Main beam adjust?

[napton]

Does anyone know if it is possible to adjust the main beam. My main beam is rubbish with the focus below the cutoff of the dipped beam. Putting in the brighter bulb just makes that bit brighter, which isn't needed as the dip beam is brilliant (literally!).

Can I set the main beam higher?

 

[gwatpe]

As a coincidence, I just tweeked the beam adjustments on my PHEV. Property where I am has a steep driveway to a garage door, so I could stand in front of the PHEV with the lights on and just dip my head to simulate what an oncoming driver would see from their side of the car.

I found that even though the lights appeared to be the same level from the driver position in the car, from outside, the step in the HID low beams pattern was not even. I was able to adjust the beams so that when I ducked my head slightly, both lights would change intensity at the same time. See on other vehicles a double light dip with uneven road surface movements, and this is annoying, so decided to fix my own car as well. A bit fiddly, but OK with the right ratchet socket spanner.

Re the high beam. I have not found any normal beam adjustment screws. If the lamp is not inserted correctly, the beams do tend to end up low. The fitting is not perfectly made, and it is possible to insert a new lamp in the wrong position. I check by looking from the front and seeing how the lamp lines up with the housing. My original halogen bulbs were not really a spot lamp. There was just a slight additional yellow pool of light at the top edge of the HID low beam cutoff line. I have replaced the halogen with HID lamps and these are not spot lamps either. Just a s**t load more light and in the right place on the road ahead. Just like the low beams, but without the lines. I have mentioned my own light mods elsewhere.

 

[napton]

There seemed to be only one way to fit them. I couldn't see how I could fit them incorrectly. I'll have to check again.

 

[maby]

I'm amazed that there are no beam adjustment screws! Poorly aligned headlights are an MOT failure - what are we going to do if things drift off?

 

[paa451843]

Hi

There are adjustments, looks like a cuggwheel and you can use a Philips screwdriver. If you have HID-lights the car has an autoadjustment feature so you have to rock the front and rear of the car before adjustment.

//PAA

 

[maby]

Hi

There are adjustments, looks like a cuggwheel and you can use a Philips screwdriver. If you have HID-lights the car has an autoadjustment feature so you have to rock the front and rear of the car before adjustment.

//PAA

Interesting - are you saying that the adjustment influences both the main beam and the height of the HID beam after it has settled? I would not mind having my HID beams a bit lower - they do annoy a lot of other drivers.

 

[Regulo]

I used a small (8mm, I think) socket on the hub of the cogwheel to adjust the HID's down. Didn't notice any change in the main beams, but then they're c**p anyway. And our roads are so busy, you hardly ever get the chance to use them.

 

[paa451843]

Hi

There are adjustments, looks like a cuggwheel and you can use a Philips screwdriver. If you have HID-lights the car has an autoadjustment feature so you have to rock the front and rear of the car before adjustment.

//PAA

Interesting - are you saying that the adjustment influences both the main beam and the height of the HID beam after it has settled? I would not mind having my HID beams a bit lower - they do annoy a lot of other drivers.

Yes, on HID cars there is only one coggwheel withs affects both the low and high beam. It`s just possible to adjust the height not the side dip.

//PAA

 

[napton]

Thanks gwatpe. You were right, there are 2 ways to mount the bulb. I parked pointing at a wall & re-fitted the bulb while it was lit & managed to get it aimed above the dip beam cutoff - much better now. Still pathetic compared to the HID bulb though!

 

[gwatpe]

It really is a shame that MMC has supplied such poor factory fitted lights on the PHEV. Since I have replaced the halogen bulbs my night drive experience is great. Going a little bit further with an LED light bar and some HID spot lights was my preference but for many drivers would not be a requirement.

I have additional switching now to chose the level of high beam lighting.

I may look for some higher power Fog lights to complete my PHEV's optimum lighting needs.

Still not happy with the self levelling low beams. My PHEV tries to adjust them all the time and other drivers suffer with flash that is not my fault.

 

[themolecatcher]

Hi all

Further to this "Main Beam" discussion...

I took delivery of my PHEV in June. I too am not happy with the allignment of the main beam (the dipped headlights, whilst not amazing, are aligned correctly).

The main beam, as mentioned above, is focused within the dipped headlight area, just below the cut off line.

I fitted xenon bulbs (as mentioned elsewhere on this forum) hoping for improvement, but all this does is make the area within the dipped headlight range even brighter, thereby making the longer range view even worse, due to the greater contrast between the illuminated area and the darkness beyond. Ive tried fiddling with the fitting but cant see a way to raise the main beam alignment.

I took it to a Mitsubishi dealer - they say the headlights are correctly aligned - even though Ive told them that Im not questioning the headlights, its the main beam alignment Im not happy with. Im not sure if they are deliberately avoiding the point, or genuinely dont understand me!

Here is their response;

With the newer style headlight reflectors manufacturers are able to focus the beam in the area required, so in front of the car, where as in older cars the reflectors directed the beam into a much more general area due to the design. Which would explain why the Punto has a ‘better’ headlight pattern due to the reflector directing the light everywhere rather than into a much more focus area like the PHEV. The headlights are set correctly and we are unable to adjust them any further.

(I told them my wifes Fiat Punto had a better main beam than the PHEV!)

Can anyone tell me specifically how I can reallign the "main beam" to focus above the dipped headlight area, to provide a long range view of the road at night?

Or is this just a poor design?

