S40: Headlight (drivers side) points down

[burgo]

Hi, does anybody know if the headlight (inner housing is adjustable ?)
Passenger side is absolutely fine, drivers side points down - so trying to adjust via the wheel inside the car does diddly squat. I have tried adjusting via the 2 screws by the headlight but only seem to be able to lower the beam further !!.
What i have found is the silver inner casing where the bulbs attach seems to be loose and so the beam moves around.

I wanted to find out if this could be tightened again which I am guessing means the headlight has to come out.

Got my haynes book handy for that one !.

Cheers in advance

[Anadinolin]

the light unit is clipped together with the various clips around the glass, they are a real PITFA if i am completely honest, if you really feel the silver reflector is broken, you are probably better off getting a new unit or replacement from here

the light itself is easy to prize appart, just be careful of your eyes and you also risk breaking the glass, dont get your hands inside the lense either, there is a funny kind of coating on it, if you clean one out, you will probably feel obliged to do the other cause the beams wont match lol


iv rambled on too long, let us know how you get on.

[burgo]

Hi Anadinolin, many thanks for this. When the OH returns home (hopefully daylight) i'll take a look then and let you know.

[Anadinolin]

if you need to take the light unit out, the bumper has to be dropped slightly

theres 4 heavy duty bolts holding the bumper and the slam panel in place (atleast it was that way when i had my car) loosen them off and it may give you enough wiggle room

i cant remember how many bolts exactly my old v40 used to have, but i think it is 3 holding the light to the chassis

ps from GSF:

new glass (comes with clips and a new gasket) thick end of £70 - loads of faff trying to get the thing back together

new headlamp unit thick end of £90

pss also theres 2 different headlamp connector styles depending on the year of the car and different bezels for the trim level and spec

[gatos]

It could be that the plastic adjuster clip is broken, or the balljoint adjuster becoming loose, or as Anadinolin has already said that the reflector is broken. 1st and 2nd can be replaced for a reasonable cost, whereas a reflector will cost a lot more to buy and it will be cheaper to buy a 2nd hand complete headlight

[rexer12]

if you do have to take the light out it is possible to get it out without lowering the bumper, i have done this twice now, once the nuts holding the light in are removed you can press down on the bumper with you're knee and the light should come out with a bit of jiggling.

[burgo]

Hi many thanks for that will hopefully have a go at weekend

[warnerv40]

Depends on the style and age of the headlamp unit.

The early single lens units have an adjuster / cog and wheel system where the inner housing disintegrates with the heat of the DLR; on my 98 V40 just about to go to scrap yard heaven I managed to use the adjuster spindle with a couple of plastic wall plugs and a locking screw enough to get the alignment through an MOT. The replacement adjusters are available from Volvo and through e-Bay. There is another posting on this site that was excellent guide.

My latest V40; 2004 - 1.9D picked up last week, had a drooping N/S light where the adjuster had simply unclipped from the reflector housing, possibly by over zealous use to get the light aligned!

Warner Baker - Southampton