Realign Headlight

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- Bradley Walker
  
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posted
17 years ago

Thu, May 11, 2006 9:45 PM

Several weeks ago I had to install a new lowbeam bulb on my `01 Outback Wagon LE. I accomplished that with little effort, however in the process I did have to loosen the bolts that hold the headlight assembly into place in order to get my hand behind the assembly to turn, loosen, remove the back cover to pull out the bulb.

Now I notice that that headlight beam seems to be focusing towards the left and down. My mom's 95 legacy has a water/air buble measurement guage built into the assembly to ensure that you get it lined back up correctly. Unfortunately no such item exsists on my headlight assembly. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks for getting the assembly realigned.

Brad

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- S
  
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posted
17 years ago

Tue, May 16, 2006 2:45 PM

First of all, if you simply loosened/removed the headlight assy. without moving any of the adjustment hardware, it should have retained it's alignment. I'd start by checking to be sure that everything is back as intended. If this fails to satisfy, park with the headlights hi-beams aimed at a wall/garage door, and adjust the offending side such that the spot center (easiest in daylight, BTW) is approximately in the same position as the good side (but on the other side of an imaginary centerline, naturally).Then take the car for a drive on a straight flat road (preferably one with little or no traffic), at night, and fine tune your adjustment as needed. Finally, trot up the road a hundred yards or so and have a look to be sure your adjustment isn't putting the hi-beam into oncoming drivers eyes. This will usually yield superior performance to the factory settings; just keep a screwdriver and flashlight in your glove box, and keep tweaking until you are happy. I will add that the adjustments will seem kinda vague at first, but after you've fiddled with them awhile you will find that you can tell readily where adjustment is needed, and will be able to accomplish said adjustment with minimal time and effort.

Me: "Wait . . . Gotta adjust the headlights . . . Only take a second . . ." The Missus: "Sigh." ;:-)

ByeBye! S

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

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- Sheldon
  
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posted
17 years ago

Thu, May 18, 2006 7:13 PM

I also agree that just removing and replacing a bulb should not have affected your alignment. That said, there are dozens of ways of adjusting headlights. Since, if I'm not mistaken, your headlight have a very flat cutoff on the -- and just align the top of the beam, the flat line, with the line the other headlight creates. In theory, the top of that line should be just below the height of the headlight measured from the road to the top of the light on your car. I often use my leg to to this, very scientific. Again, in theory, because the cutoff is so flat, you are merely trying to keep all of the light on the road, aimed slightly down out of oncoming driver's eyes.

Then, switch on your high beams and check the alignment left to right, aligning the spot straight ahead to the side of the car that light is on, as explained by the poster above. As they said, it can't hurt to carry a screwdriver with you to make fine adjustments for a few evenings.