gmorat

OK , now that I managed to strip the adjustment nut out of the housing what do I do?

What should be easy is absolutely maddening.

I can't say I wasn't warned.

G

mgianzero

The adjustment screws (which I believe are cast aluminum) can "pop" out if you exert a little force. They are held in by an O-ring gasket. Before you pop it back it, see if you can see the plastic gear that it meshes with. Make sure it is not chewed up. Also see if you can spray a little light lube (wet silicone - NOT grease) just to get the gears to turn a little easier. If everything looks okay, then push in the adjustment screw until it pops into place.

Also, you should only need to turn the screws a few revolutions each to get it back into alignment (unless you somehow get them way out of alignment). If either screws shows increasing resistance to turn, you are probably reaching the outer limits of light adjustment. Turn them back the other way. Like I said before, it sounds simple, but requires a bit of finesse.

Lastly, it can be really frustrating to get BOTH adjustments dead on. But if turning one screw doesn't seem to get you what you want, try turning the second screw a bit in the direction of one markings and that might also correct the other adjustment. Like a few RL'ers have said on this post, one screw does not ONLY adjust headlights in either true vertical or horizontal directions. They turn the headlights in a more of a diagonal direction. It's confusing, I admit.

Good luck.

Slow Guy

Also, if you happen to have aftermarket HID kit installed (I do) make sure the ballast and other parts installed in the headlamp assy. are not impeding the movement. It can be a little tricky to get those cables/parts in there and not affect the adjustment movement.

It's been a while since I installed my HID kit and re-alligned the headlamps so I can't make any more suggestions.

gmorat

You sir, Rock!

Mission accomplished. Silicon spray and a delicate hand while looking at what was happening on the inside with an angled mirror.

Thanks

G

mgianzero

G

So glad you got it to work! I think what happens is that these plastic bolts, since they are 16 years old now and can have acquired a bit of debris, get both hard to turn and become a bit brittle. So you have to try to free them up somehow. Like I said, I was most successful by using some silicone lube after trying other methods first.

As you can see from my pics, one of my gears got chewed up and another one just snapped. I really wish that Porsche would sell replacement screws but they don't. To be honest, I think there's a flaw in their design by using metal on plastic gear meshing. The metal screw heads can easily put too much stress on the plastic teeth and break them.

My last idea was to see if they can be remade by using a 3D printer. Then we could mass produce a replacement screw to save so much cost in replacing the entire headlight assembly. Perhaps someone on RL who has one might try this idea.

gmorat

I work with a pile if dudes who have 3D printers. That's the easy bit. What's needed is the digital model to generate it from.

G

mgianzero

You can ask them what they know (your 3D printer friends) but there's a few 3D scanners coming onto the market for pretty cheap.

Here's an example of one:
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2013/04/03/ph...f-3d-printing/



Marc G.

gmorat

They're not really scanner type dudes as they all model in 3D but I can ask and see what they might suggest.

G

pegdrag

Gad, Had no trouble adjusting the left light, but the right one is giving me fits. Doesn't seem to matter what I do, I can't get the light adjusted.

I've not stripped anything, that I can see, but the damn bubble in the spirit level will not move. I'll try again today after some silicone lube. The plastic rods turn, but I'm not seeing what's downstream....the light housing doesn't move.

I've not taken the entire light housing apart, but that's the next step.

96PCarrera993mg

I need to adjust my lights as well since I recently installed the T-Lights. Will WD40 work in lieu of silicone spray?

mgianzero

Try taking the entire light housing out of the car and turn screws on the bench. If still no movement, you can take the light lens off (see P-car.com for cleaning your lights) and then you can look inside to see the plastic bulb tray and see if it moves. Also look at the adjusting plastic bolts from inside and see that they are turning and not broken. I had one bolt that snapped and then turned freely, but obviously didn't move the light.

I would not use WD40. WD40 has lubricants and solvents that are good for cleaning. But it does leave a residual and I worry that it make compromise the integrity of the plastic.

Wet silicone is a fairly benign lubricant and does not leave a residual. That's just my thoughts. Other RL'ers may have more to add to say about that.

Good luck!

Marc G.

96PCarrera993mg

Thanks Marc, I appreciate your feedback.