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I recently got a 2012 Nissan Quashqui with xenon headlights (so they have auto-levelling apparently). However, the headlights are awful at night - pointing really low down (probably only throw a beam about 20ft in front of the car). This means that when driving on unlit roads at night with cars coming in the other direction, I sometimes struggle to see anything at all and they feel really unsafe (when the high beam is on, it's fine). I am wondering if the self-levelling isn't working and thought that perhaps someone on here would know a bit about that particular car (or have one themselves).
I asked my in-laws (who recently gave us the car) but they couldn't really tell me if the lights had always been rubbish or not.
My Googling isn't really helping yet.
When you start the car with headlights on, do they do a little ‘bob’ up and down?
If you point the car at a wall with the lights on you'll be able to get a good idea if they are levelling properly or not, although from your description I'd say not.
Something like this approach: https://www.cars.com/articles/how-do-i-know-my-headlights-are-aimed-properly-1420683926799/
There’s a few on Google who sound to have had similar issues. Have a browse
When you start the car with headlights on, do they do a little ‘bob’ up and down?
Not that I have noticed – certainly nothing noticeable. However our last car (a 2007 Mazda 3) had xenon lights that were fine and I never really noticed them adjusting on switching on.
Not all Xenon's do the wee dance, the last one's I had didn't do it either (as they were just driven via a wee potentiometer, or similar, on the rear suspension)
Three things to look at:
Get the beam pattern measured, any garage that does MOT's can do it.
Check the lenses for discolouration, even a small amount can scatter the beam or just stop it leaving the light unit altogether.
New bulbs, even just standard ones. Xenon bulbs dim as they get old so if they're a few years old then just change them to rule it out.
Are you sure it's Zenon ? Is it a Tekna ? We have the 2012 Ntec+ and the headlamps are halogen projectors with a levelling wheel to the right of the steering wheel .
Is sounds like the headlamps are at the lowest (or stuck there with auto levelling) - when I whizz the dial to 3 on ours they are literally pointing at the floor. My wife sometimes catches the wheel getting out, and when I jump in I wonder why I can't see.
The self levelling systems adjust the 'level' based on a reference point - so if this reference point is wrong to start with, then no matter what happens your lights are always going to be pointing in the wrong direction.
If you look in the owners manual, or look online there should be some figures so you can reset the 'reference' alignment yourself - normally you park a certain distance from a wall on flat ground, and then you can use a tape measure to work out if the beam is too high or low. Adjustment is usually via mechanical adjusters on the back of the lights - you adjust up/down until it matches the distances in the book.
Before you do this, have a look under the car - normally the self levelling systems have a potentiometer which is connected to the front / rear wishbones of the car by a ball joint and a little linkage. Over time either the pots can fail, or the linkages seize and snap as they get road salt in them, which throws the auto-adjustment off. Replacements can normally be had pretty cheaply from ebay etc - if it's broken it should be an MOT fail but I think they are quite often missed on the checks...
if it does have self levelling then i don't believe they can be manually adjusted - it's a software thing. if they're manual, there'll be a 6mm hex head grey socket pointing up at the back of the headlight unit, on the aim motor - counterclockwise will adjust the headlight aim up. if they're manual there'll also be a little dial below and to the right of the steering column which actuates the motor to move them up and down. Whether self levelling or manual, the qashqai does have a habit of the 'rails' that are moved by the levelling motor dropping out of the end of the motor and sitting permanenetly at lowest setting. You can fix that yourself - remove the motor and hook them back, then refit the motor.
Are you sure it’s Zenon ?
Yes, definitely Xenon - it's a bling Tekna model with cream leather trim, 4WD, Bose sound system, panoramic sunroof and everything 🙂
(Just shit headlights).
Did the most recent MOT have them as an advisory (it has got a valid MOT hasn't it...)?
FWIW I had a Xenon beamed car years ago, the lights were bloody brilliant.
...normally you park a certain distance from a wall on flat ground, and then you can use a tape measure to work out if the beam is too high or low. Adjustment is usually via mechanical adjusters on the back of the lights – you adjust up/down until it matches the distances in the book.
Rule of thumb is 3" drop over 8 feet.
