Jon Nelson’s Headlight Repair Procedure

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Open the hood and remove the headlight cover and flip up assembly (activate the headlight switch 6 times and it will remain up with the lights off). Make sure that you have the adjusting wheels on the top and bottom of the housing. If they are missing, obtain replacements from the dealer (PN 63 21 0 153 655). The top adjuster moves the headlight lens vertically and the bottom adjuster moves the lens assembly right to left. A loose lens assembly can be the result of missing adjusting wheels or broken collars. These instructions are for repairing broken collars. The three collars are attached to the lens assembly, two on the sliders and one on the single fixed pivot point.


    Picture 1: Shows an e31 adjuster assembly removed from the lens and housing. Note the broken hard plastic collar to the left in the picture. The adjuster wheel should remain attached to the housing.


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    Picture 2: Shows the replacement copper collar in the same configuration.


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    Picture 3: Attaching the collar to the lens assembly. Do not over-tighten. You want to slightly rotate the collar.


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    Picture 4. Shows attaching the ball/socket assembly of the slider to the replacement collar. Apply a drop of Loctite to the four stainless steel screws.


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    Picture 5: Final assembly with two of the collars replaced. The third collar is on the ‘fixed’ pivot point (lower left in the picture).


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    Repair of the e31 headlight adjuster retaining collars


    Materials:
    1. ½” copper cap (plumbing department at hardware store)
    2. Type L ½” hard copper pipe
    3. 4-40 x ¼” SS Phillips head screws
    4. Solder
    5. LocTite Blue
    6. Propane torch
    7. 4-40 tap
    8. Tubing cutter

    Procedure:

    1. Cut pipe at 9/16” to fit flush in caps. Type L is thicker than standard household Type M pipe,
    provides more thread surface, and is a perfect snug fit for the socket.

    2. Solder the pipe into the caps and sand or grind the surface flush.

    3. Mark and punch cap in 4 places for the screws.


    4. Drill (#43) and tap the caps for the retaining screws and a single centered hole (#20) in the bottom of the cap to secure it to the headlight assembly.

    5. Cut screws to 5/32” put Loctite on them and thread them into place.

    6. Attach cap to headlight assembly using existing screw that held the old black plastic collar in place.

    7. Insert socket into collar and tighten Stainless Steel screws.
    JLN 9/23/2005


    8. The stock headlight adjusters are designed to be adjustable with a Phillips screwdriver from the top of the headlight assembly with the cover removed. The up/down adjuster is on top while the left/right is underneath and is accessible through the assembly via a small hole on the bottom of the housing between the lights. The design of headlight assembly on e31 US models is a poor one. The assembly is comprised mainly of two parts, a three element lens assembly and a bucket. The weight of the lens assembly is mostly forward of the three pivot points and two of these pivot points are secured in place with the now infamous adjusters. The third pivot point is mostly static and generally not adjustable (it is located on the bottom of the bucket and is simply a slotted screw). There is also a plastic pin molded into the side of the lens assembly that rides in a slot in the side of the bucket for stability. The problem arises because of the constant hammering that the front suspension of the car experiences in normal driving. With the headlights in their recumbent down position, this weight distribution further hammers the stock adjusters off the adjusting screws or breaks the collar that captures the socket end of the adjusting slider mechanism. When I installed these collars on my car I took the additional step of attaching a spring between the lens assembly and the housing. This way the adjuster does not have to counteract the dynamic forces of the heavy lens and is only used to aim the lights themselves.


    1. Open hood and remove the headlight covers by removing the single Phillips head screw at the back. Slide the cover forward to disengage the clips.

    2. The top (up/down) adjuster is accessible from the top of the open bucket. Look for a groove ending in a small hole toward the front. The original adjuster is an aluminum piece that looks like a beveled gear and is pressed onto a splined shaft. If you can see the gear "teeth" in the small hole then your original is still in place. If the original is still on it can be left in place (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) or replaced. If you decide to replace it, use a small flat blade screwdriver (in the hole) to push it off the splined shaft.

    3. The left/right adjuster is basically the same and located underneath the headlight assembly. If this needs to be replaced:
    i) Manually raise the headlights by spinning the knurled knob in front of the headlight clockwise

    ii) Remove the two rear pivot nuts and bolts * (See note below)

    iii) Flip the headlight assembly forward to access the underneath spline.


    4. Important! Push on the headlight assembly with one hand to remove all the play. Make sure that the splined shaft has been pushed all the way inward. (there is a large round rubber boss that will seat where the shaft comes through the housing) If the missing or both adjusters have been installed and the assembly is still loose, the new adjuster was not seated all the way.


    5. With the other hand, push the new Delrin adjuster on tight. For the underneath adjusters: remove the two hinge through-bolts as described in item #4 above. The new adjusters are simply pressed on to the splined shaft, and have a screwdriver slot on the back end to adjust the lights. It should take some effort to press them on, do not hammer them into place. The small spherical seat on the lens assembly may break.


    6. When you re-install the rear pivot bolts, make sure the small locking tab near the head of the bolt seats in the slot. Also, reinstall the small bushings; they allow the hinge to move smoothly.


    7. The lights can now be adjusted by using a long handled screwdriver from the back. *Advice on removing the rear pivot bolts: loosen the nut enough so that it is most of the way off the threads and then tap on the nut to loosen and partially drive out the pivot bolts; this will avoid damaging the threads if you tap on them and makes removal of the bolts easier. There are little metal bushing sleeves that slip into the plastic headlight housing assembly; make sure they don't fall out. I also cleaned and lightly oiled the pivot bolts before I put them back in. It isn't bad at all to get to the lower adjusters.

    Another word of advice, keep the nuts, bolts, adjusters, and tools off the front of the car. I've discovered that the front end of the 8 is a black hole for swallowing little bits. Thankfully I had my magnetic retriever!

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