willus

I am about to install an HID upgrade; how should I minimize this problem? Thanks!

AOW162435

I suspect that was your passenger-side headlight.


Andreas

mgianzero

I posted these suggestions a month ago ...

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.


To follow the whole thread, look here: https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...eadlights.html

JPP

Adding to what Marc said above, another big issue is stuffing all that extra wiring and a ballast inside the housing which can easily jam the light carriage' ability to adjust in any direction. If the carriage is jammed, you WILL break the plastic adjustment gears when you try and turn them. I found that I had to park on a flat surface in front of a wall to see how far off mine were, then take them back off the car, open the rear housing and pull the ballast away from the inner workings, adjust each one, put the ballast back in .. put them back in the car .. measure and repeat until I got them perfect. I also found that even after perfect adjustment, if the ballast or wiring is jammed in too tight, when you seal up the housing, it can push the light carriage out of adjustment .. there's a sweet spot for the slim ballast type HID kits on each side, you just have to try a couple of ways to 'package' everything in there and make sure you can close the housing without pushing against the ballast. I've had two sets of DDM's 4500K slim ballast kits .. they're good quality, cheap and when one of my ballasts failed after a year, DDM replaced the enitre kit free of charge .. no affiliation, just a happy customer.

Dr. No

Check the price at autohausaz.com. I've found them to have very good pricing on what they have.

JasonAndreas

I wouldn't know how similar the OEM aftermarket lights are to the OE lights but AL is Bosch.

gmorat

I had the issue where I had adjusted it too much in a particular direction and the mechanism had jammed at the top of its travel which then caused the aluminium screw to pop out. Thought I had screwed the pooch to be sure.

After some helpful feedback from the forum I put silicon lubricant on the mechanism and then popped the screw back in and carefully screwed it back the other way. Once it was unbound I just kept turning both adjustment screws till I got the mechanism back to middle middle. You can see this by looking inside the body of the light as you turn the screws. When I had them reset I put them back in the car and carefully adjusted them making sure to not go more than half a turn on one screw before adjusting the other one till I got them level and centered.

Huge PITA. That moment when who think you've just cost yourself hundreds of dollars of damage.

I may replace the covers on my lights at some stage as the current ones are quite pitted. We'll see, I'm still gun-shy after installing the HID's.

mgianzero

Well stated Jon Paul!

That is also how I got into a squeeze and broke my vinyl screw bolts. I had switched from external Vertex HID's to the slimmer DDM ballasts and that is how I created a big problem. It took me a bit to come up with a neat way to pack the DDM ballast and wires inside these 993 headlight assemblies and not bind anything.

The threaded vinyl bolts become brittle over time AND they can interfere with other wiring inside. Wet silicone lubricate can be your friend! Even Porsche recommends this lubricate for other projects such as keeping your targa top (or sunroof) lubricated and working smoothly. It won't "gum up" your tracks and cables like traditional lubricate can.

aribop

I was not aware of this. That sucks for the guys living in Oregon.

pp000830

Many time the Pelican part is the same as the dealer part. The difference is that Pelican purchased the part from the supplier who supplied Porsche. One less hop in distribution can lower your cost as much as 40%. Look at the rear bumper cover at Pelican vs. the dealer - $825 + $100 shipping vs. $1200 at the local dealer.

nile13

They can get parts from Suncoast (Florida) and several other outfits for about the same price, so not a huge deal. For you, Ari, it might actually be better as shipping to GA should be 1-2 days, I assume. But yeah, I tend to like Sunset.

911PERVY

While you are of course quite right on the whole, I would be very surprised if these arent Genuine Porsche. I have never seen them in the aftermarket. The price difference is more likely due to stock on the shelf or just out of date prices!

pegdrag

I set forth to fix the right headlight, the one that seemed unable to be adjusted. I figured the worst case would be the total destruction of the headlight.

I followed mgianzero's advice, popped the adjustment screws out after removing the back and the lens of the light. Silicon lube to the plastic threads, put the adjustment ***** back in. That old plastic is nasty stuff, but I was able to get it cleaned up and turning freely.

Adjusted and adjusted and adjusted and adjusted the damn light and its finally close, its not perfect, but a lot closer. Next time I have a free evening, I'll get the headlights spot on. The spirit level is not centered and the side tab is also off, but the light itself is very close to the right spot.

Turns out that I don't need a new headlight! But the fog lights and blinkers look dull now. (I feel the slope steepening.....need to find that LED thread).

My other comment....this seems like a bit of an over-engineered light adjustment mechanism, but it is very cool looking.

mgianzero

Pegdrag -

Don't feel that you MUST have the side tab match up perfectly. If you really find that your lights are aligned appropriately (there are some RL articles that address this) then leave it.

That tab is set at the factory with a factory stance, etc. I don't see how these markings can satisfy ALL of our cars. What if you changed the suspension, tires, tire pressure, etc.? Seems to me that we should adjust our headlights to some standard by shining on a wall (or using the headlight adjustment setup - very costly) and then reset the factory tabs.

So glad you were able to salvage your old headlights with the lube and cleaning. That was my philosophy - either try and fix them or replace the entire assembly. I'm in order to receive a 3D scanner sometime this fall (in development now). Hopefully I can figure out a way to make some files that someone can print out on a 3D printer. My feeling - if Porsche isn't going to supply the MUCH cheaper individual parts for these headlights, then why not make them ourselves.

Martin S.

I have heard that OR residents do not get the same prices as out of state (OR) customers. Living in CA, I love the prices and service from Sunset. I usually deal with Andraya, she is over the top good at her job.