I am still getting to grips with my Mondeo (09 reg) and one of the issues is the headlights. I have been doing quite a bit of driving at night recently and have been getting a few complaints abot dazzling people (one guys shouted "turn your lights down", one guy was waving when I stopped behind him and I have had a few flashes and honks that I reckon are related).
The only controls I have are the dial to switch between off-side lights-headlights, the ability to switch to full beam and the headlight levelling.
I have tried using side lights, but they are definitely too weak for driving in the city at night but then I get the complaints about the head lights. The lights are definitely not on full beam.
When I am driving I can see that my lights are lighting up signs that the lights of other cars aren't, so there is clearly something wrong, even though they don't seem brighter than other cars.
So tonight I started playing with the headlamp levelling. The manual says that with just the driver it should be on 0-0.5, however at that level I seem to be illuminating the signs that other aren't.
So I have now switched it to 4 which is the highest setting and which seems to set the lights much lower, I am guessing that it was just the height rather than the brightness. No complaints tonight as far as I could tell, so hopefully that fixes the problem, but I just wanted to see if anybody had any advice.
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Have you got any weight in the boot, e.g tools etc ?
Are your tyre pressures ok ?
If you are not carrying extra weight and your tyres are ok it may be worth getting the beam alignment checked, also check that the headlights and/or bulbs are correctly seated.
A quick (rough) check to see if they are set too high is to park up against a wall and mark the position of the top edge of the dipped beam (not the bit that goes off up away to the left) on the wall with chalk, then reverse away and the top edge should stay pretty much at the same height, if it goes up the wall then the beams are too high
Edited by kith on 11/11/2009 at 21:17
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A quick (rough) check to see if they are set too high is to park up against a wall and mark the position of the top edge of the dipped beam (not the bit that goes off up away to the left) on the wall with chalk then reverse away and the top edge should stay pretty much at the same height if it goes up the wall then the beams are too high
Thanks, I'll do that, but I think I already know the answer. When I pulled up at my house tonight, with the car still pointing down the street, I set the lights back to position 0. At that point they illuminated close almost up to the roof of a house about 5 houses down, I set them back up to 4 and they went back down to street level.
Now that I am typing it, it seems so obviously but it wasn't until I was playing with the levelling tonight that I noticed that it was significantly changing (I think partly because they move up and down quite slowly once you've picked a position).
No weight in the back, so I reckon that they but be aligned incorrectly.
I will get them checked but, in the meantime, is there any real risk with potentially pointing them too low? (as I mentioned they are now see on the maximum downward angle - setting 4).
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I will get them checked but in the meantime is there any real risk with potentially pointing them too low? (as I mentioned they are now see on the maximum downward angle - setting 4).
No risk that I can think of other than you've no option to dip them further if you carry a load, is the beam long enough on the 4/max dipped setting, have you tried '3' maybe ? I liken shortened beams to walking around looking at your feet on a properly adjusted car ;-)
Anyhow, get them adjusted and all will be well no-doubt.
Edited by idle_chatterer on 12/11/2009 at 00:10
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I would say that the first step would be to take it back to the dealers and get the headlamp aim checked on the beam setter. Unless its fitted with one of these Xenon/HID system or whatever they are and they are non adjustable - as you will have guessed, i am a bit out of touch on these things !
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You can adjust Xenons just like any other headlamp.
The automatic range on them simply takes the place of manually adjustable range on other cars.
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You can adjust Xenons just like any other headlamp.
They adjust themselves. All the time. A requirement for HID headlamps. No manual adjustment.
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>> You can adjust Xenons just like any other headlamp. They adjust themselves. All the time. A requirement for HID headlamps. No manual adjustment.
The Fresnel type HIDs on SWMBo's Civic have both manual alignment adjustment (with a screwdriver) and the mandatory auto-levelling function which is ostensibly the same as the manual levelling discussed elsewhere, I assume that other projector type HIDs have a similar arrangement.
Off piste a bit but an A4 B8 I drove with HIDs had a natty function whereby from the central controller / satnav screen you could swap between LHD and RHD beam patterns , very neat. I think it had physical alignment adjustment screws too though.
Edited by idle_chatterer on 12/11/2009 at 00:17
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>> You can adjust Xenons just like any other headlamp. They adjust themselves. All the time. A requirement for HID headlamps. No manual adjustment.
You can set the baseline though after which they adjust themselves around that point, I have done it on the FocuST.
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If the Mondeos lights are lighting up the roofs when the boots is empty, it will probably light up aircraft if the boot gets loaded and passengers get into the back!
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I used to get this with mine. Was quite often getting flashed at night by other drivers.
I have just turned down the level on the dial two clicks and it seems fine. I did mean to mention it to the dealer when it went in for a service but forgot!
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