Passenger headlight projector tilted to the right and pointing down.

X5goldie · #1 12-06-2022, 07:27 PM

The driver's side is fine. Bad Headlight level sensor? Also the green indicator light on the headlight switch when set to Auto keeps blinking.

Thanks.

80stech · #2 12-06-2022, 09:15 PM

It sounds like maybe there is a problem with the motor that controls the light. There should be codes to give you some clues. You should include some vehicle info.

Clockwork · #3 12-07-2022, 12:29 PM

I've never heard of this problem before. sorry, but interesting....

X5goldie · #4 12-07-2022, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clockwork

I've never heard of this problem before. sorry, but interesting....

The pic shows the projector point way to the right and down low. It basically brightens the sidewalk.

The driver's side is pointing straight or normal.

2005 3.0i

80stech · #5 12-07-2022, 02:43 PM

Could be a broken adjuster or spring. You are not going to find anything out if you don't check anything.

jsoto · #6 12-07-2022, 11:32 PM

more than likely, it will require either a new set of depos and if you are dead set on OE, you may need to buy a donor for parts and crack you existing one open. It's probably the adjuster and either the ball end popped loose or the latter, where the plastic some along along it has broken, hence no support.

sgrice · #7 12-10-2022, 02:43 PM

I helped my son with a very similar symptom (right side adaptive headlight pointing to right and blinking green led light on the control switch) several months ago. Of course, sometimes different problems can cause similar symptoms, so our experience may not totally correlate with yours. But hopefully what we found/did will be helpful to you. It's been awhile so I've forgotten a few things (like the specific error code we got when scanning the car) - sorry about that.

Here is what his car looked like:

So this obviously has to do with the adaptive headlight system (AHL), which normally makes the headlights move in conjunction with the steering wheel to better illuminate the road when going around curves. Normally when you start the car/turn on the lights the headlights are supposed to move up/down/side to side. In our case they didn't move at all. My understanding/recollection is that the AHL is controlled both by a central module (which is located behind the glovebox above the general module), and by two other additional modules (one for each headlight and located on the bottom of each headlight assembly). To narrow down which module might be at fault, we took the headlight assemblies out and swapped the modules that are on each headlight assembly from right to left. No change in symptoms. Plus, as I recall, we were not able to communicate with the central module when we scanned the car. So the above led us to conclude the problem was with the central module located behind the glovebox. We purchased a used replacement module from ebay ( Here is a link to another ebay listing for said module), but after replacement it still didn't work. Not sure if we got a bad replacement module, or if our diagnosis was wrong. So at that point we gave up on trying to fix it (the adaptive feature wasn't that important to my son anyway), and instead centered the headlight (discussed next), unplugged the central module (why we did this discussed below), and called it a day.

Centering the headlight can be done manually. It is much easier to do with the headlight assemblies off the car, but if you're careful/use a mirror/willing to risk dropping screws into the abyss it can be done while still in the car. You need to remove the 4 T20 (or maybe T25?) screws that hold the headlight cover in place, remove the cover, then unplug the xenon connector, and then remove the xenon light assembly. After this the gearshafts that control the headlight movement are reachable with a pick/angled screwdriver. I remember the horizontal bottom gearshaft controlled right/left, but not which way I spun the gearshaft to center the headlight. Of course, fairly obvious when you're doing it. Try it one way, and if you're wrong then go the other. Here is a picture of the back of the assembly - the horizontal bottom gearshaft has a brass color and is seen just below where the xenon light assembly goes in.

And here is what it looked like after spinning the gearshaft a bit.

Here is why the central module was ultimately left disconnected: Initially after the ebay module failed to solve the problem, we put the original module back in and left it connected- wistfully hoping that it might come back to life and work properly at some point. Apparently it did have some functionality, but certainly not proper functionality! After a few weeks my son noticed the headlight had gone back to the rightward deflection. So maybe the module could control the headlight, but not correctly? So we went back and disconnected the module, re-centered the headlight, and all has been fine since (no adaptive function, but my son is fine with that).

Hope the above makes sense. If you're going to this, one thought might be to replace the xenon light assembly at the same time. They do dim over time. Of course, if they seem plenty bright to you then maybe there's no need to replace them.

Good luck, let us know what you do.

Stephen

sgrice · #8 12-10-2022, 03:07 PM

One other thought - you may read where some people discuss that there are white hex plastic control bolts on the top of the headlight assembly that can be used to fine tune headlight aiming. Emphasis on "fine" tuning. We tried using those, but could not get the headlight to move nearly enough. In our experience the gearshaft inside the assembly is the way to go.

X5goldie · #9 12-10-2022, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgrice

One other thought - you may read where some people discuss that there are white hex plastic control bolts on the top of the headlight assembly that can be used to fine tune headlight aiming. Emphasis on "fine" tuning. We tried using those, but could not get the headlight to move nearly enough. In our experience the gearshaft inside the assembly is the way to go.

I have played with the outside white hex screws but could not get to move right. It did work up or down however.

But thank you for the detailed explanation of your work. I might have to tackle the manual adjustment, but at this point, It does not seem to bother me that much anymore...

Thanks again.