Thanks

 

[napton]

Hi,

I had this problem and it took me 3 or 4 attempts to fix it. I finally did it by parking facing a wall, then turning on the main beams and fitting the lights with the light on. Then I could see where the beam was aiming while I was fitting it, and eventually after much fiddling and trial and error managed to get it to fix in the correct position.

I'm not looking forward to replacing the bulb though!

Good luck!

 

[themolecatcher]

Many Thanks Napton

Yes ive done a lot of fiddling already...I only seem to find that the bulbs go in one way - by inserting and twisting until they click into place...which isnt the correct allignment.

But Ill have another try with the lights on against the wall and see what happens.

 

[jaapv]

My problem is that the main beam is aimed too high above the dipped lights, leaving a dark band in the light spread.

 

[gwatpe]

The headlights on my PHEV were an embarrassment, as others have found. Low beam HID were factory set far too high. High beam halogens were a poor excuse for lights. My only solution was to replace lamps and just add more lights.

Adding an LED light bar would be a good start, just to work with the high beams. I went all the way with HID replacements of the high beam halogen bulbs as well as a light bar and added HID pencil beam spot lights.

PHEV now has lighting suitable for Australian outback driving.

I believe that there is some problem with the PHEV wiring that causes voltage drops and results in the halogen lights appearing yellow, that a driver notices as not much improvement over the HID low beam.

 

[themolecatcher]

The headlights on my PHEV were an embarrassment, as others have found. Low beam HID were factory set far too high. High beam halogens were a poor excuse for lights. My only solution was to replace lamps and just add more lights.

Adding an LED light bar would be a good start, just to work with the high beams. I went all the way with HID replacements of the high beam halogen bulbs as well as a light bar and added HID pencil beam spot lights.

PHEV now has lighting suitable for Australian outback driving.

I believe that there is some problem with the PHEV wiring that causes voltage drops and results in the halogen lights appearing yellow, that a driver notices as not much improvement over the HID low beam.

Thankyou gwapte

I think the new halogen bulbs I fitted are much brighter than the standard bulbs - the beam is just nowhere near pointing in the right place.

Would you be able to tell me which HID replacement high beam bulbs you used? Do they fit into the existing connections / socket without rewiring / issues?

many thanks.

 

[themolecatcher]

My problem is that the main beam is aimed too high above the dipped lights, leaving a dark band in the light spread.

Thanks jaapv

It does seem that there is an issue with the mounting / alignment of the main beam on the Outlander. Very odd how it can vary so much from one vehicle to another.

 

[gwatpe]

I had a H3B direct replacement system. These would not work properly with the wiring in the PHEV as per the halogen bulbs. I used scotch type connectors to get a feed wire for a relay from the high beam lamp 12V. I then wired the HID directly through the relay, with the power feed coming from a fuse type tapping on the power tailgate circuit. This was in the fuse box on the RHS from the front under the bonnet. I found that the HID had a warm up time that was up to 10 seconds. This is why I added the LED light bar. This gives an instant light, like the original halogen bulbs. I have noticed that the LED bar has moisture behind the lens protector, so even spending a lot of coin does not guarantee IP67.

I still had to make sure the HID bulbs were seated correctly. I was not prepared to do this live as there can be 27000V at the HID lamp.

Better factory fitted lights would have been nice.

 

[themolecatcher]

I had a H3B direct replacement system. These would not work properly with the wiring in the PHEV as per the halogen bulbs. I used scotch type connectors to get a feed wire for a relay from the high beam lamp 12V. I then wired the HID directly through the relay, with the power feed coming from a fuse type tapping on the power tailgate circuit. This was in the fuse box on the RHS from the front under the bonnet. I found that the HID had a warm up time that was up to 10 seconds. This is why I added the LED light bar. This gives an instant light, like the original halogen bulbs. I have noticed that the LED bar has moisture behind the lens protector, so even spending a lot of coin does not guarantee IP67.

I still had to make sure the HID bulbs were seated correctly. I was not prepared to do this live as there can be 27000V at the HID lamp.

Better factory fitted lights would have been nice.

Thanks so much for the info gwatpe,

Much appreciated. Not sure Im up to that sort of work. And as mine is a lease car,it probably wouldnt go down well with the finance company if I mess up the electrics. I'll just have to try and re-align the main beams somehow. If I could just get them a bit higher , the halogen bulbs I fitted would probably be sufficient for my needs.

 

[themolecatcher]

Just an update on the comments Ive made above about the issue of the main beam on my PHEV being set far too low...

Having had no luck at my local Mitsubishi dealership, who didnt seem to think there was a problem at all, I e mailed MMC UK and explained the issue to them. I had a reply , asking which dealership I had taken my car to. All went quiet for a few days, until I recieved a telephone call from the same dealership, asking me to bring the car in again for further investigation.

I duly did so. This time they had brought in another PHEV, and had them both in the workshop, marking the position of the main beam on the wall of the workshop. Sure enough, my cars main beam was considerably lower on the wall than the other vehicle. They admitted this time that there was indeed an issue, but that they couldnt identify what the cause of the issue was.

After about 45 minutes, the service manager came out of the workshop, looking rather puzzled.

He explained that they still didnt know what the cause of the low beam was, but that after fiddling about, changing bulbs and trial and error, they suddenly found that the beam was now at the correct height.

However, he admitted that they still didnt understand what the problem had been, nor how they had managed to fix it!! All he knew was that it was now in the correct position.

I was, understandably, rather dubious that the problem was fixed.

However, that night I drove out and tested the main beam, and, sure enough, the problem had been fixed - I can now see long distance down the road at night!!

But what the issue was, and how it was fixed, is still a mystery, both to me and to the Mitsubishi dealership staff.