Headlight adjustment
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 52
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From: Louisville, KY
Headlight adjustment
I have looked through several threads about people trying to adjust their low beam headlights and i have tried everything but actually taking the headlights out and adjusting. Has anyone figured out the correct way to adjust the low beams or have i just looked it over in a thread? I dont mean to make another post but driving at night is driving me crazy.
Ya you've got a problem if all the way up isn't enough, all the way up puts them way higher then safe/regulation. I keep mine on the second to the highest setting
Ok lowered is understandable, but any higher, and you will be shining up above the horizon line, which will blind drivers down the road. It's just part of what comes with being lowered. When was the last time you replaced the bulbs? If its been a few years (or never) its time for new ones, hids get dimmer over time. Otherwise, it might be time to retrofit better projectors, the stock ones are pretty bad.
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Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, KY
Ok lowered is understandable, but any higher, and you will be shining up above the horizon line, which will blind drivers down the road. It's just part of what comes with being lowered. When was the last time you replaced the bulbs? If its been a few years (or never) its time for new ones, hids get dimmer over time. Otherwise, it might be time to retrofit better projectors, the stock ones are pretty bad.
When your lowered on springs that dip the front end of the car lower, yes the switch inside is beyond it's limits. Here's just one thread with tidbits in it, there are quite a few more as well.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...t-03-evo8.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...t-03-evo8.html
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, KY
When your lowered on springs that dip the front end of the car lower, yes the switch inside is beyond it's limits. Here's just one thread with tidbits in it, there are quite a few more as well.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...t-03-evo8.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...t-03-evo8.html
I JUST did this yesterday.
Unless you have magical hands, you will have to take the front bumper off to make this an easy job.
What I did (I stole pictures from the thread above and reuploaded them because nothing is more frustrating than finding what you need with no pictures)
1. Take the bumper off, then take the headlights off. You'll have to unplug the headlights and the high beams are a pain in the *** (at least for me) to get the plugs off. I had to remove the bulbs to get the headlight off then do the plug separately.
2. Once you have the headlights off, remove the metal "shield" thing that he says to 'cut here' in this picture. Take a hacksaw and get rid of that crappy tab or bend it out of the way without messing up the bracket. I don't relaly know the purpose of the bracket, but i kept it. this WHOLE ENTIRE PROCESS of removing the bumper and headlights is literally just to remove that one tiny tab. everythign else could be done with the headlights on the car still
3. I chose to get rid of the silly cable that adjusts the low beams and high beams together. the high beam housings and stiff enough that they aren't going to move and the cable then serves no purpose except to bind up
4. put the metal shield back on the headlight, reinstall the headlights in the car. plug them in and test. once everything works, put the front bumper back on the car
5. wait til night
6. grab the biggest size phillips head screwdriver that will fit into the motor (see example) and drive somewhere with a big flat area and a wall / building you can adjust with
7. turning the screwdriver clockwise (tightening) will raise the headlights. for most people reading this, that's what you'll be doing. you must have the headlights off while doing this so bring a flashlight so you can see what you're doing. The headlights have to be off otherwise they'll auto-level and this won't work (and you might break something). I'd start with ~20 1/4 to 1/3 turns (just turn the screwdriver like normal 15-20 times) and then check. try and get the same number of turns into each light so they don't have to auto-level too much once you turn them on. From there, move the adjuster to '2' and level that to be where you want it. this will give you two notches 'up' and two notches 'down' of adjustment from in the cabin
from here it's all fine tuning, but removing that tab is the annoying part and the thing you need to do to be able to adjust the headlights from under the hood without removing anything in the future
Unless you have magical hands, you will have to take the front bumper off to make this an easy job.
What I did (I stole pictures from the thread above and reuploaded them because nothing is more frustrating than finding what you need with no pictures)
1. Take the bumper off, then take the headlights off. You'll have to unplug the headlights and the high beams are a pain in the *** (at least for me) to get the plugs off. I had to remove the bulbs to get the headlight off then do the plug separately.
2. Once you have the headlights off, remove the metal "shield" thing that he says to 'cut here' in this picture. Take a hacksaw and get rid of that crappy tab or bend it out of the way without messing up the bracket. I don't relaly know the purpose of the bracket, but i kept it. this WHOLE ENTIRE PROCESS of removing the bumper and headlights is literally just to remove that one tiny tab. everythign else could be done with the headlights on the car still
3. I chose to get rid of the silly cable that adjusts the low beams and high beams together. the high beam housings and stiff enough that they aren't going to move and the cable then serves no purpose except to bind up
4. put the metal shield back on the headlight, reinstall the headlights in the car. plug them in and test. once everything works, put the front bumper back on the car
5. wait til night
6. grab the biggest size phillips head screwdriver that will fit into the motor (see example) and drive somewhere with a big flat area and a wall / building you can adjust with
7. turning the screwdriver clockwise (tightening) will raise the headlights. for most people reading this, that's what you'll be doing. you must have the headlights off while doing this so bring a flashlight so you can see what you're doing. The headlights have to be off otherwise they'll auto-level and this won't work (and you might break something). I'd start with ~20 1/4 to 1/3 turns (just turn the screwdriver like normal 15-20 times) and then check. try and get the same number of turns into each light so they don't have to auto-level too much once you turn them on. From there, move the adjuster to '2' and level that to be where you want it. this will give you two notches 'up' and two notches 'down' of adjustment from in the cabin
from here it's all fine tuning, but removing that tab is the annoying part and the thing you need to do to be able to adjust the headlights from under the hood without removing anything in the future
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, KY
I JUST did this yesterday.
