Help! Headlight adjusters!

[Honcho]

Sending an SOS to my Prime brothers for some assistance with my headlights. My car came with a 6000K HID system installed and I never liked it. The light is dim and does not light up the road very well. I replaced the bulbs this weekend with 4300K bulbs and the light output is much better. However, even after tilting the headlamps up as much as possible before tightening the 4 bolts, they are still aimed far too low.

I tried to adjust the vertical tilt but quickly discovered the adjuster nuts were siezed. Affter looking up all of the threads on this issue, I tried to disassemble the adjusters and lubricate. Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to remove them from the headlight frame- the worm bolt goes through a hole in the frame so even after removing the 4 screws, it seemed stuck in there.

Still, I was able to lube them with some moly grease and got them to turn freely. But, after reasembly, I saw that turning the nut causes the worm bolt to spin in place and the tilt does not change. Hugh posted long ago that he was able to hold the bolt with needle nose pliers and then turn the nut, but I cannot see how you can reach the bolt to hold it with any sort of plier.

What am I missing? I am offering a six-pack to any Prime member who can come help me out with this- I think it is something I have to see done in person rather than read in a post. With a new baby, I simply don't have the unlimited hours to fiddle with the adjusters and figure it out. I assume someone has already done this and would like to take advantage of their learning curve.

HMU

 

[SFNMNSX]

Hey Honcho, I had the same issue with the headlight adjustment on my '94. I was just in Denver for NSXPO, blinding everyone with my crooked headlight! I know this is not in person, but it's easy. The service guy @ the ACURA dealer said it's a common problem with these. I don't know of a fix, but rather a replacement. You must REPLACE the adjusters. Part# 33129-SL0-A01 $30.00 EA. This is What I did and it works REALLY well. (lust like new:smile.Not a big job as you know, since you have the headlight housing taken apart. HTH. Also, check the service manual if you need to... =DREW=

 

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, Honcho.

Probably the photos in these two posts on NSXCB site will assist you in removing the parts.

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?6286-NSX-Health-Check-Service&p=76766#post76766

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?6286-NSX-Health-Check-Service&p=76767#post76767


If the above link doesn’t work, then please visit the following page and look for the post #429 and #430.
The post no is at the right top corner of each posts.

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?6286-NSX-Health-Check-Service/page43


I'm not sure whether I understood the difficulty you were having or not but it sounded like you couldn't remove the worm bolt assy out of its location.
Once you have removed the four fixing screws, you need to slide the square plastic pieces (sandwiching the worm bolt) side way in opposite direction in order to separate them.
Please refer to the following photos.

The parts no for the new one was changed for the later models (33129-SL0-N11) but for your NSX, 33129-SL0-A01 is the one.
I don’t know whether the N11 version is better or compatible with the A01 or not.

If you are buying the new one, please keep the receipt.
Several years ago, there was batch issue with this specific parts in Japan and my friend had to return 100 of them back to Honda because all of them were faulty.

Out of the package, you can turn the worm bolt freely because it is not locked by the two square plastic parts (as in the above photo) but once installed, you will have hard time turning the bolt with the problematic batch.

Not sure whether Honda managed to recover all of the faulty batch inside/outside of Japan or not.

Kaz

 

[Honcho]

Thanks Kaz. I did not realize you could slide the front piece apart. My adjusters actually are not corroded at all. The bolt is bright silver. So perhaps they can be repaired? The repair here seems to make sense. Do you think this would work? Your statement about the bad batch from Honda makes me reluctant to buy new ones.

 

[mskrotzki]

Honcho

Shoot me a PM and I could likely shoot down to your place tomorrow to put two heads to this.

Mark

 

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, Honcho.
Being busy with NSXCB site so apology for the late reply.

It is possible to do some repair but you may find it easier to just get the new parts.
Even if it is from the faulty batch, you may still be able to use some of the parts inside the package.

From what you wrote, you need to find out why the worm bolt is spinning when it should not.
Once installed in position and when you rotate the adjuster ring (the silver ring with lots of sharp teeth), the worm bolt should not rotate.
However, the adjuster body is fixed to the retractor frame whereas the two plastic plates sandwiching the end of the worm bolt are screwed into the light assy so when you make the adjustment, you need to allow the adjuster mechanism to tilt. Hence, the ball joint like shape at the end of the worm bolt.
The adjuster body will slide back and forth over the worm bolt.

The ball joint end of the worm bolt has two flat sections.
This is where the two square plastic plates sandwich and lock the rotational movement of the worm bolt.
Quite often, the ball joint section got corroded and fatten that there will be no more flat section allowing the worm bolt to rotate without being locked by the plastic plates.
Or, if you forced to make the alignment adjustment without knowing the corrosion at the ball joint section of the worm bolt, you could easily scrape off the plastic material inside the two plates and again, this will result in the worm bolt to spin as the plastic plates can no longer lock the bolt.

So you could sand paper down the corrosion, re-create the two flat section with enough thickness and apply silicone grease to prevent future corrosion.
Or, simply replace the four fixing screws (shiny silver ones), two plastic plates and the worm bolt plus any other worn out parts from the new parts package because most of the time, other old parts are still working fine.

It’s hard to explain in English for me but once you have the actual parts in front of you and if you play with it or even disassemble it like in the above photo, you will understand what I’m trying to say.

Kaz

 

[Mac Attack]

I didn't want to spend the money on new adjusters, so I just loosened up the entire headlight bracket and adjusted the beams that way.

Worked great!

Dave

 

[Honcho]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Using Kaz's photos, I was able to remove the adjusters and repair. Instead of using the "cheese-grater" material Zetoolman used, I used small pieces of medium grit sandpaper to hold the bolt head in place. The extra friction is just enough to stop the bolt spinning. Also, I put the adjuster body in a vice and ran the bolt back and forth with an electric screwdriver to break it loose and lubed with white lithium grease. The adjusters turn as they should now. I am getting a terrible headlight shake though. I already have adjusted the 4 Stopper B covers. I recall pbassjo mentioning another source of the shake was a bad arm/joint in the retractor mechanism?