Find a wall with level ground. Drive the car right up against the wall, put the lights on dipped beam and mark where the cutoff is. Reverse the car back 8 feet and repeat but adjust the height so that the cutoff is now 3" lower. Tht will get you roughly at 2 degrees of angle down where the legal limits are between 1 and 3 degrees. This method takes into account the height of the headlight above the ground so works for all vehicles.
Did the most recent MOT have them as an advisory (it has got a valid MOT hasn’t it…)?
No advisory, yes it has a current MOT (I'm not that daft)! And it has been regularly maintained by the in-laws for the last 10+ years – my father-in-law is a passionate 'car' person.
Adjustment is usually via mechanical adjusters on the back of the lights – you adjust up/down until it matches the distances in the book.
My understanding is that you can't manually adjust xenon lights?
I have just found a forum post on Money Saving Expert and they talk about being able to hear the self-levelling whirring away when switching the lights on – I cannot hear a thing so I suspect it's not working. They did have a few dead battery issues with it recently so I wonder if it needs resetting (in a similar way you sometimes have to with electric windows).
Hmmm
auto levelling may only be a thing in different model years - have you had a check for a dial thingy near the dash to adjust them?
Can’t help with the Nissan but the cars that I’ve owned with self-levelling headlights have all had a coarse adjustment option on the back of the lights.
Xenon bulbs deteriorate over time. Have these ever been replaced?
auto levelling may only be a thing in different model years – have you had a check for a dial thingy near the dash to adjust them?
No, it definitely doesn't have a dial – it says in the manual that xenons don't have manual adjustment.
Xenon bulbs deteriorate over time. Have these ever been replaced?
I don't know – but it isn't the light output that is the issue, it's just the very short 'throw'.
I am wondering if the self-levelling isn’t working
Self levelling will adjust the headlight beam based on dead reckoning i.e. if the back of the car is lower than the front it winds the adjuster down a bit BUT there is also a manual level-setting screw the same as other cars. It doesn't know where the beam actually is.
For some reason, garages always want to set the headlights super low and it makes it near impossible to drive, I've had this on most cars I've had. When driving the Leaf back I had to stop at a garage and by Allen keys to wind them up as I literally could not see a bloody thing and it was very dangerous.
If you open the bonnet, on the plastic bit at the front you'll see some information - the A/C coolant type usually and a picture of a headlight with a percentage number next to it - something like 1.3% or maybe more if you have a higher-up crossover car. This is the downward gradient that the dipped beams should have. You should see one or more adjuster screws on top of the headlights, but these may be up/down or left/right adjusters, you need to Google for which ones. You can try parking up against a wall and tweaking the knobs to see which is which but don't go nuts, you may mess up the alignment completely.
Simply put, to adjust the gradient you need to park up against a wall on flat ground, put the lights on and mark where the cut-off line is. Then reverse say 5m in a straight line and then if your gradient is 1.3% the line should be 1.3 * 5 = 6.5cm lower. You can also check the left/right alignment by marking the point where the up-slope in the line is - that is the centre of the beam, and it should point directly in front so it should be in the same spot after you've reversed.
There's a lot online about passing an MOT, but all that does is make sure they aren't dazzling anyone, it doesn't apparently mean they are correctly set up.
if it does have self levelling then i don’t believe they can be manually adjusted
Not from in side the car, no, but there will still be adjuster screws on the headlamp units.
^ Ahh, okay thank you - so is it this I assume?
Hmm, they do tend to look like that but it's not clear from the diagram. On my Leaf there's only one screw like that, but other cars have several.
There's a diagram of a 2015 on this thread a few posts down that suggests there are several adjusters
https://www.qashqaiforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=6173
If you get the wrong one it can be.. counterproductive.. I thought the headlights on the Passat were just crap until I drove in fog one night and found the beams were all over the place, the driver's side was pointing at the nearside hedgerows.
Mine is the older model (the original Mk1 2007-2013).
