Adjusting dipped lights

[dave_xsara]

Just had MOT failure for lights. Passed last year and were not adjusted since, so I forgot to recheck them

See attached image. Can this be adjusted easily at home without the test machine?
Not sure what has happened. I believe that the bulb is seated correctly.

Failed for the o/s incase is not obvious from the image!

[RichardW]

Unless you've bumped it, there should be no need to adjust the lights.... I would re-check the bulb as the image is all wrong. Is there an internal reflector that is bent? Is the bulb in upside down?

[GiveMeABreak]

Unless you’ve accidentally turned a headlight adjustment screw.... I’ve seen people do this mistakingly thonkingnit was a trim removal screw!

[bobins]

Unless you’ve accidentally turned a headlight adjustment screw.... I’ve seen people do this mistakingly thonkingnit was a trim removal screw!

What a great username that would be

[dave_xsara]

Unless you've bumped it, there should be no need to adjust the lights.... I would re-check the bulb as the image is all wrong. Is there an internal reflector that is bent? Is the bulb in upside down?

Internal reflectors have not been touched and look fine. Bulb has not been moved since last year and it passed then so I can't see it having rotated in 180deg in the last year. I did notice that there were black scuffs where someone had side swiped the front of my car in a car park, but I didn't think it would affect the lights.

Unless you’ve accidentally turned a headlight adjustment screw.... I’ve seen people do this mistakingly thonkingnit was a trim removal screw!

Again, I've not knowingly been near these. However, I'll take a look and see what happens.

Firstly, I'll take a look at how the bulb is fitted when it stops raining.

[RichardW]

What was the failure - beam too high, or beam image incorrect? Presume this is a Mk2 with the bubble headlights? Are they badly yellowed - if so you might just need to polish them to remove the haze and restore the beam pattern.

[GiveMeABreak]

Do the bulb position fitting check first, but if not that you’ll probably need them to be set properly. Most MOT people will make any minor adjustment for you

[dave_xsara]

What was the failure - beam too high, or beam image incorrect? Presume this is a Mk2 with the bubble headlights? Are they badly yellowed - if so you might just need to polish them to remove the haze and restore the beam pattern.

I'll re-check the sheet. It is a MkII. Lens not yellowed as I've done them with a cleaning kit (viewtopic.php?t=59229&start=15).

[dave_xsara]

Do the bulb position fitting check first, but if not that you’ll probably need them to be set properly. Most MOT people will make any minor adjustment for you

Failed on parking brake too despite it being adjusted it up yesterday. Was 2% below limit. Not much more I can do there, so I might just drag the handbrake whilst going in to clean down the disc and back it off a bit as it was rock solid at 4 clicks. It was a wet day here, but still. This car has always had issues with the parking brake efficiency test.

[white exec]

Might be worth just thowing in a new pair of good quality headlight bulbs, like Philips or Osram.
Filaments going out of position (as they age) have been known on cheap bulbs.

[dave_xsara]

What was the failure - beam too high, or beam image incorrect? Presume this is a Mk2 with the bubble headlights? Are they badly yellowed - if so you might just need to polish them to remove the haze and restore the beam pattern.

O/S beam too low.

[RichardW]

You can check the lights flat surface with a wall at the end. Drive up close as in your picture, then mark the wall where the centre of the lights falls. Drive straight back about 10 ft and you will see the beams on the wall, they should stay just about on the marks you have made. To me that pic looks like the beam patter is not right, rather than too low - see the NS beam has a clear defined line with a kick up at the LH end? The OS should look the same, whereas it just looks like a blob!! I would stick a new bulb in the OS and see what it looks like. These lights have electric levellers, and if this goes kaput, then it's possible the light will point in the wrong direction.

[dave_xsara]

Sorted. Took the bulb it and then reseated it.
Looks okay now. I completely forgot to check alignment. Just checked they were working. Never thought it would be out of alignment .
Glad it didn't just fail on this.

I'll back of the handbrake until I get 5 clicks and then go for the retest.

[RichardW]

That looks better

It probably needs new handbrake cables if it appears to be tight, and yet the efficiency is low - presume the service break on the rear comes up OK, which means the pads and discs are OK?

[dave_xsara]

I got the cable adjustment tightened up yesterday, but it might have been overtightened as to get to the 4th click takes a bit of effort. I noticed that the tester might only have got 3 clicks and that combined with the wet weather might have been enough for sufficient slip for it to fail the test.
New disks and pads in February (plus N/S caliper - viewtopic.php?p=600038#p600038).