1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

how does one aim headlights?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by elfin, Apr 11, 2009.

  1. elfin

    elfin Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2009
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    Lebanon PA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    I have a 2009 Prius with HID headlights. They are aimed so low that I can barely see in front of the car at night. When I turn highbeams on, they are not much better. The lights seem to be aimed outward instead of on the road like other headlights. How can I adjust the aim of the headlights? I had it to the dealer and they said the lights are balanced and they can't aim them because it is too light out and they can't see that anything is wrong.
     
  2. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2005
    1,761
    208
    0
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Take it back to the dealer. It's under warranty. It could be a problem with the auto-leveling system
     
  3. elfin

    elfin Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2009
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    Lebanon PA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    I had it back to the dealer and they said the auto-leveler system was perfect. I think it is more they are aimed wrong to begin with.
     
  4. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2005
    1,761
    208
    0
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Take it to another dealer. There is no need for you to do your own warranty work.
     
  5. yardman 49

    yardman 49 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    606
    77
    0
    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Hello Elfin:

    I also had the "aimed low headlight problem on my 2009 with HID headlights. The posts in the following thread really helped me to fix them:

    http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/42891-headlights-aimed-too-low.html

    There are a few photos attached to the posts in this thread. What they show is a nut with a toothed cog underneath. Turning that nuts counterclockwise (CCW), as viewed from the passenger compartment (that is, if you were able to face the nut directly), will raise the headlights.



    Someone mentioned using a phillips screwdriver, as sort of a "worm" gear to turn that cog. On my 2009, that didn't work well, as the assembly on my car are plastic, not metal as show in the photos. As I didn't not want to stress the assembly, I ended up using an open end, 8mm wrench, which worked great. The one on the passenger side is just slightly difficult to see. But using a flashlight really helped.
    • Prior to turning those nuts, I put a mark with a colored marker on the nut, so that I would know how much I turned them. I started making small adjustments (turning the nuts "1 flat" at a time), but my lights were so far off that I think that I ended up raising them a 2 full turns.
    • Be certain that there is nothing heavy (and no one sitting) in the back of the car. The car has automatic leveling headlights, triggered off of a level sensor in the rear of the car. So the sensor has to sense that the car is loaded level so that the autolevelers don't aim the headligths down
    • You can wait until night, and then shine the headlights on a garage or other structure. Put them on low beam, and take some masking tape or other tape. Put the tape on the structure, with the bottom of the tape level with the top of the HID beam image shining on the structure. Then when you adjust the beams, you can see how much you have moved them.
    • For final adjustments I took the 8mm wrench and a flashlight with me, and drove around some local roads at night. If the lights still looked too low, I would find a parking lot, pop open the hood, and turn both headlight adjusters the same amount. Then I'd drive the same roads again. I kept doing this until they looked right to me.
    To date, no one has "flashed me" at night, even though I raised the beams quite a bit from their "factory" aiming.
     
    3 people like this.
  6. yardman 49

    yardman 49 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    606
    77
    0
    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Elfin:

    In the thread that I posted above, look especially at the photos from Steamboagsig (post #15), and Jayman (post #17). They show what the adjuster on the passenger side looks like.

    As I said previously, since the nut (actually looks like the head of a bolt) on my 2009 was plastic, and the "screwdriver wormgear" approach seemed to be really stressing the adjuster, I simply used an 8mm open end wrench on the "nuts". This worked well, and I had adequate room to make the adjustments.

    Best wishes, and let us know how you make out.
     
  7. lenjack

    lenjack Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2006
    804
    114
    0
    Location:
    Pennsylvania USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Close end wratched ...spelling?... works well here. Had to loosen the nuts 1 full turn on my '07 hd to raise beam sufficiently. 2 full turns resulted in other drivers being annoyed.
     
  8. yardman 49

    yardman 49 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    606
    77
    0
    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Hello lenjack:

    I know what you mean....they are called "ratcheting box wrenches" if they have a "box" end (closed end) head at both ends. If they have a ratcheting box at one end, and an "open" end wrench at the other, they are called "ratcheting combination wrenches".

