i am a new owner and my headlight assemblieswent south, and both lights are in the down position. been told i need two new assemblies. found some on-line for around 400 a piece, but saw something about having to remove the bumper.

anyone have some info on how to replace the entire assemblies? hard?easy? got a quote for $2,700, which seems totally from outerspace.

 

Hey billings, welcome to the forum.

The bumper does need to come off in order to get to the 4 bolts that hold the assembly in place.

There are 2 bolts (each side), one behind the plastic fender wheel well and another inside the engine compartment close to the fender itself.

Then, there are 4 or 6 bolts that hold the bumper cover that can be accessed from the front of the engine compartment.
The grill needs to be removed as well ( there are 2 small bolts and 2 allen key/torx bit screws that hold it in place.)

You might need to take off the splash guard underneath the car that cover the underside of the engine compartment.

It's not hard just time consuming if you never did it before. The price of $2700 - from the dealer? Each light assembly goes for around $800-900 each and then the time/labor to install 'em.

good luck with it!

Mike

 

Are you talking about HID headlamps or halogen headlamps? If it's the HIDs, were they diagnosed by a dealer? There are many things that can cause the lamps to point to the ground in the HID system. Pointing down is the default position for the HID lamps when codes are set. It prevents blinding oncoming traffic.

 

mep/mike and rt- tks for the quick responses. yes, it was the dealer. took it there bc i mistakenly thought it was under warranty. the $400 assembly i priced wasnot HID, so I'm sure the$800 to $900 u suggest right. dealer said it was $1,300foreach assembly through them.

of note, dealer said computer codes checked out,axel sensors were good, but when they went to adjust the amining of the lights the linkage in the rear of the assemblies was "broken." don't trust the diagnosis.

 

YOU CAN FIX THEM WITH 2 SELF TAPPING SCREWS, AND WHY WOULD NT YOU TRUST THE DIAG, THEY BREAK ALL THE TIME AND IT TAKES ME A WHOLE 30 SECONDS TO DIAG BROKEN HEADLIGHTS. PULL THE RADIATOR COVER, AND GRAB THE HIGH BEAM ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR, IF THE ASSEMBLY FLOPS INSIDE ITS BROKEN, IF FIRM ITS NOT. THE ADJUSTER TOP CENTER INSIDE THE LIGHT BREAKS ALL THEY FLOP FORWARD, IF YOU PULL BACK THE RUBBER AND SCREW 2 SCREWS IN 1 EACH ASSEMBLY. IT SCREWS IN,HITS THE FARWARD CUP OF THE ADJUSTER AND YOU CAN NOW SET THE HEIGHT BY SCREWING IN AND OUT. THE COOL THING IS THEY STILL AUTO LEVEL WHEN STARTED AND YOU JUST SAVED OVER A GRAND. YOU CAN PAYPAL ME A NICE $50 TIP
BBRUTON2001@YAHOO.COM

 

brutal - tks. interesting (and a bit distressing) to hear they break all the time. mine broke after 13k miles, so all the time sounds,well, brutal . . . .

certainly no reason not to give your remedy a try. dealer charged me $150 for the diagnosis, which equates to $5 dollars a second for the diagnosis based on your 30 second estimate.[:@] paid it because i was happy with the though it was the only money i would ever pay them. in any event, thats the type of reason i don't trust the dealer. the one where i live has a particularily bad rap.

i may verywell give your fix a shot this weekend and report back in.

RT/Mike - thoughts on the brutal strategy?

 

WELL I WORK FOR A DEALER AND JUST DEVELOPED THIS REPAIR A COUPLE MONTHS BACKSINCE I TAKE HEADLIGHTS APART AND REPAIR THEM. EXCEPT THE STYPE, SINCE THIS IS A 2 MINUTE FIX WITH NO DIASSEMBLY REQUIRED LIKE X TYPES. OR THE XJ. AND THE ISSUE IS BAD POTHOLES AND TIME THAT FATIGUES PLASTIC. AND OR A HARD ENOUGH JAR TO THE CAR LIKE A BAD POT HOLE WILL BREAK EM, ACCIDENTS ETC...

