was already covered on post #44

Originally Posted by ganesht

^ that question was already covered on post #44

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...