Today, comming home from school, i realized that one of my headlights was out (drivers side), not cool, but it shouldn't be any big deal.. I left a voicemail to my 'motoring advisor', (i think she usually has off on wed.) because there's no way in heck that I feel that i should have to pay for a replacement bulb when I took delivery on the car only a month and a half ago. Also, the bulb is flat out defective. It's not blown, but it's not operational.

So, I switched the good bulb (passenger side) and put it on the drivers side, so that the side of my car closest to oncomming traffic had a working bulb (i work 2nd shift, so as I was going to be driving late at night, i thought it would be a good idea). I also wanted to see if the 'good' bulb worked in the socket that had the 'bad' bulb, as like I said above, the bulb is not visabally blown. Well, now the only headlight I have points downward. It illuminates the first 4 feet of road in front of my car, and that's about it. Needless to say, I had to drive home with my high-beams on... not happy. Looks like i'll be calling my dealer early in the morning today (thurs.) as my MINI really isn't night friendly right now. And as my only other available car is my mom's K-Car, i'd like to get it fixed, pronto...

Rocketboy_X :evil:

 

Ever figure out why it's pointing down? Did you bump an adjustment setting, or not get it seated properly? How strange.

R

 

Rocketboy, I'm assuming we're talking halogens here. Mine seemed to point down also. I finally got tired of feeling like I had 1940's low beams and adjusted them to point just a bit higher. The adjustments are so simple it almost hurts. There are two black plastic screws on the back of the light housing that are each marked with arrows telling which way to turn for Up/Down or Left/Right. Do I need to say anymore?

Don't move them up a lot, or it will seem like your low beams are high beams - and people don't like that. I think it made a world of difference. Now I can see more than 10 feet in front of me!

 

"And as my only other available car is my mom's K-Car, i'd like to get it fixed, pronto..."

That is a classic....and she lets you drive it???

 

I think the light might not have been seated properly... I just got back from outside fiddling with it, and now I have the focus of the low-beam just above where the high-beam is focused... at about umm, 3 1/2, feet out or so.. does this sound right to anyone? But they had to order a bulb, and the parts department at Towne said that they'd pop it in and double check the headlight alignment for me... but for the next few days my MINI will be winking... *sigh*


And of Course my mom let's me drive her K-Car... it's the car I learned how to drive on!

And do you think MINI could have come up with a more irritating way to attach the bulbs? I'm guessing it's due to the 'auto leveling', but it's a serious pain when you're doing it mostly blind and upsidedown... i'm not really impressed....

Rocketboy_X

and... DOMO-KUN!!!!!

_________________
Chili Red MCS, White Rims, White Roof, White Stripes : AKA The Mach 4

 

ok rbx brought it up, what is it with the domo kun 2minis?

 

I'm pretty sure the low & high beam bulbs are exactly the same... H7 size.

There is a little wire clip that holds them in once you unplug the connection. Very easy to replace. You should just be able to take out one of the high beam ones, and put it in the low beam "socket" if one blows out. Just be careful to only touch the metal part of the bulb.

 

Humm, i didn't check to see what the high beams were... but I did re-seat the bulb earlier today, and well, on the way home although the headlight wasn't pointed at the road right in front of me, I was well aware of any low flying planes that were comming my way... would it be to hard to ask MINI to make a headlight assy that you can replace the bulbs w/out having to totally adjust the lights? This seems rather silly to me... well, silly is the word if i'm being nice.. either way, I had to drive home the past 2 nights in a row with insufficent lighting for my low-beams. Not very impressed with the design...

Rocketboy_X

 

More....

Ok, yep, the two bulbs are the same, so I switched one of the 'high beams' for bad 'low beam'. Well, now I have 4 working lights, (don't ask me why the non working bulb now works, either way, I still want it replaced) and they are pointed all over the place again. but no, it's not the actual head beam unit itself that's not aligned, it's the fact that the bulbs don't seat properly.

Still not impressed :evil:

Rocketboy_X

 

These are usually two-filament bulbs. I guess your low beam filament was broken. ...Sometimes it is very hard to see. :???:

 

The H7 bulbs the MINI uses for the halogen low and high beams are single filament.

Mini2Go the bulbs you may be familiar with are the H4 bulbs, which are indeed dual filament (the low beam and the high beam each have a different filament but share the same bulb, so the difference in position of the filament within the bulb helps to change the beam pattern).

 

Yup, definitely single filament bulbs...

but I had the same experience when I switched mine out for higher quality bulbs. The alignment of the beams was off by quite a bit, too low for one and too high for the other, even though both were properly seated.
Fortunately, due to the thoughtfulness of MINI engineers, easy to adjust up/down & left/right with two adjustment screws for each beam.

 

>>Rocketboy, I'm assuming we're talking halogens here. Mine seemed to point down also. I finally got tired of feeling like I had 1940's low beams and adjusted them to point just a bit higher. The adjustments are so simple it almost hurts. There are two black plastic screws on the back of the light housing that are each marked with arrows telling which way to turn for Up/Down or Left/Right. Do I need to say anymore?
>>


Cool. I've got to check that out - I'd like to raise them an inch.

 

>>Yup, definitely single filament bulbs...
>>
>>but I had the same experience when I switched mine out for higher quality bulbs. The alignment of the beams was off by quite a bit, too low for one and too high for the other, even though both were properly seated.
>>Fortunately, due to the thoughtfulness of MINI engineers, easy to adjust up/down & left/right with two adjustment screws for each beam.

My problem seems to be that the high and the lows are not even aimed the same.. and aren't the adjustment screws for the whole assembly? I guess i'll find out when the dealer calls... I still want the new bulb... I'm not real confident about a bulb that does not work in the low-beam socket, but does in the high-beam socket...

Rocketboy_X

 

>> The H7 bulbs the MINI uses for the halogen low and high beams are single filament.

Oops. Yes, I was think H4, not H7. Sorry for the mixup.

>>Cool. I've got to check that out - I'd like to raise them an inch.

I'd be careful going a full inch. It might take less than you think for the results you want. -- I had to do mine, test drive, and readjust them lower.

>>My problem seems to be that the high and the lows are not even aimed the same.. and aren't the adjustment screws for the whole assembly?

Yes, these do adjust the entire assemble. Not sure what to tell you about adjusting each bulb. ??

>>I still want the new bulb... I'm not real confident about a bulb that does not work in the low-beam socket, but does in the high-beam socket...

I agree 100%. :smile:

 

>>Yup, definitely single filament bulbs...
>>
>>but I had the same experience when I switched mine out for higher quality bulbs. The alignment of the beams was off by quite a bit, too low for one and too high for the other, even though both were properly seated.
>>Fortunately, due to the thoughtfulness of MINI engineers, easy to adjust up/down & left/right with two adjustment screws for each beam.
Just curious what you used to upgrade. Price? Where you got them?