Headlight adjustment

[sidekickdmr]

Hi

 

Boring topic I know but my 2008 non gt 350z with xenons has a slight issue!

 

When driving down an unlit road at night my headlights only illuminate about 3-4 meters infront of my car, in my old cars there would have been a knob to raise/lower the beam but I can't see one in the z!

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

[sasha@lazytrips]

There are some screws very deep behind the lights which you can get to with a lot of arm twisting and a very long thin screwdriver. Search and look around as there have been posts about this before. I know for sure that you can adjust horizontally, but am pretty sure there is a screw for vertical adjustment as well. Takes forever as you have to do a million turns to move it.

[Neilp]

My car was the same. On my 06 bi-xenons the top screw adjust them up and down aswell.

[Will370z]

Ive noticed the same with mine, the lights are very bright but focused close to the car so it gets pitch black past that. Will have to hunt for those screws too

[Zugara]

The lights are self levelling are they not? Pretty sure xennons lamp units are.

 

Adjust to high and you might make the problems worse, why dont you get a garage to check them out for you and they should let you know if they are within spec.

[M13KYF]

there is a how to in the guides

[BulletMagnet]

Just make sure you got a really long phillips screwdriver, I got one especially for this job, lol

[Will370z]

The lights are self levelling are they not? Pretty sure xennons lamp units are.

 

Adjust to high and you might make the problems worse, why dont you get a garage to check them out for you and they should let you know if they are within spec.

 

Reading the manual mine are self leveling but if they are they need to perk up a bit, good idea i will take it to a garage and double check

[rtbiscuit]

go to an MOT test centre they have a special tool that the lights shine into so when they adjust them they get the level pefect on both sides.

 

this also means they won't be set to blind people.

[yankeesiter]

I have the same problem. The manual says use a long pozi-drive screwdriver through the hole in the radiator cowling and turn clockwise for up and visa versa for down. But what's the ratchet screw on the back of the unit for? See pictures.

 

 

[BulletMagnet]

the rachet wheel IS the adjuster

Done 3 Zeds in my time and adjusted using that silver ratchet wheel thing.

[Neilp]

yep thats the top wheel, thats the one i used to adjust on my 06 bixenons,... normal screwdriver needed

[kazman]

Just adjusted mine and want to make sure I am not going crazy, you turn the screwdriver anti clockwise correct? Therefore rotating the assembly clockwise... Or are my units different to everyone else?!?

[Chris`I]

I seem to remember it was clockwise. On mine I had to do a lot of turns, like 20+

 

WRT the self leveling thing, yes the lights do self level, but you need to change the starting point for them to do it properly, just because they point at the floor doesnt mean they arent working. Go sit in the boot and you will see the still point at the floor - they wont get higher as they will self level. You can still move the reference point up

[kazman]

Odd, I started turning mine clockwise and with each click I could see the bram pattern lowering on the wall I was facing. Turning the screwdriver anti clockwise brought them up. This was the same for both headlights.

[Chris`I]

Go with what you see then! I remember it being trial and error when I did it. I knew from a line in the bricks on my garage how high to set it (sad I know!), so just turned the wheels until the cutoff lay on the line. I do this for all my cars as found the line is a nice height where you can see down the road, but not dassle other drivers

[MSportUK]

My Z just failed its MOT because the lights are too low. The guy was jiggling the assembly on the rear anti-roll bar, but the lights weren't moving. Reckon this just needs the ref point adjusted or is it likely that the adjuster itself is knackered? Is there a fuse for the adjuster motor?

 

Dunno why they couldn't just put a little switch in the dash like the good old days. How difficult is it for people to just move a switch?!

[Neilp]

It's due to the xenon lights blinding people so they have to be automatically adjusted to prevent this.

[MSportUK]

It's due to the xenon lights blinding people so they have to be automatically adjusted to prevent this.

That's great if it actually worked! Any idea if there's a fuse for the adjuster? I can't find any useful info online about it.

[Neilp]

Have u tried using the adjuster screw at the top of the lights yet? It takes a massive amount of turning. There will be a fuse or them. Pm

Husky or Paul T as they were the lighting guru's on here.

[MSportUK]

Quick update if anyone's following the progress...

 

Spoke to both Husky and a helpful tech at Nissan HPC Oxford who gave me a list of fuses/relays (74, 86, 72, 71, 78, 76) within the Intelligent Power Delivery Module (IPDM - fusebox to you and me) which could be responsible. To get to this you have to remove the battery cover, then the plastic around the battery cover, then the plastic around that. Eventually got to the box - all the fuses were fine, and none of the relays were labelled, not even numbered.

 

Both the bloke in Oxford and Husky have never come across the problem before which is the story of my life with this car, and there's no information anywhere that even mentions that the lights should have auto-levelling. As such, I have recently acquired a PH2/250mm screwdriver which fits down the little hole to the adjustment screws and I'm going to turn it until the man at the garage gives me an MOT, then I'm going to pretend the car never had the stupid, pointless system in the first place!

 

If anyone stumbles across a solution or a decent IPDM diagram in the future, do let me know!

 

Cheers