 

Keep the faith billings, it could be alot worse, the x-type and s-types had this problematic headlamp problem. Be thankful you don't have the x-type transfer case. There have been talk for over a year on how to repair these lamps w/o replacing each unit. Glad to hear brutal has worked out a fix for you and other s-type owners on this (atta boy brutal!), and if he has any 'technical bulletin writing experience' he may even type something up on paper with pictures showing the X where to drill and everything, send you the two screws you need (ok, four for you) and you do the repair.I see a $20 per package price and everyone is happy?? i dunno...maybe not.

 

From a previous post. I wish I could show you pictures but I sold my '03 a while back but the fix was still holding steady after 2 years. FWIW, my '05 lights have been flawless.

Good luck,
Eric

Begin original post

If it's what happened to me - here's the issue and the fix for making the light assembly stationary.

Open the hood...

Standing in front of the lights, pull the rubber sheathing back that sits between the low and high beams. Beneath that sheathing is clear plastic. Look through the plastic and you'll see where the adjustment screw (on the back of the light) interfaces with the internal adjustment/joint mechanism for the internal lamp assembly.

On mine, that intersecting point/joint was broken. The joint must have fatigued over bumps/adjustments and it is that joint that holds the internal light assembly level. With the joint broken - the assembly points down and flops. Turn the adjustment screw all you want - nothing is going to happen. If you're not sure the joint is broken, grab the back of the assembly (inside the engine bay) and move it up and down. If it moves freely - that internal joint is broken.

If that's your problem, here's the cheapo fix. You'll need:

A drill, a small diameter drill bit, a bolt that is slightly smaller in diameter than the drill bit and the appropriate sized nut (for the bolt), super glue and silicone sealant. Read below and you'll be able to determine the size bit and bolt when you look at the procedure. I used one of the little brass bolts (home depot) that is segmented so you can break off bits to adjust the length.

It's a little uncomfortable but you’ve got nothing to lose because you're assembly is broken and you'll need a new one anyway if you screw up the procedure below.

In short, drill a small hole in that center plastic beneath the rubber sheathing. The drill bit needs to be only a minuscule larger than the bolt you will eventually insert in that hole. The hole needs to be perpendicular to the internal assembly so that the bolt will "push" the assembly up and level.

Super glue the nut over the hole, put some silicon around it to keep any moisture out and then "screw" in the bolt until the headlight is appropriately aimed. If you're really ****, you can break off the bolt segments so it fits flush against the headlight assembly.

Leveling still works on start-up and mine has held perfect for 15K.

If you need pictures let me know.

Best,
Eric

< Message edited by embassured 3/5/2008 11:35:54 PM >

End original post

 

HOORAY for BRUTAL!!! I thought I was the only one doing the screw trick. Works every time.

 

What's kind of neat to see is how multiple people have come up with the same solution independent of each other.

I gotta tell you - when you face a $1,000+ repair bill because your headlight droops, necessity really is the mother of invention.

 

Brutal and Real_Tech.... You guys rock!

I've been driving around at night totally blind because my lights aim so low, and I can't justify spending $3K on headlights.

But now I just might see the light....and for a lot cheaper.

THANK YOU!!!!

 

so after reading all the advice, i tried the bolt/screw. i drilleda small pilot hole and inserted a skinny bolt just to see how the adjustment would work with the screw, and the bolt actually threaded into the plastic. i had a nut on the bolt, so i just tighened down the bolt to the right adjustment, tightened down the screw (with some gorilla glue to adhear it to the plastic), and the whole thing seem have worked like a charm. with the nut it is adjustable. if it dosent hold, i have a slightly widerself tapping screw on standby.

thanks for the advice. forum is amazing.

 

. . . tightened down the nut (not screw). thanks again brutal (and others) for the tip.

 

I would love pics if you have them...

 

Welcome, you should post in the East coast section for quicker response, and go the the newmembers section and psot your ride and a lil' abotu yourself! So let's set your STR!

 

Front bumper skin removal.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=28534

 

Is there anyone out there who would be willing to help me perform the headlamp repair for 2003 S-type R? My headlamps are completely cloudy (from inside) and pointing in down position permanently?

I live in the South Jersey area.

I will pay for this service, as I am not mechanically inclined.

Please help! My STR looks 10 years older with awful headlamps, not to mention I can't drive it at night.

 

You might want to check it out a bit more. The head lights get cloudy but it's all on the outside. I have polished my head lights on my 2005 STR twice now and they look new. I never see them cloudy on the inside??
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