skoda superb headlight adjustment for continental driving

[skodanut]

Having read previous threads on front bumper removal i thought id take the plunge and do it myself. I managed it in around 15 mins considering i had no handbook, and then set about removing the headlights in order to switch this little lever to continental driving mode.

Can anyone tell me from looking inside the headlight in its normal position facing the front, which way does one flick the lever? I imagine its the opposite on the right hand headlight? Any help on this would be much appreciated:thumbup:

[corradoboy]

You don't need to remove the bumper to remove the headlights !

http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/definitive-guide-adjusting-octy-2-headlamps-foreign-driving/60850/

http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/changing-headlights-continental/81652/

http://briskoda.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=27178&d=1234552518

[Baker21]

You don't need to remove the bumper to remove the headlights !

:confused:

You can't remove the headlamps on a Superb without removing the front bumper..........

[bulspan]

i removed them withouth removing the bumper

[Baker21]

i removed them withouth removing the bumper

Don't know how you do that then as for me it's impossible..............I should know as well, used to work for the company that designed them...........:eek:

[bulspan]

it took me 2 hours (friend was helping me) incl installation of h7 xenons

[bulspan]

sry for the the question, but what exactly u must do to ur headlights for continental driving? all british cars i saw here in spain got black stickers on headlights :confused: why?

[Baker21]

it took me 2 hours (friend was helping me) incl installation of h7 xenons

2 hours.............:eek:

sry for the the question, but what exactly u must do to ur headlights for continental driving? all british cars i saw here in spain got black stickers on headlights :confused: why?

People don't have to put those beam deflectors on the headlamps, they just need to access the back of th lamp and internally within the lamp is a 'Tourist Lever' that allow you to change the beam pattern cut off..........

[dieselV6]

Bent screwdriver and a torch, and about 5mins to adjust them for continental driving (flat beam only). I drive flat beam all the time.

Due to projector design and 50% light loss, HIDs recommended, especially 70W ones. Yes, 70W instead of 36W, about 5000 lumen each

Razor sharp cutoff and no glare, though to get best results (no shadow from HID support wire) it is best to mount H7 retrofits in an inverted position.

Edit: Light output: Premium H7 bulb: 1750 lumen, standard 36W 4300k HID: 3250 lumen, 70W 4300k HID: 5000 lumen

For most projectors, at least 50% of light is lost due to screen inside the headlight - keep that in mind when comparing projector headlamps to reflector ones.

Edited 22 June, 2009 by dieselV6

[skodanut]

thanks everyone for the reply...i did remove the bumper to remove the headlights...and at same time remove cobwebs and debris from inside the bumper itself...dont want anything getting a free lift on my car...but like baker said it is a straight forward job removing bumper....around 13 screws and off it comes...will do it again a week before i drive to spain and see for myself the difference this little lever does for producing a flat beam.

i know its easy to purchase stick on beam diverters...but its a bloomin pain removing the glue residue after a fortnight in hot sunny climates....once again thanks for all your replies

[rotodiesel]

It's a complete waste of time removing the bumper skin to operate the "tourist levers" on the headlights.

The trick is to access these levers through the hatch for the main beam light and use a bent screwdriver to flip the levers into their new positions (they move in opposite directions). On the LHS all you need to do is unclip the trim from around the PAS reservoir. On the RHS you need to remove the air filter cover and inlet trunking which takes about 1 minute (5 Phillips screws).

I changed my headights over in the ferry queue. My local dealer (Garland, Aldershot) wanted £100 to remove the bumper and adjust the lamps - so £200 per trip.

Unrealistic costings such as that (and another one I declined for the fitment of a towbar) makes it unlikely they will stay in business. Skodas are generally bought by people with more sense than money - VAG need to realise this.

rotodiesel.

[bulspan]

thanks everyone for the reply...i did remove the bumper to remove the headlights...and at same time remove cobwebs and debris from inside the bumper itself...dont want anything getting a free lift on my car...but like baker said it is a straight forward job removing bumper....around 13 screws and off it comes...will do it again a week before i drive to spain and see for myself the difference this little lever does for producing a flat beam.

i know its easy to purchase stick on beam diverters...but its a bloomin pain removing the glue residue after a fortnight in hot sunny climates....once again thanks for all your replies

hi mate, wich part of spain will u go?

[Baker21]

Unrealistic costings such as that (and another one I declined for the fitment of a towbar) makes it unlikely they will stay in business. Skodas are generally bought by people with more sense than money - VAG need to realise this.

rotodiesel.

[Penpusher]

When I go to Hungary in September, I will buy Eurolites on Ebay from Dennings DIY which were £3.99 plus £0.99 postage last year when I went there, which is much cheaper than in the shops. I don't understand where to place them on the headlights from the illustration on the packet, so I line them up in the dark against the garage doors before I set off for the optimum position and they are fine.

Our dealer is 40 miles away and it's not worth taking time off work before and after a foreign trip plus their charges to set the tourist levers when I find Eurolites are perfectly adequate. I don't try and change them myself as I'm not so good at using tools these days as I suffer a little from rheumatoid arthritis and the joints in my fingers are sometimes swollen.

I polish the plastic lenses before I use them and then I remove all the sticky with polish as soon as I return and I find there's no marks left. The xenons are cooler than halogens, which helps to avoid the glue setting too hard.

