I suppose since Lincoln cars were not made here (England) but its V8 was designed, tested & made here by Jaguar that it really is a Jaguar engine. Though Ford owned them at the time so I guess that makes it a Ford V8... Now I suppose it's a Tata V8?

 

Tata V8 ; That has a ring to it. I took an XF turbo 2 litre for a test last month, went ok with lag off the line. The engine was of course a Ford Focus / Falcon engine (Aus) so Tata can't claim that one. My headlight side controls still work so I can adjust them that way but even on highest setting the lights are a bit low. Any ideas i.e. spacing a fitting somewhere. Paul

 

I just acquired a 2005 S-Type 4.2L Vander Plas Edition a couple of days ago to replace my totaled X-Type. The car is great, but there is a problem with the headlights. It has Xenon HID's with leveling, which seems to be working - it dips and levels when the lights turn on. The headlights are not aimed at the ground, but they are a little too low, below horizontal. Also, the right hand main beam seems to be aimed a little too far left. None of the adjuster screws has any effect. I tried to do the test that Vance showed in his YouTube video, but the test was inconclusive. Moving the main beam lights only moved the dipped beam lights very slightly, but they did move a little. So, I tried Brutal's screw fix, but it didn't help. The screws did not affect the height of the beams. I read in the owner's manual that there is a lever that can be used to adjust the beams for operation in countries where they drive on the opposite side of the road, so I thought that perhaps these levers were set wrong. They are supposed to be inside the dipped beams, behind some small, round rubber covers adjacent to the main beams. I was unable to find any such rubber covers, so perhaps my car does not have this feature. But why don't my adjuster screws have any effect, since the pins described by Brutal are apparently not broken? Has anyone else seen this? Brutal? Somebody please help! Thanks in advance...

 

Look closely at the adjusters. Mine are damaged. The hex you turn leads via a rod to intermeshed cogs. One is plastic, the other a metal alloy. Mine are shot. I found I could just about grip and turn the part that heads into the back of the light and ease it each direction to free it up then do the adjustments I needed to pass our annual inspection (MoT). Be very gentle! If you make it worse than it already is you'll probably have to take the whole light out - on mine that means bumper off

 

Well I checked mine and they were both fubar`d bad... But not to be dissuaded, I then got out the all so handy self tappers and unscrewed the cap on the low beams to get my paw in there to get a good hold on the flopping assembly and went to screwing... where both adjusters are. I got the things to where they where supposed to be as close as I could., pulled up to a wall and leveled them best as I could and am satisfied with the results. JFYI, this "flaw" is no engineering mistake, this design was intentional. If these auto`s were made as they should be, the dealers and service depts would not be able to generate enough revenue to support their plush habits. Mercedes was taken to court once and lost in a class action for just this style of revenue building.

 

I used this method long before I became a member here so I say thank You to Brutal now. One additional comment: in my case the lower bit (that connects to the adjuster motor) was broken also. So what I did was to install one more screw around 2/3 inch below the first one. This was enough to press the bit to place. Of course I could not use the motor any longer. Since then I have bought the repair kit on ebay and repaired both headlights.

 

This fix worked great for me. Two minutes and 2 screws saved a bundle

 

leaping cat can you post any pictures and instructions on your repair?

I have seen the parts you are talking about but am not real clear how it all goes together?
.
.
.

 

Sorry, I just read your comment now. I did not take photos during the repair I just followed the procedure described (bumper lowering, taking out the headlights, baking in oven, prying off the glass, replacing the bits). I am not a real DIY-er and I still could do it so it is really a straightforward job.

 

A very elegant fix from an apparently brutal man. Thank you very much Brutal, I just did your fix and can now see in the dark again. Thanks for taking the time to save us all loads of money, hats off to you sir.

 

Straightforward, yes, but not without its pitfalls:


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...t-have-109123/

 

aholbro1, your post is just magnificient and really helpful for those thinking of doing this job.

About pitfalls - yeah I do not like my steak or headlights well done. My preference is medium rare in both cases.