    Someday I'd like to buy myself a set of metric and SAE. There are certain situations (like the Prius headlights) where they would be very helpful.
     
  9. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2004
    13,439
    639
    0
    Location:
    Winnipeg Manitoba
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Hmmm. My '04 the parts were metal, ditto my 07 FJ. Nice how they're making the parts cheaper ...
     
  10. yardman 49

    yardman 49 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    606
    77
    0
    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Yes, I was surprised also, Jay (I think that it was your photo that had the metal assembly). My unit looks like the photo in Steamboatsig's post.

    On my '09, the cog teeth are still metal. But the bolt and "washer" under it are white plastic. When I tried the "worm gear" trick with the phillips, it seemed as though the cog was lifting too much, and I was afraid that the plastic bolt would snap right off. So I used the wrench instead.

    "Product improvement", I guess. :)
     
  11. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2004
    13,439
    639
    0
    Location:
    Winnipeg Manitoba
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Frank

    I agree the wrench is the safer alternative in that case. I do know when I use my long, skinny phillips head screwdriver in the slot, it does appear to put a lot of force on that washer.

    Plastic parts, I could see them snapping off, especially if the plastic washer lifted and then the plastic bolt broke. You'd be SOL then

    jay
     
  12. elfin

    elfin Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2009
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    Lebanon PA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Thanks for the info. Can't wait to have my husband fix it! You guys are great!
     
  13. yardman 49

    yardman 49 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2009
    606
    77
    0
    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Hello Elfin:

    The more I learn about the Prius from the wonderfully knowledgeable people here (like Jay), the more enjoyment I get from our new Prius. Also, since I have to travel a lot for work (while the Prius is at home), it gives me my "Prius fix" to participate in these forums!

    Once you get the headlight height adjustments set properly, another wonderful thing happens: you find out that you have fog lights! :cheer2:

    When the headlights are set too low, the low beams completely overwhelm the foglights. But once you get the headlights raised, you can actually see the roadway near the front of the car "light up" somewhat when you turn on the foglights. Of course, you can't turn off the headlights when the foglights are on, so their usefulness in fog or snow is limited. But they do provide a little better near field visibility.

    (FYI: even if you have your foglights turned on, they will go off when you switch to high beams, and then come back on when you switch back to low beams. Works that way on most modern cars)

    Best wishes!
     
  14. icarus

    icarus Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2007
    4,884
    976
    0
    Location:
    earth
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    # 2 phillips works great,,, Jaymans pictures elsewhere on this site were very helpful,, I'm not sure I would have figure it out. I ran my up 2 full turns, can see much better,,, and no one flashes me yet,,, I may turn them up another 1/2 turn.

    Icarus
     
  15. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2004
    13,439
    639
    0
    Location:
    Winnipeg Manitoba
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    I wish somebody would flash me once in awhile

    Oh, wait a minute, you're talking about headlights. Never mind ...
     
  16. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,073
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    I could post my little animated gif of a female flasher, but I might incur the wrath of the mods.

    Tom
     
  17. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2004
    13,439
    639
    0
    Location:
    Winnipeg Manitoba
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    You just go right ahead and email that to me, then
     
  18. icarus

    icarus Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2007
    4,884
    976
    0
    Location:
    earth
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I just took our car in for warrantee service of the i-pod squeal TSB. (Which they couldn't do since the part came broken! go figure.)

    I had them look at the headlight aim,,, without telling them that I had dialed them UP more than 2 full turns. The report came back that the lights were low,,, but within spec,,, if I wanted to have them raised I would have to pay them! I said,,, thank you no! Question is,,, how far out of spec were they before I started? No wonder I couldn't see anything!

    Icarus
     
  19. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2004
    13,439
    639
    0
    Location:
    Winnipeg Manitoba
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Wow. I bet you could have used your headlights to shine down open manhole's before you cranked them up a bit
     
  20. icarus

    icarus Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2007
    4,884
    976
    0
    Location:
    earth
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A

    I'm going to raise them another 1/4 turn and see!


    Icarus