diy adjusting dips

Tivoli

i am due for the nct on tuesday, did anyone ever have a go at adjusting their dips diy, it is the most common fail for 00 cars

i don't want to bring the car to a garage until i do the test i would prefer to go with a list of what needs to be done from the nct, otherwise the garage would ensure to change more then is needed and charge heartily for it


my guess is that the dip beam has to travel parrallel to the road so.

1)park the car on a very flat carpark,
2)measure fro the ground to the center of the lightbulb on the car,
3)walk forward about 20 feet and measure the beam height above the ground,
4)adjusted the screws until both heights are the same


that is a complete guess anyone know a better way?

Farls

The NCT center i went to checked mine against the side of the building, just shawn them against the side and they looked to be in line and pointing straight ahead so they passed.

I thought this to be a very hit and miss way of checking them but its like most things in this country

Farlz

Tivoli

passed woo hoo, 2 more years in me clio:D

Seth Brundle

did you use the same height from the ground to the centre 20 feet away? Surely, there is a slight downward and leftward tilt to the lights?

Tivoli

nope mate parallel to the ground,passed for me

so on a flat road you will be lighting up oncomming cars up to their headlights and not affecting the drivers vision,

as for tilting downwards its the maximum height we are adjusting there is plenty of light below that

TomF

I have a "Peter Russek Manual" for my '89 Mitsubishi Space Wagon, and it has a procedure for the headlamps. I'll quote and try to describe the diagram. Before adjusting, the spare tyre should be in its storage spot, there shouldn't be any passengers or cargo in the car, the tyres should be at their correct pressure, the fuel tank should be about half-full, and the engine started and running at about 2000 rpm. (I suppose the engine is running so the battery doesn't discharge too far during the adjustments.)

"Adjusting the Headlamps. The adjustment of the headlamps should only be carried out with an optical instrument. If an emergency adjustment is necessary, drive the vehicle in front of a wall or the garage door and mark the area in accordance with [the diagram]."

[Here comes my description of the diagram. The car is parked 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches seems pretty close to that) so that the headamps are aimed squarely at the wall. Measure between the small center dots on the lens covers from the left to the right headlamp. That is distance "A". Now measure the height of the center dot above the ground. That is distance "H". Mark the center of "A" on the ground in front of the car, and walk straight to the wall and mark that same center on the wall at the ground. Now measure up "H" from the spot on the ground and mark the center point between the headlamps on the wall. Now lay out a level line with masking tape or a heavy piece of chalk from the center point on the wall to the left and right so that the line extends a little more than half the distance "A" in both directions. Mark a vertical line at both half-"A" distances on the level horizontal line. Finally, mark another level horizontal line 5 centimeters (about 2 inches) below the first line.]

There is a ray of light coming from each headlamp's light line on the wall, and the ray rises at 15 degrees toward the left. Note the spot on the wall where that ray seems to come out of the rest of the light for each headlamp, and adjust the left and right screw for the headlamps so that the spots are centered on the vertical lines you marked on the wall.

Then adjust the up and down screw so the main bright lines lie on the lower horizontal line, while keeping the beginning of the 15 degree rays on the vertical lines.

That should be the adjustment, at least according to my manual. I was going to try the procedure on the wall of a nearby Chinese restaurant, but didn't like the look of the cook who was carrying a cleaver at the time.