E30 headlight height adjustment

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   Hello
My 325 has got a headlight beam throw adjuster, which barely seems to work. I have some questions...
1 - How is this system supposed to work in the first place? There are stiff plastic tubes going into units behind the headlights where the manual adjustment would have been. Does it work on vacuum or something?
2 - How  do you adjust the headlight height manually (i.e. set the standard baseline height)?
3 - When the adjuster only feebly moves one of the lights by about 1 degree, is the whole system f***ed or can it be repaired/readjusted?
Thanks for your help.

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Alex Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member I SW Region Member Joined: 15-January-2003 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 148	Topic: E30 headlight height adjustment Posted: 17-November-2003 at 15:15
	Hello My 325 has got a headlight beam throw adjuster, which barely seems to work. I have some questions... 1 - How is this system supposed to work in the first place? There are stiff plastic tubes going into units behind the headlights where the manual adjustment would have been. Does it work on vacuum or something? 2 - How do you adjust the headlight height manually (i.e. set the standard baseline height)? 3 - When the adjuster only feebly moves one of the lights by about 1 degree, is the whole system f***ed or can it be repaired/readjusted? Thanks for your help.
	Alex Shirley 1990 E30 325i

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STEVE328 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Really Senior Member I Club member, North East Region Joined: 25-June-2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 304	Posted: 17-November-2003 at 21:28
	The adjusters are supposed to be air/vacuum operated,but are prone to seizeing up.What I did with my E30 320i was replace them with manual ones (mainly because the dealer wanted about �80 per air adjuster! even HE had to double check to see if he hadn't highlighted the wrong part!!) The manual ones fit,but you will need all the bits. the adjuster the little black/white ball socket clips etc. Have a look on their microfische and get the lot.Fitting them should take about 15 mins. I did both of mine in my lunch break,to get though an M.O.T.
	1996 N Montreal blue 328i saloon 45k / 01 Y Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat.

The Master Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17-November-2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 5	Posted: 18-November-2003 at 00:00
	Hi You don't need to go through all that Just take of the front grill around the headlamp / unlcip the ball joint on the lower adjuster / unscrew the adjuster about 3 turns and re-fit. Now you can adjust the hight with the ring on the out side of the adjuster under the bonnit. Insodently the system is hydrolic and the leak ( not fixable)

Madrab Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Really Senior Member II Joined: 21-November-2003 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 569	Posted: 23-November-2003 at 23:09
	Just to agree that the system is Hydrolic and not vacuum. There are 2 metal pins, one at the hydrolic rod adjuster at the side of the headlight and one at each one of the the small pumps in the car at the hand adjuster, where the tubing enters. These were used to bleed the system at factory. This uses coloured water, I use a very weak soap solution, and can be re-pressurised (doesn't need much) by removing the pins and filling the system back up. Bit tricky but with another pair of hands, patience and a squeezy washing up liquid bottle, or pump, and a pipe clamp you can get some if not all the function back. May have a leak in the pipework though which could be a bit tricky to track down, if so, you can replace it all. If the seals in the pump in the car or rod adjuster at the light are leaking/broken, then replace them. Depends on how much you want the tilt back Done it twice..