Headlights aimed too low?

[lowincash]

Driving home from the dealer last night, I noticed the lights only goes about 50 feet or so in front of the car. At times going downhill it looks like the lights are only 10'ish feet in front of the car. Anyone else notices that?

My friend says it's normal and that my previous car was aimed too high. I might try to adjust the aiming to see if it helps or not.

On another note, the AFS is kinda trippy at first, seeing the light turn as you turn. It is helpful tho.

 

[npaladin2000]

not me. which headlight system BTW?

 

[lowincash]

I have the adaptive bixenon lights. I was able to aim them up a bit last night, much better now.

 

[cmfireman]

The 6 headlights were the same. I had to turn the adjusters about 2.5 turns to get them where I need them when driving country backroads with no streetlights. I also had my wife drive the car behind me and met her head on a couple of times to make sure they weren't too high.

 

[lowincash]

I think I turned more than 2.5 turns on mine lol I aimed them while parked kinda far from a wall and it was moving quite slowly but then again I had a short philips screw driver so had a hard time getting the right angle.

 

[npaladin2000]

I have the same adaptives and they've been fine for me, they go out about 100 feet or so on low, and oh by the way, MAN is the turning headlight thing cool!

We've got three pretty distinct headlight systems here. Ours are supposed to auto-level, maybe there's something goofy in that system>

 

[lowincash]

Yup they're pretty cool at night, getting used to them now On start up, the lights will calibrate itself and do a left/right sweep but I'm wondering if they auto level, normally that's an up/down sweep.

 

[Pengaroo]

Autoleveling doesn't run automatically on start up and in fact you have to force it to actually run.

"The AFS control module records the vehicle height in unoccupied condition by performing the headlight auto leveling system initialization.

Perform headlight auto leveling system initialization if any of the following services is performed.

AFS control module replacement

Auto leveling sensor replacement or removal/installation

Any service which changes vehicle height, such as suspension replacement or removal/installation

Two different procedures are available for the headlight auto leveling system initialization; one which uses the M-MDS, and one which does not."

More info at http://am.mazdaserviceinfo.com/emaz...azda3/n3/books/n3w09/html/id091800812200.html

 

[lowincash]

Interesting. Most cars I've seen with auto leveling headlights they sweep up and down when you turn on the lights.

 

[lowincash]

Just a quick update. Last night I adjusted the headlights up a bit and now it shine farther down the road. I also saw the headlight auto leveling at work last night. I picked up some friends and when one sat in the back, I noticed the headlights aimed down slightly. After she got out of the car the lights went back up. All happened while car was on, pretty neat.

 

[Velvety]

Is there any easy way to adjust them? Mine are a little bit low. Scanned the manual and didn't see anything. I haven't actually looked at the car yet to figure it out.

 

[lowincash]

The adjustment knob is behind the low beam of each headlight. Looks like teeth, same as in most headlight assembly. Just use a long Philips screw driver and turn it counter clockwise I believe. I checked the manual too but there's nothing in there about aiming headlights.

 

[Pengaroo]

Check out the service manual pdf I posted here a few days ago. It explains how to do this and much more

 

[Velvety]

I've spent way too much time screwing around with the lights now.

My little silver teeth thing has a white plastic cap with a hexagonal knob on the backside of it. There's no phillips screw to turn. I'm assuming I can pop the plastic thing off somehow to adjust the lights. Did yours have the white cap? I'm assuming there's a phillips slot under this white cap. Or did you somehow turn it with the white cap on? Was a pain trying to use a flat head in the tight space.

I have NO clue how to even get at the driver's side light. Any suggestions?

 

[hkintel]

... I'm not sure why my headlight look weird

 

[Velvety]

Driver's side headlights are usually aimed lower so you don't blind oncoming traffic.

 

[hkintel]

really, thx for the reply.

 

[Ki||ian]

Just glancing under the hood I'm really not looking forward to changing the bulbs...

 

[Pengaroo]

For the hid they are not user replaceable, you pretty much have to take the whole front end apart. So yeah you could do it yourself or just take it to the dealership and not deal with the mess. :-/

 

[Ki||ian]

I've got the 3i Touring so I don't have the HID. Was thinking of putting in my own HID bulbs though.