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    Mini owners: Help

    Was driving the Mini at night the other day and noticed that the left headlight was not on the same level as the right. I then scrolls the height adjuster and only the right one moves.

    I phone my dealer and he says the motor that moves the headlight needs to be replaced, BUT that does not come as a spare part. I would need to buy a whole new headlight which is quite costly.

    Is there anyway I can manually adjust the levels of the headlight?

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    sorry Mike, I have no clue about this!!

    May be you should ask the mini members at www.mini2.com

    they know everything, about it...or even search for this issue in their forums, im sure someone has had this kind of problem

    good luck

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    Quote:
    Alex18_996CC said:
    sorry Mike, I have no clue about this!!

    May be you should ask the mini members at www.mini2.com

    they know everything, about it...or even search for this issue in their forums, im sure someone has had this kind of problem

    good luck



    Hi Alex,

    Would you mind posting it on there for me and reverting any answers you get? I really don't feel like going through the process of registering etc. etc. for one question

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    I'm not quite sure either, but mini2 seems like the place to go for that info.

    Keep us posted

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    Quote:
    Mike S said:
    Quote:
    Alex18_996CC said:
    sorry Mike, I have no clue about this!!

    May be you should ask the mini members at www.mini2.com

    they know everything, about it...or even search for this issue in their forums, im sure someone has had this kind of problem

    good luck



    Hi Alex,

    Would you mind posting it on there for me and reverting any answers you get? I really don't feel like going through the process of registering etc. etc. for one question



    Yeah Mike, no problem!!!!

    As soon as I have replies, I'll post them here/send them via pm!

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    From what I've been reading in the mini forums, this is a very common issue Mini has, there are lots of replies relating this problem, and nearly all of them having problems with the left one

    It seems that your dealer is completely correct, nearly all of the owners had to send it to their dealers and replace the whole unit

    Here are some replies I think you would like reading(from other threads regarding your same problem......I used the search mode for the very first time , but I also posted a new thread )


    -Sounds like the unit then I agree.
    The gearing inside has probably thrown a wobbly. They are ultra sensitive and unfortunately the lights design is such that once assembled, disassembly without damage is difficult, so rectification is by means of replacement.

    -i had this problem the other week. Took the car in and they fitted me a new headlight. Apparently the headlight ajustment motor is an integral part of the unit.
    Hope this helps.


    -update - its booked in on thursday for a complete new headlight unit

    -






    Now the little "home solution" you could do

    -i have had the same problem i took the headlamps out and greased the motor driveshafts and hey presto they work again it is a fiddly poxy time consuming job but cheaper than buying a new light
    PM me if you need advice on how to go about it

    (((I could PM him if you want more info Mike )))

    Another solution was this one (not so attractive but it may work )

    -This time i could only fix it by opening and then slamming the bonnet!!

    -Hi Guys.

    My 01 Cooper has an offside light which has has wound it self fully down but I worked out a way of getting it back and a way of stopping it happening again, (well so far any way).
    My car works like this. If I turn the lights ON with the ignition OFF, the headlights wind down and then come back up to the level set. If I turn the lights ON with the ignition ON the lights DO NOT go all the way down and back again, if the level switch has not been moved the lights do not move.

    Now the fix that worked for me on the 3 occasions when my Offside headlight has wound down and got stuck is a follows. With the ignition and lights OFF I unplug the Nearside headlight, then with the ignition still OFF I turn the lights ON, the Offside headlight can be heard and seen to shake and move up. I then turn the lights of and reconnect the nearside light. With the ignition ON the lights can be turn ON and the level system seen to be working.
    I now only ever turn the lights ON with the ignition ON and so far it has not done it again. But I have only had the car for just over a month.

    -i don't know will this help u or not,

    i try to play around with the level system, because i try to adjust the headlight too high (turning the screw out too much) the auto leveling stop working, once i turn the screw in abit more.. the auto leveling system work again..... but thats on my car only.. so don't know it help u or not.

    -Ok.... so this may not work for anyone else - but ....

    In the light there is the self adjusting rear reflector and a fixed front reflector that joins the glass of the light. The rear reflector with the bulb holder moves in relation to the front fixed one.

    I removed the flexible rubber caps from the back of the light and then put my fingers inside and gently pulled and pushed the top of the rear reflector assembly inside the unit and it then moved up to a postion slightly above that of the other side. I then pulled it down so that it appeared level against the fixed inner reflector. There were NO undue crunching / breaking / etc type noises during the pushing / pulling about. Just a slight 'ratchety' noise.

    To be honest I would have been happy for it to just stop where it was now, and not self-adjust ever again. But on trying the lights it self adjusted just like the other side.

    Thats it !

    It works now !


    THIS ONE COULD BE A GOOD SOLUTION::
    Hi All,

    it seems that no real solution was found for this problem yet

    Im my 2001 Cooper first the left light failed to level from time to time, now it happens on the right side. Since it fails only sporadically, it's hard to find the fault.... Plug/unplug it, shut the bonnet hard and it works again... not really helpful to trace it.

    Unfortunatly I did not find any technical explanation of the problem yet. Since my car is out of warranty changing the lights is not really an alternative ($$$), at least if I am not totally sure that this really solves the issue.

    So I use the following trick now:

    First I disconnected the manual adjusting switch (simply unplugged). This keeps the lights in their lowest position and avoids that somebody accidentially turns the switch afterwards.
    Then I adjusted the (now way too low) lights back to a normal position with the adjusting-screws.

    The result: if one of the lights does not move when turning the ignition and lights on, it just remains in the lowest position. But if it moves, it is still only marginally lifted. Since both options give a good light-pattern it does not matter now if they move or not.

    The drawback: I loose the manual levelling feature. But since I seldom drive fully loadeed there is no real need to adjust the lights manually down.

    As an engineer I don't really like this solution, but at least it works. But if somebody ever finds the real fault please keep me posted

    Regards
    Wolfgang/Stuttgart/Germany



    Give me a day or two, and I'll probably send you a way to adjusted manually...Just send a PM to a mini member, that he sorted this issue manually

    hope the above "story" helps

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    well that is definitely a very comprehensive post.....

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    Damn Alex! You are the man!

    I will give the ignition trick a try - sounds like exactly what my car does.

    Thanks again!

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    You welcome Mike!!!

    I'll let you know more, when I receive the PM of a mini user !!!

    lets see if that method works !!!!!, good luck!

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    Update:

    The ignition off with lights on doesn't work

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    Ok fiddled around. Seems there are 4 plastic screws that set the height of the lights.

    There are 2 on each side of each headlight.

    You turn the inner ones to set the height anti-clockwise to go up and vice versa to go down. Hope that helps anybody with the same problem in future

    PS. Your auto leveler no longer works should you do this

    Re: Mini owners: Help

    thanks for the update Mike

     
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