16 replies to this topic

[Bock]

Model:City E 1000
Year:1984


Hi,
Recently had mini reMOTd and refailed, this time the indicators werent amber enough and the head light pattern was wrong.
the mechanic informed and showed me that if facing a wall in your car, the light from your headligths should form a flat horizontal line accross the wall. The light from my headlights is round (as you might imagine from round headlamps). Short of sticking tape of the top of the light waht should I do?

Thanks for your help.



:



Any non-standard parts that might be involved with the problem?

[Dan]

Assuming you're checking the dipped beam, you need to get legal headlamps. Tape won't do. The beam should have a flat top and also a slope off to the side.

[tommy13]

Model:City E 1000
Year:1984


Hi,
Recently had mini reMOTd and refailed, this time the indicators werent amber enough and the head light pattern was wrong.
the mechanic informed and showed me that if facing a wall in your car, the light from your headligths should form a flat horizontal line accross the wall. The light from my headlights is round (as you might imagine from round headlamps). Short of sticking tape of the top of the light waht should I do?

Thanks for your help.



:
I assume you have halogen lamps fitted. If you have the old sealed beam type then the mechanic is wrong.
The usual cause of bad beam patterns in halogeh lamps is the incorrect seating of the bulb in the holder.



Any non-standard parts that might be involved with the problem?

[AVV IT]

What headlamps do you have? Are they the standard sealed beam units or an after market halogen conversion?

[andydclements]

If it's sealed beam you can occasionally get a deflector fall off so the dip beam simply becomes another high beam.


I'm thinking these might be halogen lamps in crystal headlamps- which don't have the beam correction lenses, in which case they'd have to be swapped out.

[Bock]

all our parts are standard (apart from indicators).

Lights were checked dipped.

just checked , left light Lucas right light wagner, both single bulb sealed units.

how likely is it that they are illegal?

[tommy13]

all our parts are standard (apart from indicators).

Lights were checked dipped.

just checked , left light Lucas right light wagner, both single bulb sealed units.

how likely is it that they are illegal?

" both single bulb sealed units??"These sound like sealed beams . they can be identified easily, the whole unit is made of glass with 3 terminals on the back and there is no seperate bulb.
These should be checked on main beam and all you get is a roundish light in the beam setter.

[tommy13]

I may have misunderstood what you mean by sealed unit. Is there a letter E in a circle usually cast into the glass on the front of the lamp?. Also was the light pattern incorrect at both sides?.

Edited by tommy13, 17 February 2011 - 09:48 PM.

[Bock]

three terminals sounds about right and pretty sure we cant separate the bulb from the unit. The unit is glass on front and metal casing at back.

MOT "nearside front (no pattern) headlamp not working on dipped beam"

the lights are definitely working but as he showed us, the light forms two circles on the world (no flat top edge).

[Bock]

I may have misunderstood what you mean by sealed unit. Is there a letter E in a circle usually cast into the glass on the front of the lamp?.

yes, E11 in circle and the number 7603.

[cambiker71]

You need to ask the tester to recheck them, almost every sealed beam i've tested has a pattern which is basically a large blob of light, most testers these days haven't seen one before, so think that because it hasn't got the more modern flat pattern with nearside kick up then it is faulty.

See here, Inspection manual for classes 3,4,5 and 7 vehicles - contents - section 1 (Lighting and Signalling Equipment) - headlamp aim and click next page until you find the pictures of differing headlamp aims, sealed beams are usually like the british american ones, hope this helps

http://www.transport...lsandguides.htm

Edited by cambiker71, 17 February 2011 - 10:00 PM.

[tommy13]

Looks as though you have a sealed beam unit. Please check the back to be sure as there should be no seperate bulb.
http://www.ukclassic...sealed-beam.asp

[andydclements]

three terminals sounds about right and pretty sure we cant separate the bulb from the unit. The unit is glass on front and metal casing at back.

MOT "nearside front (no pattern) headlamp not working on dipped beam"

the lights are definitely working but as he showed us, the light forms two circles on the world (no flat top edge).

Did it have a flat side? The unit may be in approx 1/3 of a turn out, that would give a curved top and the patent that should be at the top would be either at the bottom left or bottom right of the beam.

[Bock]

Hi,

thank you all for your links and advice so far. I have gone out and taken a picture of my beams on a wall and attached them. They seem reasonable to me, am I wrong? (left is dipped, right is main)

Attached Files

•  dipped.JPG   906.18K   16 downloads
•  main.JPG   943.62K   10 downloads

Edited by Bock, 17 February 2011 - 10:25 PM.

[cambiker71]

Hi,

thank you all for your links and advice so far. I have gone out and taken a picture of my beams on a wall and attached them. They seem reasonable to me, am I wrong? (left is dipped, right is main)

Looks normal enough to me, check me previous posts link and you'll see what i mean, i doubt the tester has seen this beam image type before if he's under 30!