General: 70: horizontal headlight adjustement

[jack taylor]

Hi, I have a 1998 v70 with reflector H7 h/lights. I need to adjust left/right beams but I can turn the adjusters on the top of the lights until the cows come home but the beams don't move. I have no idea which inner or indeed outer part of the h/light should move when turning the top adjuster in order to move the beam but clearly the two are not connecting.I would very much appreciate guidance please. thanks jack.

[Volvofreak2]

Hej Jack,

I hope, I understood your problem. Well, when turning the adjuster, a rod travels out and in, witch is connected by a ball joint to the reflector. So, the whole reflector moves when the adjuster is operated. And this connection is the only part, I can imagine, tat makes the trouble. If the ball joint is worn out, nothing will happen, of course! But I can´t imagine that! It is not operated all the time, so why should it wear out? Now the other thing. Does your Volvo have elctrical driven adjusters (sorry, can´t find the right word, help aprecciated) or only manual? Don´t know, if this is still the fact with the V70 I but with the 850 it is the matter that the electrical driven rods are made of brass, or something like this, the manual driven are of cheep plastik. Those get dry and old and don´t want to move any more. Made this experience, during a headlight overhaul, when I tried to pull it out of the reflector. The reflector cracked! If this is the case, nothing will move anymore. So I would try disassemble the headlight, travel the rod into max back position and open the adjuster (it´s a bajonettlock) and then try to get lubrikant such as WD 40 between ball and joint.
Hope I could help and wish you good luck with the problem!

Hej Gernot

[SteveSarre]

Hi Jack

I think the adjuster on top moves the beam left/right.
The adjuster in the middle, whether it is manual or electric, only moves the beam up and down.

I think that if the top adjuster isn't doing anything, you will need to take the headlamp off, and remove the lens, to see what has happened. If you are lucky something will have popped out of place, and you can just pop it back.

Do you have any spare headlamps laying around that you can scavenge for parts?
The Deepo units might have slightly different internal parts than the Volvo originals.

The middle adjuster does have a ball which pops into a socket, but I don't think that would ever wear out (but it might pop out of place).

I have spare headlight bits, but I think you are in Spain so it would not be easy to get things to you.

Steve

[jack taylor]

Hi Volvofreak & Steve, Many thanks for the detailed info. both aftermarket h/lights are fairly new. The levelling motors work as indeed do the rear adjusters for up/down adjustment. I am loathed to remove the lenses for fear of spoiling the seal and allowing water to enter the light units after re-fitting. Is it possible to access the ball and socket through the rear aperture where the bulb is inserted into the h/light. thanks jack.

[volvo again]

"...access the ball and socket through the rear aperture where the bulb is inserted into the h/light. "

Can be done but it's VERY difficult...much easier if you remove the headlight, only three bolts to undo...you need to hold the reflector and clip the adjuster back on...through the holes where the bulbs go...sounds easy !!

Wear gloves so you don't put greasy fingerprints on the reflector

[jack taylor]

Hi volvo again, thanks very much. Provided I take care when removing the lens can I re-use the existing gasket or would you recommend fitting a new one. The h/lights are only a few months old so the gasket should still be ok. thanks jack.

[Volvofreak2]

Hej Jack,

I would not be too concernd about the gasket. I have disassembled some hedlights already, ok, they were genuine, but the gasket was never worn out and always in proper shape! As long as there are no major skratches or cracks on it, it works, especially when they are new!
Did you buy the new headlights with or without adjuster?

Hej Gernot

[jack taylor]

Hi volvofreak2, Many thanks for the info. The h/lights have both vertical and horizontal adjusters. The vertical works fine as well as the levelling motors. Thanks again. jack

[Volvofreak2]

Hej Jack,

The adjusters are always horizontal and vertikal. I just wanted to know, if you bought new headlights with adjusters as an assembly or if you had to attach the old ones on the new headlights and possibly something went wrong because it is not so easy to get the ball into the joint. I would say, if the adjusters work, the best thing to do is to take the headlamp off and pull the adjusters out, then you can see, if the balls are in ( or better said, where in).

Hej Gernot

[volvo again]

I think the manual adjusters are already fitted to new headlights, the levelling motor may have to be fitted in place of the manual type.
There is no need to remove the glass as the adjuster can be fitted by placing fingers through the bulb aperture, tricky but can be done, although much easier if the glass is removed, gaskets should be okay.
We're all assuming that the problem is that the adjuster has come adrift from the reflector, it's a ball & socket type affair and can take quite a bit of force to "snap" back into position