aiming headlights - 99 legacy wagon

Some moron aimed the headlights on a 99 Legacy wagon of my acquaintance so that they converge about 50 ft in front of the car, on the ground... and I'm trying to rectify this situation...

On inspection, I find that the owner's manual doesn't appear to have a headlight aiming section, and online searches reveal only that the mechanism is complex. It appears to be a feat of marvelous Japanese engineering (yes, that's sardonic in this particular case) involving between the frame and the glass/housing of each lamp a

  1. post outboard (towards the side of the car from lamp centerline) and above lamp centerline - a pivot point ?
  2. adjustor outboard and below centerline
  3. adjustor inboard (towards car center from lamp centerline) and above lamp centerline
  4. spring tensioner pulling frame and housing together inboard and at lamp centerline in the vertical plane

so it's not just a simple elevation/windage system. Apart from the fact that some genius of design decided to put plastic hex nuts on a star shaft on the end of adjustors that aren't made of stainless and hence now completely rusted (resulting in the plastic hex nuts stripping off the star when a socket was applied, even after convincing the adjustor shaft directly to turn by gentle application of liquid wrench and a vice-grip) it isn't really crystalline which of the two adjustors per lamp to move to get horizontal and vertical traverse.

I'll eventually head over to an auto parts store and borrow a subaru shop manual for a few minutes, but maybe someone here can clue me in faster ?

TIA,

Fred T.

Reply to
Fred T.
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First, I haven't done it , sorry. But, if the process still eludes you and no help comes here - please try posting at

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and maybe at
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.

just some ideas...

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Been awhile since I did mine (and am not sure it was on my old 92 Subie). As I recall, there were 2 screws (up/down, left/right). I just found a flat building wall to start the adjustment to make them level, then slightly down, and then drove around until I got the coverage that I wanted (not too far out or you don't get enough light on the ground in front).

The following is from some manual (I forget the name). It has a picture that supposedly is the level. On mine, I see a window atop the headlamp body that is probably it (I'd need to clean it and polish it to see through it again). While this is for an old 92 Subaru, maybe they're still using the level bubble on the new ones.

  1. Park the vehicle on level ground, so it is perpendicular to, and facing a flat wall about 25 ft. (7.6m) away.
  2. Remove any stone shields and switch ON the lights to low beam.
  3. The horizontal distance between the light beams on the wall should be the same as between the headlights themselves.
  4. The vertical height of the light beams above the ground should be 4 in. (10cm) less than the distance between the ground and the center of the lamp lenses for the lights.
  5. If adjustment is needed, proceed as follows: A. On 1985-93 models, turn the adjusting screw on the headlight ring. Each headlight will have 2 adjusting screws. One will control the vertical plain, and the other will control the horizontal plain. Adjust in small increments. B. On 1994-96 models, headlight alignment is made easier because each light assembly is equipped with an adjustment level. Use a suitable wrench or socket to adjust the level indicator nut at the end of the level, until the bubble is in the middle of the sight glass.
  6. Test to make sure the lights work correctly, and the light pattern is even.
Reply to
Vanguard

Thanks all.

Specifically my question is which adjustor controls which direction. I think I'm close to concluding that the inboard one controls horizontal aim while the outboard one controls elevation, but I'd love to hear a confirmation.

Tx, Fred

Vanguard wrote:

Reply to
Fred T.

Choose one and count the number of quarter-turns. If you see the light spot on the wall going the wrong direction, you'll know how many quarter-turns to undo and choose the other adjuster. As I recall, one is on top and the other is on the side in the middle. It would be pretty hard to get a top-mounted screw to change sideways motion instead of up and down, just like the one on the side would have little leverage to move the lamp up and down rather than sideways.

By the way, when at a couple auto shops, I asked them how they align the headlights. They point them at their garage door and adjust so it's close but that won't really be the same as then test driving to make further adjustments. The dealer's shop has the expensive alignment gear but I've found the manual adjust to be as good and sometimes better (because I get to choose how far ahead and how much of the road to light up). Just be aware that the driver's side is probably an asymmetrical pattern in that it lights further down the middle and less to the outside to help reduce blinding oncoming drivers on the other side of the road.

Reply to
Vanguard

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