Reattaching Headlight Leveling Screws

[Hornung418]

So while I was attempting to level my new headlights, I unscrewed the Horizontal Leveler on the passenger side. What's the solution to reattaching it? It just wiggles from side to side and points down :(

[ryankokesh]

Sounds like your "screwed!" get it?!

Seriously though, I have no idea.


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[Hornung418]

Ugh...I really don't want to take it out on a Monday morning...this completely sucks right now. I hope I can just pop the cover off and manhandle the light into the adjustment knob...

Courtesy of Gingerbread...

[ryankokesh]

That's weird it doesn't just go back in...?
Good luck!

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[Hornung418]

Pulled the light at 8:30...only took a few minutes.

stripped the plastic spider gear. Attempting a transplant from my Halogen Headlight. I have until 12 O'clock.

How do I take the Bowls out of the housing? Charlie...? BP...? Anybody with a link would be helping.

[Hornung418]

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[ryankokesh]

Not really a quick job... unless you're much more talented than myself, which could easily be the case: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?5445-ZKW-Burnt-Projector-Bowl-Repair-Retrofit-DIY

[Hornung418]

Got it!!! I used the assembly from my Halogens. Just kinda went into panic mode and just tore the Halogen assembly apart so I wouldn't fuck anything up on the projectors. Thanks for the DIY, Ryan, I was looking for a guide that I remember seeing on e46F where he took the every part of the headlight out. every screw and so forth.

In my case I managed to figure it out pretty quickly which is good cause I have class in an hour. But from the 8:30 til just about 20 minutes ago, I managed to remove the Passenger housing from the car, disassemble two housings, repair the damaged screw assembly and reinstall the headlight. Not only that, but I noticed that when I took out the brackets on the bottom of the lights yesterday, I reinstalled them and they were riding about a half inch too high on the passenger side, and a quarter inch on the driver side. So I had to play trial and error on both sides to sit flush with the bumper. What a morning.

Thanks for your help Ry. Sometimes just the commentary helps solve the problem.

I think I may have an addendum to Charlie's DIY regarding the Automatic Level Sensor Bar. Pics after class.

[ryankokesh]

Phew! Good work!

[Hornung418]

Pics of the damage

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The beveled gears actually fused to the bracket...which is what caused them to strip in the first place. Guess the combo of High heat and stupidity lead to that one.

Pretty disappointing :( But I am now Board Certified to work on e46 headlights :thumbup

EDIT: Just in case you're wondering, that is a butter knife in those pics...It's my favorite tool to use on my e46. It stays in the trunk at all times.

[ryankokesh]

Wanna get my FX-R's into my zkw's? :begging

[Hornung418]

I'm to clumsy to do any work and call it professional. But I can give guidance over then net :biggrin

I'll share some pics and note what is curious to me after class in an hour.

Courtesy of Gingerbread...

[Hornung418]

Also its pouring...I beat the weather by a half hour.

Courtesy of Gingerbread...

[ryankokesh]

Haha, I'm (mostly) joking :) I would be interested in what you learned, though!

[Hornung418]

In Charlie's DIY, I noticed that he suggests finagling the auto-leveling arm out of it's socket. It's my understanding that doing so can bend it if you aren't careful, which results in mis-leveled lights. It's my suggestion that as an alternative to that route is to attack it from the front.

Following Charlie's DIY you should have removed the inner bowl light, and the ignitor, and Xenon bulb. Then you have reached the stage of unscrewing both knobs until they separate from the set of bowls. Now...This is the shape of the arm bracket on the bowl setup. Notice it has a one-way clip on the opposite side of the bracket. But where is is hiding from the front view of the lights?

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Remember the black or silver trim piece between the lights? Well that is held on by two clips. They are black in this image and are located at the top and bottom, next to the auto-leveling bracket.

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I used my butter knife to close the tabs just enough to slide it through the opening. When that trim piece is off, you can safely close both ends of the clip and safely remove your light assembly from the housing.

Now here's where I get to my issue. I had adjusted the lights too far to the right and had forced it farther than it expected. This stripped the beveled gears and the rotating gear jumped the track. So now I needed to put the working gear from the Halogen into the Xenon gears.

I discovered that in order to remove it, I would have to pull the screw, but how do I pull it out?

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Looking at this image you can see how the screw is retained in the hole. Using my trusty butter knife, I slid it into the slot and moved it left and popped the left side of the screw up then to the right to completely remove the screw.

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Then it's a matter of pulling the yellow and white pieces out and you've got an empty housing :)

[terraphantm]

What I usually do is: Loosen the top adjusters to the point *right* before the frame is released from the top. Get something soft (towel or pillow or something) and put the headlight face down on that. From behind the housing, use your thumbs to push the bottom out. The leveler will release with enough force. I've yet to actually break a clip doing this... and I've taken my headlights apart more times than I can remember.