V50 xenon leveling won't work
 

Hey guys!

I'm a Swedish member and this is my first post.

I have a v50 2007 Pre Facelift with Xenon.
At my last M.O.T it failed on the both headlights as the light where too high, and too low.

I was like that's a easy fix, but No bueno... i spin the yellowish screwadjuster,, but it keeps spinning and nothing happens,,

I then read that the pre facelift lights has this problem with the ajdusting screws,,

Volvo want's 800Euros for one headlight :) .. F*ck that ...

My question Is.....
Does anyone knows a trick how to adjust the light up and down with broken adjusting screws?

Hi
sure, there are few ways to go around this, but firstly - can you pull your lamp out and take a photo of adjusters? try to figure out what broke and what didnt (its a cog-type joint) and we can take it from there. Usually its pretty obvious (upper part breakes, cog sheers off, the lower part with allan key is gone, etc...)

edit - also - does your auto-levelling works at all? when you start up the car lamps should go up-down to autoadjust every time. If thats not working, you may fail regardless of adjusters :/

Thanks for the reply.

I'll pull out the lamp tomorrow maybe,...

On the pre-facelift models the light don't auto adjust on start-up, only on facelift models.
Don't ask me Why :)

Em, ok, thats the first....
I am positive that even pre-FL has auto levelling, although cant confirm if it does the "dance" on every startup - would be glad to hear from other owner to confirm/deny.
Can you atleast check if auto levelling work at all? (ask someone to sit in the boot and observe the light :). It may guide you somewhere.

post the pics of lamp when you get it out, Im sure we will brainstorm some solution.

The levelling is supposed to work as soon as there is a difference between the body in relation to the axles. My 06 V50, had until recently, (until I had ballasts problem and fitted new non volvo preprogrammed ballasts , another story,another post) worked from start up , and corrected the aim height while driving. If they weren't supposed to adjust while driving, they wouldn't have bothered to fit them. If you started your car up, then filled your boot up with a heavy load, its supposed to adjust, otherwise the light will way too high.
Only Volvo preprogrammed ballasts will be able to have a final VIDA levelling program done on it
(Hopefully attachment loaded)

I stood on the toe hitch but the light did not adjust itself..

The first question would be, why aren't both the headlight aims level ?
The Master tells the Slave ballast where to adjust the headlight to after receiving info from the levellers. Do you happen to know if its had a ballast problem ( headlight bulb going out ?) Ballasts are under the wing, not on the bulbs. If it has been changed with a NON VOLVO Part programmed unit, it cannot be programmed via Vida for levelling to work.
I've had this problem with both my ballasts, I bought New Genuine ones (£85 each), BUT couldn't be programmed, because they hadn't gone through some Volvo software first.(company refunded even after having them 9 months) Volvo £240 ish !
My old ones have been put back on, reprogrammed, NOW adjust on start up, but lazy when standing on boot floor (10 sec delay) the strange thing is that after 8weeks, they haven't gone out yet !

So I tried to take pics of the leveling-thingy but could not get a single shot. It's to tight,

But i looked inside and turned the leveling and saw that the leveling thing started to adjust,,,

I draw a line on the garagedoor and adjusted the oppsoit of how it was,, and installed back again, but level still the same,,

I'm now looking to buy aftermarket lights,, that cost aprox 150 eruo each,
Only thing is you have to take ballaster and bulbs from original one

Is there anybody near you that could check it out through Vida (independent maybe). This should confirm if it's a ballast / headlight issue or not, before buying other bi-xenon lights, because there is still a chance they will require Vida after fitting.

1st of all - as I said, you need to remove the light completely to see whats wrong. It takes few secs to do so, its just 1 pin to pull out! You may notice its only the upper regulator part that broke, and you can still adjust the lamps using allan key so dont get discouraged.

2nd thing - 150e for aftermarket xenons seem too low, thats usually what halogen ones goes for, but fair enough - maybe. But I have to tell you aftermarket ones are worth NOTHING. When preparing for my retro mod I got 2 brand new TYC lamps. I tested them and results were terrible - out of focus, terrible plastic quality and, get this, regulator on one broke after FIRST rotate! I had sent them back next day.
NOT WORTH IT!!!
I ended up refurbishing used ones that were 3x cheaper and works much better.

but first - as said - take the old ones out and study the adjusters. Even with black part (allan key) broken it is STILL possible to adjust. Ask me how I know...