 

Hi Brutal,
Sending this to you as you seem to know more than most about headlamps.
I repaired the pivots on the self levelling headlights the type with HID/xenon.
After replacing brackets on both sides the self levelling no longer works.
Before replacing the brackets I had your screw fix, but car would not pass MOT (state inspection)


The repair went smooth (I used a heat gun)
before the repair the self levelling switched on went through a up and down sweep now the beams do not move.


It seems like there is no power going to the stepper motors, have you or do you know anyone carried out this repair and ended up with lights not self levelling
all adjusters work so the lens are not jammed, I checked the 3 fuse boxes but I don't know if there is a relay or self setting fuse? that might have failed? it seems unlikely that both motors failed at the same time.
have you ever replaced the internal pivot brackets and the lights did not level after the repair what was the solution?


Stan
2005 S-Type 2.7D twin turbo.D

 

Today is the 5th anniversary of this thread. And after this time it's still being usefull.

I've just spent 15 minutes doing this trick and the headlights looks perfect now. I'm waiting for the night time to try and adjust them.

Thank you all, specially Brutal and the author of the youtube video. It helped A LOT!!

I'm in a african country (Angola) where it's really difficult to find Jag parts and to know someone who can work and repair this cars.

Cheers!

 

A big THANK YOU to Brutal for coming up with this idea and then sharing it with us.

I live in the Northeast U.S. where, in the Winter, huge potholes seem to be everywhere. You literally take your life in your hands on some of our roads, as you try to keep one eye on potholes and the other on surrounding traffic, signs, pedestrians and wayward animals. It's a daunting challenge in daylight, and downright scary at night.

Unfortunately, a few nights ago the drooping headlight curse bit me too when I failed to see the mother of all potholes in Philadelphia PA. I hit that MF'er at a bone-jarring 40mph and it completely destroyed my headlight adjustment system, causing the lights to point down and also float freely from side-to-side, as confirmed by Brutal's jiggle test the next day. BTW - this is on an '03 non-STR with standard Halogen lights, not HIDs.

The force of that pothole shattered the white plastic pieces that hold the right headlights in position. White plastic bits are now visible in the bottom of the high beam and the horizontal adjuster next to it is broken and falling apart.

So I dug through this Forum, found Brutal's fix and did my best to fix that light assembly per his instructions. In my case, the fix did bring the lights back up to their proper vertical position, but they still float freely side-to-side. I'm certain, without more work, this fix will be very temporary. So I'm gonna apply some epoxy to the horizontal adjuster, which is falling apart, and hope that the epoxy will return some stability to the entire assembly. Once I've done that I probably will not be able to adjust these lights again so I've gotta make sure I've got them aimed properly before gluing.

Am doing my best to avoid the time and expense of replacing the entire assembly.

If anyone has a better solution, I'm all ears.

 

i fitted leds behind the grille ; 6 small spots.. those jag headlights are like candles now.
i used soft rubber hose to hold lights in up position between globe fitting and surround at the back. been in place for a year and flexes on the potholes.

 

Last night I applied some Quick Steel epoxy directly over the broken horizontal adjuster on the rear of the broken right high beam. This stuff is like a putty that you knead together to activate the ingredients, after which you have about 5 minutes to squish it into position before it starts to set up. It was completely set up and hard as a rock in 1 hour, and it seems to have done the trick for stabilizing my right headlights, along with Brutal's screw fix.

If you don't know what Quick Steel is (I'd never used it before), here's a link to some guy's video review of it.

 

I know this is an old thread but for X-Types there is a polish gentleman on eBay who sells the leveller clips which I think he made on a 3D printer. They are about £18 - £22 but it's a LOT cheaper than a replacement light unit and the new clips are so tuff they will never break. I believe he offers a lifetime replacement guarantee too.


It's a bit of a fiddle with a hairdryer and knife to get the "glass" front off, but it works.


Sorry I don't remember the seller because I bought mine about a year ago.

 

My mechanic tried the fix you showed us Brutal, and the passenger light is positioned properly but the drivers side headlight is still pointing down .. Not so much but still not right. Can he take out the screw and try again or is it a one shot only type fix. Thanks for all the help Brutal..

 

Lojo,
Your lower anchors have likely disintegrated and you'll either need to separate the halves and replace all the bits, or replace the light entirely:


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...t-have-109123/