V50 General : Low beam headlight adjustment not working

[DanTM89]

First of all Hi, my name is Dan and I'm new to the Volvo scene since 2 weeks ago. I'm a proud owner of a red V50 R Design, lovely car and amazing to drive, what have I been missing out on! I was hoping one of you amazing lot might be able to help me with how to adjust my headlights. It's a 59 plate with standard halogen lights, not bi-xenon so they're not self adjusting. I've read that there are 2 point of adjustment and all you have to do it get a 6mm socket on it and turn it to adjust, I tried this just now and they feel very stiff! To the point where I thought it might snap but then it just clicked, seems to do this every quarter turn with no headlight movement so I'm a bit confused as to if I'm doing this correctly? Many thanks

[The Thong]

Why do they need adjustment? Are they too low? High? Have a look at this

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=217764

The halogen V50 headlights are not the brightest tbh so the above might give some indication to other ways to adjust your headlights.

TT

[AndrasL]

if they are stiff and "click" after quarter turn, what actually happened is that the little white adjustment nut slips of the bigger black one below it. If you keep doing it, it will break.
what you can try is to remove the headlight (pretty easy to do) and find the two hex key adjustment sockets located right below the little white ones you used. Make sure not to apply too much force and move it both ways to free it up, then go back to using the normal method.
Note that the adjustment is done by plastic nuts and bolts, so you can break them (I did...).

[MDS40]

Also have a look at the guide to brighten your headlights in the above sub forum.
It worked okay for me along with raising the headlights and fitting nightbreaker lamps.
Use some wd40 etc on the plastic adjusters after removing the headlights.

[Ian21401]

Originally Posted by AndrasL

if they are stiff and "click" after quarter turn, what actually happened is that the little white adjustment nut slips of the bigger black one below it. If you keep doing it, it will break.
what you can try is to remove the headlight (pretty easy to do) and find the two hex key adjustment sockets located right below the little white ones you used. Make sure not to apply too much force and move it both ways to free it up, then go back to using the normal method.
Note that the adjustment is done by plastic nuts and bolts, so you can break them (I did...).

I agree. Remove headlamps. Lubricate the adjustment mechanism and carefully exercise it until it moves freely. I would use a silicone spray lubricant. Headlamp adjustment is not done very often and the adjustment mechanism tends to stiffen up so that if it is forced something breaks.

[DanTM89]

Thank you all for your help I'll remove the headlight and try to adjust them using the hex key after a bit of WD40 work.