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E39 Headlight Adjustments Raise/Lower

25K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Jack Dabsy 
#1 ·
I recently installed new headlight adjusters on my 01 530i and wanted to share with everyone what I discovered.

The two headlight adjusters (HA) on the inside of the headlight housing, which commonly break and result in non-adjusting/uneven headlight aim, are located and spaced so that one appears to control the HI-BEAM and one controls the LO-BEAM lamps. On each headlight housing you will see two headlight adjustment screws (AS) accessible on the rear of each headlight housing. The outer-most AS will adjust the LO-BEAM, and the inner-most AS screw will adjust the HI-BEAMS. By adjusting the AS on the housing, you are adjusting THE ACTUAL headlight adjusters. The screw you are turning is a long screw that is actually threaded into the headlight adjuster, thus, allowing you to raise or lower the headlights.

There are two ways to adjust the headlight adjusters: by using the rear AS (small bolt) or by using the top white nut adjustment. Depending on which tool you have, one may be easier to use then the other. So, here it goes:

By turning the rear AS clockwise, you are pulling the internal HA in towards the rear of the housing (basically, AIM UP). However, if you're using the top white nut adjustment, you'll need to turn COUNTER-CLOCKWISE to achieve the same (UP). Conversely, if you want to "push" the headlight adjusters forward to AIM DOWN, then you'll need to do the opposite (counter-clockwise on rear screw or clockwise on top white nut adjustment.

The electronic adjuster for the headlight housings is one "pivot ball" centered at the bottom. It electronically adjusts IN/OUT and works in conjunction with the two HA at the top to adjust aim.

I hope this helps everyone.
email me at joeyc3po@yahoo.com with any questions.
 
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