Light dropped , help

[Crimson_27]

Hi all, so my headlight has dropped but i've been into look and cant find anything broken, however nor can I lift it back into place.. Anyone had similar or know which part has broken?? I've struggled to find info anywhere (ive added a pic to better explain).

thanks.

 

[philbo909]

Hi all, so my headlight has dropped but i've been into look and cant find anything broken, however nor can I lift it back into place.. Anyone had similar or know which part has broken?? I've struggled to find info anywhere (ive added a pic to better explain).

thanks.

Photobucket doesn't work? Try adding a file to the thread

 

[Crimson_27]

Oh the photo is there on mine i thought it had worked sorry.

 

[Buckz]

could be the auto light leveling on the control arm, think it's on drivers side. It's made out of plastic..

http://www.m3post.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=388804&d=1274570220

 

[paddy wright]

Uthst looks detached- need to get it off to see if a repair is possible.

 

[Crimson_27]

could be the auto light leveling on the control arm, think it's on drivers side. It's made out of plastic..

http://www.m3post.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=388804&d=1274570220
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do you mean a control arm in the light unit itself or under the car?.. Couldn't quite picture the image you posted sorry.

Ill know it if i find it now thanks so will check.

 

[Crimson_27]

Uthst looks detached- need to get it off to see if a repair is possible.

Yeh just not sure where to look if you know what i mean.

 

[Buckz]

No I mean the actual auto headlight adjuster is attached to the control arm(the suspension component) if that cracked and I've seen it happen on e46s then your lights by default will not auto level.

 

[rally-chris]

But there will only be an auto levelling system (i.e. sensor on the suspension) if your car has Xenons, and that's a halogen light in the picture.

Your issue looks more like the lamp housing/reflector has become unclipped from the levelling motor (or the hinge point opposing it) inside the headlight (it's too far out to be just adjustment range), so you'll probably need to take the headlight unit out to fix it. I had a similar issue on my E91 after the car had previously had a bump on the front corner.

Chris

 

[enzed4]

But there will only be an auto levelling system (i.e. sensor on the suspension) if your car has Xenons, and that's a halogen light in the picture.

Nope - have auto-levelling on my factory halogens (although not working on the aftermarket lights I have fitted at the moment).

 

[rally-chris]

But there will only be an auto levelling system (i.e. sensor on the suspension) if your car has Xenons, and that's a halogen light in the picture.

Nope - have auto-levelling on my factory halogens (although not working on the aftermarket lights I have fitted at the moment).

Interesting, do you also have the height adjuster dial on the dashboard?

 

[mjennings23]

All the talk of level adjustment, that looks like the H7 main beam bulb to me, or the "flash to pass" on pre-facelift xenon, due to the sidelight bulb also being there.

As such, surely there is no level adjustment applied to the main beam housing?

OP, looks like you need to take the light out of the car and see if it's reattachable. If I remember rightly it's held in with a few small screws from behind.

 

[MACK]

But there will only be an auto levelling system (i.e. sensor on the suspension) if your car has Xenons, and that's a halogen light in the picture.

Nope - have auto-levelling on my factory halogens (although not working on the aftermarket lights I have fitted at the moment).

Interesting, do you also have the height adjuster dial on the dashboard?

I think there is some confusion going on here.
IRC Both halogen and xenon have a motorised vertical position motor which sets the position when you initially switch on. It initially goes through its range of adjustment to make sure it's working fine and then settles in the position determined by the manual adjusters.
Xenons then also have an active self leveling function for when the vehicles on the move determined by the sensors on the roll bars. This system constantly adjusts the headlight when moving, activating yhe motor to do this. Or at least that's the theory!
Halogens just have the multi position wheel and are stuck in a set position on the move unless you turn the knob to the next position and the motor activates and moves the internals of the light to that setting

I'm sure one of the resident light gurus will be able to elborate further on this.

 

[MACK]

All the talk of level adjustment, that looks like the H7 main beam bulb to me, or the "flash to pass" on pre-facelift xenon, due to the sidelight bulb also being there.

As such, surely there is no level adjustment applied to the main beam housing?

OP, looks like you need to take the light out of the car and see if it's reattachable. If I remember rightly it's held in with a few small screws from behind.

+1 the above. I have had 5 of these open/apart for various reasons off a car and even two that when bought accident damaged (for indicator projects) hadn't broken like this. However out of the 5 I've seen 2 had loose bolts that secure the part that seems to have dropped. They weren't dead loose but certainly weren't as tight as they should be and I can easily imagine they would continue to loosen over time.
Hopefully this is all that's happened here and it's a case of whip the bumper off, remove the light, open it up fish out the loose screws and screw everything back jnto place.

 

[enzed4]

Nope - have auto-levelling on my factory halogens (although not working on the aftermarket lights I have fitted at the moment).

Interesting, do you also have the height adjuster dial on the dashboard?

I think there is some confusion going on here.
IRC Both halogen and xenon have a motorised vertical position motor which sets the position when you initially switch on. It initially goes through its range of adjustment to make sure it's working fine and then settles in the position determined by the manual adjusters.
Xenons then also have an active self leveling function for when the vehicles on the move determined by the sensors on the roll bars. This system constantly adjusts the headlight when moving, activating yhe motor to do this. Or at least that's the theory!
Halogens just have the multi position wheel and are stuck in a set position on the move unless you turn the knob to the next position and the motor activates and moves the internals of the light to that setting

I'm sure one of the resident light gurus will be able to elborate further on this.

Mack - that's spot-on. Mine are exactly as you describe; they are not auto-levelling when on the move (as xenons are), but just do the 'bounce' on startup.
Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Crimson_27]

Sorry for delay in replying and thanks for the info. So just to clarify these are indeed the 'flash to pass' halogens with xenon main beams. They self level fine on start up and find their default position also.

I'm leaning towards MACK's screw loose (no pun haha), can they be reached via the wheel arch panel or is it deffo a bumper off job? (Ive already checked the level motors are connected to the xenons which they are).

 

[MACK]

Sorry for delay in replying and thanks for the info. So just to clarify these are indeed the 'flash to pass' halogens with xenon main beams. They self level fine on start up and find their default position also.

I'm leaning towards MACK's screw loose (no pun haha), can they be reached via the wheel arch panel or is it deffo a bumper off job? (Ive already checked the level motors are connected to the xenons which they are).

You can probably do it from the wheel arch, however if it is a loose bolt then you may need to remove the light to retreve it as it could be anywhere in there now.

 

[Crimson_27]

cheers, thats next weekends job then . Just looked on realoem but cant see any screws mentioned there, im guessing its not an obvious part now.

 

[MACK]

cheers, thats next weekends job then . Just looked on realoem but cant see any screws mentioned there, im guessing its not an obvious part now.

The headlight is sold as a complete unit only so they don't list individually the various bits and pieces. If memory serves I think what's been described as screws in this thread are actually little nuts that will be fairly easy to source separately if they been lost. However if the light has not been opened since they fell off they should still be in there............somewhere!

 

[Crimson_27]

cheers, thats next weekends job then . Just looked on realoem but cant see any screws mentioned there, im guessing its not an obvious part now.

The headlight is sold as a complete unit only so they don't list individually the various bits and pieces. If memory serves I think what's been described as screws in this thread are actually little nuts that will be fairly easy to source separately if they been lost. However if the light has not been opened since they fell off they should still be in there............somewhere!

Ok , will have a a hunt around once i'm back with the car. Cheers all ill keep thi s posted.