Ok....I've gone nine rounds trying to figure out how to adjust the headlights and just can't seem to win this one. There are what appear to be two adjustments...for all I can tell an up/down and a right/left for each light. But they don't seem to be that way when you adjust them. I don't understand how the lights changing direction when you are driving affects this adjustment as well. Does anyone have access to the factory adjustment procedure or a service procedure so I can maybe get mine at least reasonably close to being or maybe in the ballpark...
Thanks
Guy

 

Hi,
I was wondering if you ever got a reply/answer to this. I too cant figure out how to adjust the lights.

Steve

 

I'm not sure my problem is an adjustment issue or not but I'll monitor this thread for possible solutions.

My problem is the low beam headlight pattern is all "jagged" where the headlights lamination looks like the black zig zag stripe on Charlie Browns shirt. If I activate the high beams the pattern smooths out and emits a nice even arch in front of the car.

It's annoying driving at night.

Tom

 

The beam cutoff on low beam is fairly interesting. There's an illustration of it on page 67 of the manual. The left light hits much shorter than the right light. That's for oncoming traffic in countries that drive on the right side. Most of the other vehicles just have the cutoff the same for left and right, but Jag appears to be cheating a bit by extending the range of the right side past what most do. I don't know if you have the adaptive lighting option or not, but if you turn the lights on while facing a wall and turn the wheel from side to side, you can watch the beams not only move from left to right, but the way the 'lines' on the wall rotate cw / ccw. With the wheels pointed straight, the lines are canted a little bit like a forward slash ( / ).

Having said all of that, these are some of the neatest lights I've ever had on a vehicle. It beats out other factory equipped HID vehicles that I've had.

 

I agree the cut off on the drivers side is very prominent and the passenger side seems to be higher than most. I'd just like to lift the drivers side cut off a touch.

Steve

 

i may be wrong but ,i think there is no adjustment on xenon lights.its only done with the ids computer.

 

There is Dave, I had to have one of mine adjusted at the last MOT test.

Also, when driving on the continent (wrong side of the road ) you have to move a lever inside the light unit that flips a shield down inside that alters the light pattern (like the stick-on lamp pattern adapters) and it's a total PITA, requiring the lamp unit to be taken out!

I wonder if the US lights simply have this shield down as standard?

 

Hi all,

The lighting adjustments are not vary intuitive on these newer cars. For your XK's, the side to side adjustment is front and center, right on top of the lamp assembly. It looks like a white plastic washer. The dot in the center is actually a plug protecting the hex recess. The up and down adjustment looks exactly the same, it's just at the very inboard edge of the lamp and much lower, points straight up also.

My only caution is that they really need an optical aimer to set them properly. Adjusting by eye just doesn't cut it.

Cheers,

 

Thank you XJRGUY! Worked like a charm, I wasn't getting enough light on the sidewalk side of the road and a couple of twists turned the sidewalk side headlight farther out.

Great desciption and advice!

 

Very interesting and may solve my problem. Thanks for the response. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Cheers

Tom

 

By the way XJRGUY's method works with the lights mounted on the car (as they should for proper alignment) No need to remove them to access the adjustment nuts.

 

Thanks XJRGUY. The adjustment was so simple. Once you locate the adjustment screw for up/down as XJRGUY explains you will also find a directional arrow with a U and D to help you even further which direction to turn the hex screw. I'll let you guys work out for yourself what U and D stand for!!!

I parked about 10ft from my garage wall and placed a piece of blue masking tape on the wall were the cut-off is to give me a reference. I also marked the garage floor with another piece of tape lined up with the front wheel so that I'm always the same distance from the wall if I have to re-adjust. I didn't need to bother. I made about 2 half turns which lifted the cut-off on the wall by about 1", took it for a spin around the block and it lifted the dip cut-off perfectly. The cut-off is still staggered between the driver and passenger side but just extends that bit further than the factory setting. I'm definately not blinding any oncoming traffic.

I know this is not the precise way to do this but without an optical aimer you just have to go by trial and error and not go too mad. The nice thing with these lights is that as soon as you turn the hex nut a fraction you see immediate movement . I've adjusted other cars and you can be turning the screw and nothing seems to happen.

thanks again XJRGUY

Steve

 

I can't find the up and down adjustment! I found the white washer on top of the rear of the light after opening the hood, but sure can't find the forward (up/down) one. How do you get that white washer out? Pry it off??? Or just stick a allen key into it and turn??
Any help is appreciated. USA car.

 

Hawaii. Yes the little plug prys out to reveal a hex fitting. I'm assuming you've found the left to right screw which, for the passenger side, is right of center at the back of the headlamp housing if looking forward from the side of the car. The up down looks identical but again for the passenger side look further to the left and down beyond where the headlamps plastic housing is bolted to a cross member. As stated in my previous post you'll see a double headed arrow indicating which way to rotate for U and D. See photo but note its been rotated to landscape.

Steve

 

Yea!!!!!!!! Success thanks to you Sjtyer! That bugger was hidden pretty good and it was at night. Thank you for taking the time to post the picture so I could find it. I appreciate that. I found that you don't need to pry those white plastic hex things out...I tried and almost busted it. Just stick a 6mm hex wrench into it and turn. It's actually very easy once you find the "G" spot!
Thanks again1

 

Hi Guys,
I'm brand new to the XF (Have an xjc-5.3 and X Type and had many other models). My issue with the light is the high beam. They are pointing up into the tree tops.
Is there a way I can adjust them down?

Thanks,
Paul.
oops, wrong forum. Sorry.

 

These guys will be able to help you better, as this is the XK forum;
Jaguar Forums for XF and XFR ( X250 )

 

Hello

Sorry to revive and ancient thread? How do you pry these little washers out? I broke two of them and cannot seem to remove them from the recess to reveal the hex screw.

Turning the white washers with the hex does nothing....