It's the tossers with SUV or pickups maybe Tesla's, Range rovers etc with lights so bright coming towards you that is a major problem
Back in the day you had to buy h4 100w from under the counter like it was porn as they were not legal in my MK1 Mexico
Adjustments at the headlight aren’t likely to make a huge difference. Check the sensors aren’t damaged or broken. There should be one at the front axle and one at the rear. Had a similar issue on a Skoda with xenon’s. The front sensor arm had snapped so lights pointed straight down and couldn’t see a thing
It’s the tossers with SUV or pickups maybe Tesla’s, Range rovers etc with lights so bright coming towards you that is a major problem
Agreed - the 50 mile round trip on mainly rural 60mph roads thatI had to do last night in pouring rain was bloody awful and it is always the Teslas and Range Rovers that are the worst.
Adjustments at the headlight aren’t likely to make a huge difference
They do in my experience, I have to say. My brand new leased Hyundai had headlights pointing at the floor, couldn't see anything. I adjusted as per my earlier post with the correct gradient and they were great.
It’s the tossers with SUV or pickups maybe Tesla’s
Not sure which small car it is but its not just 'big' cars. Blinded by oncoming lights on a small (Aygo-ish shaped) car as I was heading to Edinburgh the other day. It wasn't the only small car like that either. I really miss the fancy headlights my Insignia had. Literally night and day compared to the Passat I now have.
and he chose a Qashqai
I was waiting for that 🙂 But yes, for my mother-in-law as she wanted a higher driving position and something easier to get in and out of - and when they got it, there wasn't the vast choice there is now. He has had several very nice cars over the years including a race-prepared Westfield that he competed in for several years. He currently has a bi-turbo Mercedes convertible.
Check the leveling sensor in the front and rear wheel wells, on our car a mechanic bent it whilst replacing springs, looked fine but took ages to work out why it was binding. Bracket was soft so easy to bend straight.
Headlight adjusters make a significant change to the aim. Make small adjustments and count the turns to work out which way to turn the adjuster, and also that you gave not got the left-right adjuster by mistake (I adjusted that one by accident and it's more fiddly to get it back to the correct position)
Once you know the correct adjuster, I used a small drill driver with a hex extension, it made it much easier to adjust as you can see the beam moving up and down the wall, rather than 20 manual turns with a hex key!
Once you know the correct adjuster, I used a small drill driver with a hex extension, it made it much easier to adjust as you can see the beam moving up and down, rather than 20 manual turns with a hex key!
Sounds good advice. I can only see one adjuster so I don't think I can go wrong on that point.
Yeh that's what I thought, until I'd turned it loads and couldn't see a change to the height!! I looked harder and found the vertical one. I think you'll have both as the lamps needs to be adjustable all ways as they can't build the car with the mounts in the perfect position, and the beam needs aiming in both directions.
Yeah on my Passat the vertical one was very obvious but the left/right was almost underneath and needed acces either with a flexible cable thingy or by removing the wheel arch liner!
Now't wrong with a Qashqai, ours has been 100% reliable and never sees a garage - blooming great when you have a bad back. It's no bigger than my saloon car, just a little higher.
It strikes me as unlikely that both headlights would need independently adjusting by the same amount. It might be a fix but it's addressing the wrong cause.
my father-in-law is a passionate ‘car’ person.
That's a red flag. Have you asked him whether he's ever pissed about with adjusted it?
Now’t wrong with a Qashqai, ours has been 100% reliable and never sees a garage
Yeah, my mum-in-law loved it (and always checks I am looking after it when they come to our house), but they fancied an upgrade as they have downsized so have some spare ££££s. They've got a brand new top-spec Sportage hybrid this time around. It practically drives itself with all the gadgets it has.
Well my reason was the MOT guys corrected the headlight aim and then failed it minutes later for a broken spring. (which of course affects the ride height and therefore headlight aim)
Got a pair of springs replaced, and then of course they passed it without putting the headlight aim back, hence manual adjustment needed
I've also had it when I took a car for MOT and left a few bags of cement in the boot. They put the headlight aim back to 0 and corrected the aim, so when I took the cement out they were pointed at the floor.
Minor impact damage tweaking the front end or breaking lamp unit mounts, upgrade to unsuitable/non approved lamp types, a load in the boot or messing with non standard suspension has got to be the only real factors that can affect the aim. (And the already discussed ride height sensors)