sjfehr

I was driving my 2004 Boxster S today, hit the brakes hard, and my left headlight flew out! I didn't see it, but the guy who picked it up for me said it just flew out and skittered across the concrete towards the beach. I probably should have paid more attention to the warning signs (fast turn signal blinker and a friend saying my running light was out), but I just assumed I had a bad blinker bulb and didn't "check for a loose wire" as my wife suggested. Bad on me, I suppose! Miraculously, there was virtually no damage. Couple scuffs on the bottom and back and a small (pretty much unnoticible) chip off the bottom in the front. Popped right back in and everything works fine, phew! That's $500 I don't want to spend.

Sad Boxster


By coincidence, I'd snapped a picture a few hours prior (this is cropped, btw; the original photo was of the whole car); it wasn't obvious, but in retrospect, I can see now that it was just a little bit loose :

Macster

The driver's side headlight came loose in my 02 as I was driving late one night on I-40 east of Flagstaff. Blinker acting up. Then later the headlight on that side went out. I stopped and found it loose and gave it a good shove back into the opening and the next day with the trunk empy at the hotel parking lot secured the headlight.

Sort of forgot about it until a year ago last Feb. my 02 was hit from behind -- by a vehicle moving at about 5mph whose driver was "distracted" (code for I was on my cell phone...) -- and shoved my car into the rear of a car ahead of mine. I was stopped in traffic at a red light.

The impact jarred the same head light loose and it cost the other driver's insurance company around $700+ for a new one. The impact also cracked the passenger side rear taillight assembly and that cost IIRC over $500 to replace as well. New front and rear bumper covers and paint and some other minor work cost the other driver's insurance over $5000 to fix my Boxster. Expensive cell phone call on the part of the other driver who hit my car.

(I might add the other driver who bought my new 08 Cayman S after she ran into it while on a cell phone paid even more for her cell phone call. Well, her insurance company did. Around $60K.)

Sincerely,

Macster.

RollingArt

Sounds like you're a real fan of driving cell phone user's, eh Mac? You must be a nervous wreck while you're stopped at intersections these days. That's some lousy lucky.



Phil

Macster

Stopped at intersections.

Or another thing that happens too often, moving in heavy traffic, stop/go, and in rear view mirror see driver in car behind mine looking down at something in the front seat of his car while his car is moving forward and mine's stopped. Not only is the driver usually using a cell phone but is looking for some papers I guess that are needed for the call.

Less common but even scarier is the vehicle that suddenly changes lanes right in front of mine. No signal. No easing over just bam! Lane change. Latest one had me slamming on the brakes of the Turbo at over 60mph to avoid a collision.

Pulled up next to the driver -- he was on a cell phone -- and motioned for him to put the cell phone down. He got all huffy and started yelling at me. Couldn't hear him but could tell by his facial contortions. I took my camera out and mimed taking pictures of him. Then he decided to follow me on down the freeway. Pulled up along side and motioned me to pull over. I signaled "follow me" and led him off freeway to nearby local police station. As I was circling the parking lot he suddenly got cold feet and u-turned his truck and hightailed it away.

I was driving on I-40 just east of the CA/AZ border when I saw an SUV suddenly change lanes right in front of an AZ trooper's car. The trooper's car was not speeding, didn't have its lights on, but was just moving at about the limit in the fast lane. No warning. No signal. And for no reason that I could see the SUV pulled over right in front of the cruiser. So suddenly I might add that I saw the cruiser's brake lights come on and the car's nose dip a bit.

Ah ha! I thought ticket time. No way. The cruiser just followed the SUV for some distance until the SUV driver finally looked in the rear view mirror and saw the cruiser behind his vehicle and moved over into the slow lane again. The officer drove right on by and that was that.

It is against the law here in CA to use cell phone while driving. The CHP appears to enforce the law but city police appear to ignore cell phone drivers.

In fact, I had one police car almost clip my car -- I was stopped at a stop sign -- as the police car cut the corner of the turn and came very close to the nose of my car. So close I was thinking of trying to get the transmission into reverse and back up out of the way. I watched as the car went by and sure enough the officer was on a cell phone.

Pretty nervous all the time on the road. Cell phone users have taken alot of joy out of driving at least for me. Cell phone users and mule deer.

Sincerely,

Macster.

sjfehr

Didn't notice it until today, but the light I threw has VERY low aim right now; hits the ground about 10' in front of the car. I can't see any damage to the internals, so I'm not sure what's causing it. Thoughts?

rkuo

Just try following the instructions in the owner's manual to re-level the aim of the light.

jugger911

That sucks. My old Boxster drivers side one was loose too, design flaw? Fast blinker and headlight acting funny was the heads up. Just periodically gave it a push or two to make sure it was snug. I've always wondered who's brilliant idea it was to secure these assembly's in with that stupid hook/bar thingy. Ever hear of a damn screw or bolt Stuttgart?!

Macster

Most likely light is not correctly installed in mount and this accounts for the wrong alignment.

A bit tricky to get in right. Various guide pins have to mate up with guide rails and the light has to be shoved back quite firmly and the latch/lock turned to secure the light well securely.

Be sure the light is installed correctly. Double check it 2 times even triple check it.

The only time the mounting plate should require adjustment is if the fender removed/replaced.

If you mess with the mounting plate to try to adjust the light be aware this can be a real tricky adjustment. The shop manual doesn't give a time. The adjustment screws are located above and below the mounting plate and the front bumper cover has to come off.

Sincerely,

Macster.

sjfehr

Double-triple-quadruple-checked, but yeah, was in properly. I even took a hot glue gun and replaced some of the road-rashed plastic in case that was throwing it off. Finally, upon much closer inspection, discovered the bulb assembly inside the light was pointed down. I thought it was broken, but it was rigid- apparently, the impact was hard enough to throw it to the bottom stop of the alignment screw. Took 28 full turns to adjust it back up, but it's aimed well now I set it just a hair lower than the passenger headlight.

dallison28

when i took delivery of my boxster last year, my headlight was also loose. I drove around a while with it like that until i read, yes, i read the owners manual. I locked into place like it stated and it didn't fall out.