Xenon adjustment wheels

[The Mighty Quinn]

When my 2nd hand Xenons arrived, the lower central ball & socket fitting for the internal lense on the n/s lamp had come loose, but I got it pulled back together. I also noticed that the outer adjuster mechanism on the rear of the o/s lamp was seized up. Have now got it freed up using WD40 on the metal spindle, but the little plastic cogs are damaged - can I remove the cogs from my old headlamp unit and replace them?

I can adjust the lamps using a 10mm socket on the lower cog, but not sure I'll have enough access to adjust them from here when the lamps is in-situ - can't adjust with the upper cog as the plastic teeth are damaged on same.

I can see that the upper plastic cog just pushes into its plastic housing so this should be easy to replace if I can remove the lower plastic cog from the metal spindle - are these glued on and difficult to remove?

Don't want to butcher the things - but if I could replace these cogs when my old units are removed from the car, that would be the time to do it - any advice appreciated.

Cheers.

[T-Cut]

The spindle with the blue sprocket is threaded on the inner end and drives a sliding shuttle. This holds one of the reflector ball joints. Both adjusters work in the same way. The outer end of the spindle is knurled and the blue sprocket is pressed onto that. If it's pulled off to replace it, the new one will have to be cemented in place. I'd imagine a dab of epoxy on the knurling will suffice. If the sprocket can't be solidly attached I suppose you could dispense with the sprockets and put a slot in the end of the spindle so a screwdriver will turn it.

TC

[stevestrat]

I had problems with mine due to corrosion on the shaft, the cogs are a push fit onto miniscule splines on the shafts, once a bit of corrosion gets between the two the interference fit goes and the cog just spins. Because the cogs are a polyurethane type plastic I couldn't find an adhesive (tried superglues, epoxy resins etc) that would secure it to the metal shaft. The problem you will hit if trying to swap the cogs is once you remove the cog the shaft withdraws into the housing, I'm not sure how you could pull the shaft back out and push the "new" cog onto it at the same time.

[T-Cut]

From what I can see, the spindle will slide in along with the shuttle it threads into, but it should all pull out again. But as you say, holding the spindle to press on a new sprocket will be a problem. It's easy enough if you separate the lens, which makes it a much bigger job.

TC

[The Mighty Quinn]

Thanks Steve & TC, it sounds like it might be a little bit more hassle than it's worth. I will try to get the o/s lamp reasonably well adjusted when the bumper is off, even if I have to fit and remove the unit itself a couple of times to get it right. Hopefully the in-car adjustment wheel will give me enough leverage thereafter to deal with any nuances in ride height etc. The adjustment wheels on the lamps do appear to be working ok now, it's just that the one cog on the top has damaged teeth - might be able to squeeze a 10mm socket on the other cog through the hole in the in the wing when fitted though, in which case, no problems. Will update when I get round to fitting (hopefully this weekend).

Cheers.

[suzublu]

Karl, I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but i seem to remember a fix for the adjustment mentioned a while ago involving one of those cable block connectors, the little plastic ones with a screw in the top. You insert the spindle into the block connector, then pull on the spindle to adjust the lights correctly, then tighten the screw onto the spindle to hold it in place. Does that make sense :shrug::o

[Vossy]

My blue adjuster cog was creamed but after getting another one I secured mine on the adjuster shaft with chemical metal, still holding tight.

[The Mighty Quinn]

Karl, I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but i seem to remember a fix for the adjustment mentioned a while ago involving one of those cable block connectors, the little plastic ones with a screw in the top. You insert the spindle into the block connector, then pull on the spindle to adjust the lights correctly, then tighten the screw onto the spindle to hold it in place. Does that make sense :shrug::o

Fair play Ronnie, I see exactly what you're getting at. Should have some of those strip connectors lying around the garage - my old man was an electrician.

Cheers.

[FROGGY]

Confused (again).
I thought the Xenons were self-levelling etc., so what adjustments are we talking about here?

Mick

[The Mighty Quinn]

Confused (again).
I thought the Xenons were self-levelling etc., so what adjustments are we talking about here?

Mick

Hi Mick,

My knowledge on the matter is very limited, but from what I understand the self levelling facility on the Xenons is a reactionary adjustment of some sort - connected to the suspension of the car and is only fitted to cars that had Xenons from the factory. The actually beam adjustment/alignment cogs are still in place to the rear of the lamps - same as on normal halogens.

Cheers.

[Bartje]

Those are used to adjust the headlamps to a zero-point, officially this needs to be done with 3/4 of fuel in the tank and a person in the driver seat ;-)
When this zero-point has been set, the automatic adjustment will make sure the beams don't go up when the car is loaded with people and luggage. :-)