E30 headlight height adjustment
Printed From: Bavarian-Board.co.uk - BMW Owners Discussion Forum
Category: Technical & Model Specific Forums
Forum Name: BMW 3 Series
Forum Discription: This forum will deal with any issues on the BMW 3 Series (E21, E30, E36, E46, E90, E91 & E92)
URL: http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=4102
Printed Date: 19-May-2024 at 19:27
Topic: E30 headlight height adjustment
Posted By: Alex
Subject: E30 headlight height adjustment
Date Posted: 17-November-2003 at 15:15
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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. ------------- Alex Shirley 
1990 E30 325i |
Replies:
Posted By: STEVE328
Date Posted: 17-November-2003 at 21:28
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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. |
Posted By: The Master
Date Posted: 18-November-2003 at 00:00
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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) ------------- The Master |
Posted By: Madrab
Date Posted: 23-November-2003 at 23:09
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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.. |
