Temporary headlight adjustment

Proper headlight adjustment is essential for driving safety. Although the headlight is fixed to the vehicle, the position of the reflector inside the headlight changes, so when replacing the headlight, the headlights must be checked and adjusted if necessary. In some cases, replacing the lamp may override previous adjustments. Adjustment must also be carried out if the front of the car has been damaged in an accident, as well as after installing new spare parts. If you did not have enough time to adjust the headlights in the auto repair shop, you can roughly adjust the headlights yourself as follows.

1. Check that the fuel tank is completely filled with fuel or, if the tank is half full, place a weight of approximately 30 kg in the trunk.

2. The assistant must sit in the driver's seat (or place an additional weight of 75 kg on the seat).

3. Check the pressure in the tires and, if necessary, bring it to normal.

4. Position the vehicle against a dark vertical wall at a distance of exactly 5 m.

5. Rock the vehicle vigorously front and rear repeatedly to bring the suspension elements back into their normal position.

6. Set the headlight range control to position «0».

7. Measure the distance from the ground to the center of each headlight. Mark the position of the headlight centers on the wall and connect them with a line.

8. Below it 5 cm, draw a parallel line on the wall - this is the slope of the low beam headlights at a distance of 5 m.

9. Mark the center of the car on the wall through the rear window. The assistant should draw a vertical line exactly in the center of the car.


10. Measure the distance between the center of the car and the center of the headlights (right and left). Transfer these results to the auxiliary line on the wall (to the right and left of the intersection point of both other lines) and mark with crosses.

11. Exactly 5 cm below these crosses, the inflection points of the dipped beam stream should be located.

12. If the car is equipped with fog lights (optional equipment), to adjust them, it is necessary to draw an auxiliary line using the method described above with adjustment crosses that determine the centers of the fog lamps.

13. The headlight adjustment screws are accessible from the engine compartment.

14. Turn on the ignition and low beam headlights.



Pic. 15.28. The location of the screws for adjusting the headlights in the vertical (1) and horizontal (2) planes

15. Turn screw 1 (pic. 15.28) adjusting the headlights in a vertical plane until the beam of light coincides with its horizontal border of chiaroscuro with the adjustment line.

16. Turn the headlight adjustment screw 2, located on the inside of the headlight, in a horizontal plane until the inflection point is exactly aligned with the cross. Scattering share (about 15%) must be above the horizontal line.

17. After adjusting the dipped beam headlights, the high beam headlights automatically correspond to the required adjustment.