headlight assembly loose inside housing

[Chris]

Just bought some HIDs off the Vortex and when they were delivered I noticed that the passenger side light assembly is loose inside of the housing!

I spoke to the seller just now and he says it probably got jarred loose during shipping.... it's kinda pointless to argue with him so I'm just wanting to find out if this is fixable.

I've read a bunch of threads on Vortex about similar issues and many people state that it's just a matter of opening up the back of the headlight and then "popping" it back into place.

Has anyone had this happen?

I really want to get this fixed so I can enjoy some HID goodness

Thanks!

[Satnam]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

sounds about right for halogen projectors, mine popped out when I was too lazy to pull out the assemblies to change the bulbs.

it takes a little bit if force to get it to pop into the socket properly - There is a round knuckle joint that needs to be pushed back into it's socket. It's part of the headlight aiming system.

Don't know how how the HID system is setup inside the housing though.

the back cover talked about is just the headlight access.

[RobG]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

How loose is it? The light assembly is mounted on three ball joint type points inside the housing, with mine, the one that is mounted to the leveling motor is a little loose, when you hit a solid bump you can see a little jitter in the light. I have been told that this is fairly common. Take the covers off the back of the light and take a peek.

[Chris]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

It's pretty loose. If I were to hit a bump the light would move so much that the beam would be hitting the ground.

Where are these ball joints or "knuckles" that are supposed to be popped back in? I have taken of the back cover to look inside but I'm damned if I can see them.

Can anyone post a pic?

[forkdork]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

Yeah I had that happen before too.

You have to take apart the headlight (the front glass/plastic) and take off the little pieces in the back that are used to change bulbs.

Look in from the back and you should see these little white balls (sort of look like bones) and the socket that they are supposed to go into. Put some Baby oil on your hands and then rub the balls with your oily hand to get it all oily.

Then you have to guide the ball into the socket with one hand and then using the other hand push the corresponding side of the reflector into the back of the headlight until you hear a pop (put a sock on your hand or something for this part so you are not touching the reflector itself).

All the crap above will make sense once you take apart the headlight and have a look inside.

[Chris]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

Put some Baby oil on your hands and then rub the balls with your oily hand to get it all oily.

LOL

Sorry, that was funny.

Thanks for the advise! I really appreciate it. However, I can't take off the front 'lens' part of the housing as it is the glass one and is sealed on there ridiculously well.

I'm going to see if I can get things popped in just by going through the back.

In the meantime, if anyone else has any tips, post 'em up!

Thanks!

[nordex]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

It more then likely happened from shipping...you need to obviously go in through the back. you have to look around I know on my gli headlights it was a pain but once you do it your like that was easy. dont need to force anything though. the knuckle that is loose should be just below the adjustment screws for aiming. With oem hids being worth so much though I wouldnt mess with it to much and just take it to the stealership theyve more then likely done this a million times...

[Satnam]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

LOL

Sorry, that was funny.

Thanks for the advise! I really appreciate it. However, I can't take off the front 'lens' part of the housing as it is the glass one and is sealed on there ridiculously well.

I'm going to see if I can get things popped in just by going through the back.

In the meantime, if anyone else has any tips, post 'em up!

Thanks!

I was not able to pop the knuckle back into the socket until the headlight assembly was off the car. Waste the 10 minutes to take the bumper cover off, and remove the assembly.

[Chris]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

Update: I still can't find these knuckles, or balls, that everyone talks about. I suspect it's because I have a mild case of Down's Syndrome, however, I did try playing with the adjuster screws and noticed that they tighten up when they are screwed.

The only downside (literally) is that the lights point down to the ground - any other position and the assembly becomes all loosey-goosey again.

I read somewhere that someone simply kept turning on the adjuster until it came to its stop and then turned some more to pop something back into place, but I don't want to break anything so I'm not going to try that.

Anyway, if anyone knows anything else I can try, lemme know!!

Thanks!

[forkdork]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

HID's come with adjustable levelling in europe right (adjustable from the cabin). I think the balls are there to replace the motors and associated gears that would be present in the levelling units. So perhaps you may have to look for a gear that has popped out or something.

Regardless, I still recommend taking apart the whole headlight to take a look inside and see how it works (thats how I figured it out when mine popped out)

[Chris]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

I don't think i can get the whole thing apart - the glass housings are glued on there pretty tightly.

In the meantime, I managed to get it tightened so it doesn't rattle around, but it's sitting quite low. I installed them in my car this afternoon to see if everything worked (it does!!) and the one side's beam is indeed low.

I'm going to see if I can get the adjustment fixed this week.

[Satnam]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

the picture is fo a halogen projector, look where the adjusters are (at the end). For this halogen there is one plastic one (can see), and one metal one - the arrow points to it.

those are the balls are that you will need to lube with your oily hands

sorry for the huge picture.

[R_Ethug]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

hey chris.. sorry for not calling you back today.. way to hungover from haloween party .. if you can't figure em by thursday bring it to the meet and i'll give it a shot..

[Chris]

Re: headlight assembly loose inside housing

Thanks for the pic, Satnam! The HIDs are a bit different when you open the back of them but there is something that looks like that ball joint (although it's very tricky to get to!)

Driving around tonight it became VERY apparent that I'll need to get these adjusters fixed as the beams point super low and I have about 3-4 feet of light ahead of me on the road. It didn't feel too safe when on parts of the Deerfoot tonight where there are no lamp posts.

Ryan - I'll let you take a look at them at the meet on Thursday. They may or may not still be on the car; I am going to decide if I should take them off and put my halogens on over the next few days.