P5 Highbeam only adjustment?

[treybrad]

So, ever since I bought my p5 my passenger side highbeam has been pointing way too high. The low beams are aimed correctly, but the high beam spot lights the trees.. completely useless.

I looked in the manual, and just looking at the headlight assembly, I can't see a way to aim the highbeams independently from the lows, but maybe I'm missing something? Anyone else have this problem? The bulb is seated correctly in the housing.. any chance it's a bad bulb?

trey

 

[JoshP5]

If that beam in the trees is just as tightly focused as the correctly aimed one, I'd say something is wrong with the headlight.

If the beam is less focused or has some other funny shape, I'd say the bulb isn't installed correctly. But since you insist it is, pull the bulb and check the location of the filament in the glass capsule. If it's not in the right spot, it won't focus correctly. Hope this helps.

 

[Canecreekfreak]

My guess is that the bulb is installed incorrectly. The P5 headlights don't aim independantly. It's probably just the bulb.

 

[treybrad]

Sounds good, I'll try to swap the bulbs from side to side and see if that changes anything.

trey

 

[pasadena_commut]

Sounds good, I'll try to swap the bulbs from side to side and see if that changes anything.

Before you do that try rotating it 180 degrees. I've not looked at the bulb in the brights but some bulbs have a little tab on one side and while you can (sometimes) stuff them into the mount upside down they'll be off center. That sounds a lot like what you're seeing - bulb is off center from the mirror and ends up "aimed" up into the trees.

 

[.Grendel.]

I just recently had a similar experience. The high beam bulb was just a little tweaked in the holder. I love the output, but the bulb holder design for both highs and lows are sketchy on this car. The high beam I don’t think it goes in but one way, so not sure the ‘180’ trick would work.

 

[JoshP5]

What's the verdict, treybrad?

 

[treybrad]

Well it poured down all last night, so I didn't go out and swap bulbs. I did already try to flip it 180, it will go in "upside down", but it doesn't affect the light output at all. I'll flip the the bulbs side to side tonight, it's supposed to be clear, and see what happens.

trey

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

I've noticed that changing from one brand of bulb to another affects how the lights are pointed without adjusting anything & also tried flipping bulbs in the adapters & whatnot but only changing from one brand to another actually changed the light patterns.