Unless you have magical hands, you will have to take the front bumper off to make this an easy job.
What I did (I stole pictures from the thread above and reuploaded them because nothing is more frustrating than finding what you need with no pictures)
1. Take the bumper off, then take the headlights off. You'll have to unplug the headlights and the high beams are a pain in the *** (at least for me) to get the plugs off. I had to remove the bulbs to get the headlight off then do the plug separately.
2. Once you have the headlights off, remove the metal "shield" thing that he says to 'cut here' in this picture. Take a hacksaw and get rid of that crappy tab or bend it out of the way without messing up the bracket. I don't relaly know the purpose of the bracket, but i kept it. this WHOLE ENTIRE PROCESS of removing the bumper and headlights is literally just to remove that one tiny tab. everythign else could be done with the headlights on the car still
3. I chose to get rid of the silly cable that adjusts the low beams and high beams together. the high beam housings and stiff enough that they aren't going to move and the cable then serves no purpose except to bind up
4. put the metal shield back on the headlight, reinstall the headlights in the car. plug them in and test. once everything works, put the front bumper back on the car
5. wait til night
6. grab the biggest size phillips head screwdriver that will fit into the motor (see example) and drive somewhere with a big flat area and a wall / building you can adjust with
7. turning the screwdriver clockwise (tightening) will raise the headlights. for most people reading this, that's what you'll be doing. you must have the headlights off while doing this so bring a flashlight so you can see what you're doing. The headlights have to be off otherwise they'll auto-level and this won't work (and you might break something). I'd start with ~20 1/4 to 1/3 turns (just turn the screwdriver like normal 15-20 times) and then check. try and get the same number of turns into each light so they don't have to auto-level too much once you turn them on. From there, move the adjuster to '2' and level that to be where you want it. this will give you two notches 'up' and two notches 'down' of adjustment from in the cabin
from here it's all fine tuning, but removing that tab is the annoying part and the thing you need to do to be able to adjust the headlights from under the hood without removing anything in the future
Unless you have magical hands, you will have to take the front bumper off to make this an easy job.
What I did (I stole pictures from the thread above and reuploaded them because nothing is more frustrating than finding what you need with no pictures)
1. Take the bumper off, then take the headlights off. You'll have to unplug the headlights and the high beams are a pain in the *** (at least for me) to get the plugs off. I had to remove the bulbs to get the headlight off then do the plug separately.
2. Once you have the headlights off, remove the metal "shield" thing that he says to 'cut here' in this picture. Take a hacksaw and get rid of that crappy tab or bend it out of the way without messing up the bracket. I don't relaly know the purpose of the bracket, but i kept it. this WHOLE ENTIRE PROCESS of removing the bumper and headlights is literally just to remove that one tiny tab. everythign else could be done with the headlights on the car still
3. I chose to get rid of the silly cable that adjusts the low beams and high beams together. the high beam housings and stiff enough that they aren't going to move and the cable then serves no purpose except to bind up
4. put the metal shield back on the headlight, reinstall the headlights in the car. plug them in and test. once everything works, put the front bumper back on the car
5. wait til night
6. grab the biggest size phillips head screwdriver that will fit into the motor (see example) and drive somewhere with a big flat area and a wall / building you can adjust with
7. turning the screwdriver clockwise (tightening) will raise the headlights. for most people reading this, that's what you'll be doing. you must have the headlights off while doing this so bring a flashlight so you can see what you're doing. The headlights have to be off otherwise they'll auto-level and this won't work (and you might break something). I'd start with ~20 1/4 to 1/3 turns (just turn the screwdriver like normal 15-20 times) and then check. try and get the same number of turns into each light so they don't have to auto-level too much once you turn them on. From there, move the adjuster to '2' and level that to be where you want it. this will give you two notches 'up' and two notches 'down' of adjustment from in the cabin
from here it's all fine tuning, but removing that tab is the annoying part and the thing you need to do to be able to adjust the headlights from under the hood without removing anything in the future
Yes I left the cables off. I was unable to turn the low beam gear with the cable attached and I removed the low beam side and the low beam was "normal" to turn so I took the other side of the cable off and kept it off
I originally fiddled with the headlight levels in my driveway but I would just go somewhere (unless your driveway works well) and set the adjustment in the cabin to 2 and then shut the lights off, adjust them up (by turning screw driver clockwise in the motors), turning them back on and checking where they are and repeat. Start with 8-10 full turns or 20 1/4-1/3 turns and see where they're at and just keep adjusting. Remember to adjust both lights before turning them back on otherwise they will auto-level to each other and you'll have to do it again
I originally fiddled with the headlight levels in my driveway but I would just go somewhere (unless your driveway works well) and set the adjustment in the cabin to 2 and then shut the lights off, adjust them up (by turning screw driver clockwise in the motors), turning them back on and checking where they are and repeat. Start with 8-10 full turns or 20 1/4-1/3 turns and see where they're at and just keep adjusting. Remember to adjust both lights before turning them back on otherwise they will auto-level to each other and you'll have to do it again
Evolved Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 6,902
Likes: 151
From: Grand Island, NE
My '03 Evo came from the factory with the low beam headlights set to low. The fog lights shown further down the road. Looking through this thread I don't see anything that would have been helpful when it came to resetting them.