SC- 1st Gen (1992-2000)

Headlight, beam projection adjustment?

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Old 03-18-12, 07:18 AM
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yell0w
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Default Headlight, beam projection adjustment?

Car: 97 sc300
6k HID
I haven't tried cleaning the inside of the headlights. For some reason even after I tried removing the screw on top and the two screws behind the plastic by the wheel, the stupid headlight just won't pop out. Maybe i'm missing something? So instead I tried buffing the outside. Which got rid of some of the yellowing. It looks nice and clean but I don't know if the lens itself is as clean as it should be...

Here's my issue. The purple circle is ok when i'm driving at night but the blue one for some reason hits everything in the sky which is crazy looking..should those light even be there or should there just be the line of light under the circles i drew?



So Maybe adjusting the lights themself was the issue. The blue screw I didn't touch because I'm thinking it controls the high beams. The red for me didn't do anything I just kept turning and turning and nothing. The yellow I noticed would even out the little measuring thing that's in the picture between the blue and red circle. I have them both centerd to zero.

Any help here guys?

Old 03-18-12, 08:11 AM
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horent135
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Yellow is up/down, red is right/left?

I have the same problem too, the light is reflecting off the edge of the headlight and hitting upward. I think it is the bulb fitting isn't cover good. if you turn the lights on and move the bulb around, you will see it.
Old 03-18-12, 08:16 AM
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yell0w
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is that what you did to fix it?
Old 03-18-12, 10:33 AM
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MooJohn
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There is no fixing this by changing the aiming. The projector was designed this way to make sure street signs and such got lit up. Projectors were brand new when these lights debuted in 1992 and I guess they worried about a sharp cutoff line hurting visibility so they added these "holes".

It exists in a similar form in today's non-HID projector. Just google "squirrel finders" and you'll see the lengths some have gone to fix it.
Old 03-18-12, 12:55 PM
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yell0w
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But the thing is it's not both of them that are lighting up the trees. It's just the driver side one. =(
Old 03-18-12, 07:03 PM
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MooJohn
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I looked at mine tonight and saw that some of that upper reflection just might be the chrome housing below the projector. There would be more on the driver's side because that one would be aimed slightly lower than the passenger. That's only a "maybe" but it could be the cause.
Old 03-18-12, 07:07 PM
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yell0w
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I see. What I do notice is that on the first picture if I place my finger at a certain spot it'll move the weird looking triangle. I was kind of wondering if it could be just a speck of dust that hitting off in the lens. Since I can't take the headlight out I'm thinking about buying a air can and just spraying the air into the headlight. Maybe that might clear up the dust?
Old 03-18-12, 08:51 PM
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Tament
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I have the same issue and tried adjusting with no resolution, I adjusted that yellow screw anticlockwise, and that did not resolve the issue, it only adjusted the line of light below the pink and blue circles on the wall. Hopefully more people will chime in to let us know if that is normal or not.

I also did adjust the yellow screw clockwise just to see if it moved that light down and it did not....I did the latter just to see if something would move.
Old 03-19-12, 04:53 AM
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yell0w
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Out of curiousity are you guys on HID like me or still using the regular headlight bulbs?
Old 03-19-12, 06:34 AM
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MooJohn
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HIDs for me
Old 03-21-12, 05:43 PM
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horent135
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HID for me too, i dont think there really a fix, i just let it be. Once in the while I get high beamed on-going traffic cause of spot.
Old 03-21-12, 06:18 PM
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yell0w
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gosh it's so annoying. It doesn't make sense that the passenger works fine but the driver side is blasting signals to the skies. One of these days when I can actually get the stupid headlight out and bake it and see if it was really the lense then i'll be able to sleep with ease.
Old 05-14-12, 12:11 PM
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zinzan
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Hey guys, I've got regular lenses, and my driver's side appears very out of alignment--aimed lower than the passenger side and getting the light up high, too (maybe caused by light off the inside reflector).

Anyway, my question is how are you guys getting to that yellow-circled adjustment ****? I can't fit a socket down there due to the battery, and I only have enough room to turn my 8mm combo wrench about 45 degrees at a time, then have to pop it off, reset the wrench, and go another 45 degrees. Are you guys using a ratcheting wrench, or removing the battery, or something?

-Z

Edit: Nevermind, I guess. I went ahead and picked up a $7 8mm ratcheting wrench. Made the job manageable. I hate buying a tool for possibly a one-time use, but can't bring myself to abusing return policies.

Last edited by zinzan; 05-15-12 at 07:55 AM. Reason: Solved
Old 09-18-14, 01:52 PM
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net4n6
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"Search" worked wonderful...for now.

I got the same exact problem with OP. I spent the last hour search for solution but couldn't find any yet. I only found threads with members had the same problem with the driver side headlight beam.

Do you think if I adjust the black **** (red circle) to aim the driver side light down, the light int he "blue circle" will reduce? It bugged the hell out of me when I drive, the light reflect down from the trees on the street.
Attached Thumbnails Headlight, beam projection adjustment?-img_20140917_005015.jpg  

Last edited by net4n6; 09-18-14 at 02:00 PM.
Old 09-22-14, 04:12 PM
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net4n6
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Default I fixed it.

I DON'T BELIEVE THIS.... Sorry for the cap.... I lost control...

I lost sleep over this because the light bugged the hell out of me. I couldn't drive at night. It was so distracting.

95% of the time, troubleshoot the problem. 5% of the time, fix the problem.

After hours and hours of adjusting the light up/down and left right plus the "curses" of burning my hands. I fixed the problem by switching the light bulb from driver to passenger and versa. During the adjustment, I think that I broke the "adjuster" (see pic with arrow). I assume the plastic piece was for using your hand to adjust the light L/R instead of the socket.

Who knew. I took the driver side out many times and installed it back. It didn't solve the problem.

Now. I can drive safely
Attached Thumbnails Headlight, beam projection adjustment?-lights.png   Headlight, beam projection adjustment?-img_20140922_151228.jpg  
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