Our MCS arrived yesterday with crazy headlights. The high and low beams point in *exactly* the same spot which is pretty high, even for high beams. I took a crack at lowering them by very carefully turning the adjustment screw exactly one full turn downward. The lights then came on much lower (both high and low beams still shining in exactly the same spot) but they immediately auto-leveled back to their former position, although now uneven with one shining slightly higher than the other. I very precisely adjusted the screws back to their exact original position and now they turn on as before, starting high and then adjusting a very slight bit higher, but still, one light is now higher than the other where they were previously even. There's no dealership within 150 miles -- does anyone know if BMW dealers have the skills to exorcise the demons from our lights?

 

I was involved in an accident and after that my headlights point down and do not auto level. Thankfully I am going to have it looked at soon.

 

Not sure about adjustment. I can tell you that the auto-leveling system seems to be a bit flaky though. When i was out last night, my xenons were blinding people for a while when I pulled out. They eventually lowered, but it took a while. Does anyone havea technical explanation of how these auto leveling systems work? I've always been curious...

 

I should probably mention that the car was manufactured on 01/2003 and that it seems to auto-level twice on a fresh key. That is, if I turn the lights off and back on they start high and nudge higher, but if I take the key out and start over they come on low, level to a reasonable position, change colors, and then level to the high position.

 

http://forums.roadfly.org/mini/forum...356&page=3
Try this thread. Inconclusive as to the advisalbility of doing it yourself. I plan to give it a try, mine are too low. Like driving in the dark with lows on above 25 mph.

 

I would just call my dealer... I had to do it with my lights before.. (long story short, defective bulb, switched around bulbs, couldn't get it pointing just right, dealer fixed both problems..)

Rocketboy_X

 

OK I figured it out. The headlights apparently need to be *on* while adjusting. I saw over on Roadfly that a dealer tool exists to snake through the wheelwell and reach the adjustment screw with the hood closed. I considered mimicking the tool with a piece of fuel line but decided instead to just point the lights at the garage ceiling and move them relative to the rafters. I first let the lights level with the hood closed, of course. I had to crank the screws maybe 4 or 5 complete turns to lower the lights to a reasonable level (they were really high) so I did it in stages, fearing the rumored gear-stripping. I turned the lights off and on at each stage reaching through the window with my ear as close as possible to the hood but everything went fine. I even took the key out to fully reset the leveling system at several stages with no trouble. I actually ended up severely overshooting my target and at one point had the lights pointing down at the ground 20' in front of the car with absolutely no complaints from the levelers so apparently they can be adjusted through a significant range via the screws.

 

Hmm... somewhere along the line the stud imbedded within the headlight housing that is used to bolt the light to the hood ripped right out of the housing. It 's the stud at the very bottom front of the light (at the very top of the photo below -- shown intact). Clearly, this is why that headlight suddenly began shining higher than the other after I messed with it. I never put any significant force on the unit, just daintily adjusted the screw (which is way up by the top stud). It must have been severely overtightened and half-way ripped out by the factory. Either way, it's a pretty flimsy design and a shameful way to scrap a $600 light.

 

we had one problem with our xenons awhile back.

appearently if the dealer resets your software they can accidentally reset all kinds of things from the factory settings. one thing they did to ours was to accidentally code the car to think it had the regular headlights. so they headlights would come on but not auto level nor would the washers work. they sorted the codes and now it's fine. would like them a bit higher though...

some of you may have this problem. sometimes they said this even happens at the factory.

curt

 

yes there is a special tool for the adjusting the head lights. If i could figure out a where to find it on My hard drive (I have TIS on my Laptop) I would post the pic.