We don't travel in the dark when we're abroad very much, but they need realigning as I use the lights 24/7 as is required in Hungary, as well as the Czech Republic and Slovakia which we'll pass through on our way.

Don't use black tape with halogen bulbs as you can damage or crack the plastic over the headlight with the heat that is reflected back.

[dieselV6]

It's a complete waste of time removing the bumper skin to operate the "tourist levers" on the headlights.

The trick is to access these levers through the hatch for the main beam light and use a bent screwdriver to flip the levers into their new positions (they move in opposite directions). On the LHS all you need to do is unclip the trim from around the PAS reservoir. On the RHS you need to remove the air filter cover and inlet trunking which takes about 1 minute (5 Phillips screws).

rotodiesel.

Rotodiesel, whilst I use your idea of a bent screwdriver before and after each MOT , perhaps you can use my way of adjusting the right headlamp without removing the 3 inlet Philips screws

You just need to pull off trunking between the inlet and the air filter box - it pops off. This is enough to get to the adjuster via the high beam cap. Shine a torch into the headlight, you'll see that the access is there. Then you just click the air guide back into place.

On the opposite side I also think there is access without removing the PAS cover, as long as your "bent screwdriver" tool is correctly bent

I agree about the doubtful VW "headlight switching" service being a ripoff, an even bigger scale ripoff is for most car manufacturers' projector lights not being equipped with "full" beam switch, ie from RHD beam to LHD beam.

There is no technical reason for switching only to flat beam in projector design lamps, and in terms of material/cost it also does not save anything in manufacturing costs to either the headlamp manufacturer nor the car manufacturer. All it takes is simply a different shape movable mask inside the headlight (it already is moveble to switch from RHD to flat beam).

It is just about partitioning the market for LHD/RHD and extracting maximum profit from each. The maximum grief and safety issues for anyone travelling to/from UK in Europe do not really bother anyone

[rotodiesel]

Interesting points.

I prefer to remove the intake duct completely with the covers so that it goes back absolutely correctly. The bonnet catch cable runs under there and the engagement of the ends of the trunking is critical in order to reduce intake noise. The trunking is also likely to become more brittle as these cars age, so it needs to be handled carefully to avoid damage (we don't want to end up like VAG dealers, leaving a pile of broken bits of customers' cars behind).

Whilst I would also agree with your point about the lights being made fully switchable from L to R dip, I suspect there would be Euro approval problems if VAG/Hella were to implement this.

We have an ex Hella employee on this site - I wonder if he would care to comment...

rotodiesel.

[richardcrossley]

but its a bloomin pain removing the glue residue after a fortnight in hot sunny climates

Methylated spirits removes the sticky goo from Eurolites. I've taken the Superb to Portugal and Italy and had no problems removing the goo afterwards.

[skodanut]

hi there bulspan.....we are going to motor all the way to l'estartit.....approx 760 mile drive from calais..stopping near milau in order to go over the milau viaduct in day light.....went there a cppl of yrs ago but only saw the viaduct from ground level...which was rather impressive.this time we want to drive over it...and eventually got to l'estartit in the afternoon....this is prob the furthest ive driven in out superb.

[Zoki81]

can you send or post pictures how i will adjustment headlight for continental driving? One pictures worth 100 word

thank you

[Agent X20]

Was watching this thread as we were due to go abroad..

Local Skoda dealership were kind enough to fax some instructions over as to how to change the lights over but as I am totally inept with taking the car to pieces to get to the rear of the headlights, I asked nicely if they would do it for me - (Kinda then got a look as to say are you totally hopeless..) but car was booked in for the 10 second jobbie..

.. which turned out to be nearly half an hour and not recommended as a DIY jobbie - evidently high voltages abound...??... anyway apologies from the dealership and an invoice for a very reasonable £12.50..

BUT on that subject.. is it really worth it....??

South of France - 1834 miles - fully laden and lots of mountain climbing etc ... 44.4 mpg.. and a thoughougly pleasing journey and top marks to the car....

.. we then started playing a spot the GB tourist who had stickers / black tape etc on their cars.. hardly anyone seem to bother about doing anything with the lights.... a far cry from having to change them over to yellow.. Seems they are more fussed about yellow jackets and warning triangles..

Anyway its back to Progress Skoda at Letchworth to get them changed back...... (must say with Xenons there seems to be little difference)

Think I'll go for the silver sticky bits next time..

Well worth it though were the seat covers and mats.. suntan oil and alcantara dont go together too well.. and neither does molten tar (its hot over there) and Skoda carpets..

[dieselV6]

It is about 5min job and you need 1 bent screwdriver or a piece of steel wire. No need to remove any screws, just rip apart the air intake and get off the steering fluid reservoir protective cover, open the accessible headlight covers and move internal levers to opposite positions. Close headlight covers, replace the steering fluid cover and reassemble air intake. Job done. So if the technician took 30min to do it, he's never done that before.

I agree that the job is not worth doing repeatedly, though. Much better to retrofit 70W HIDs and ride full time on the "flat beam" setting. Does not blind anyone and provides more than adequate road lighting.

[superb1]

Having studied all of the comments I have just spent the afternoon (a man of leisure!!) familiarising myself with this in preperation for my drive to Germany in a couple weeks

I have a 2007 Superb Elegance 2.0 Diesel with original Bi Xenons

I followed Rotodiesel's method and have the following comments

The nearside (LHS) was just as described - I did take off the cover on the PAS reservoir as it is such a simple job (feel underneath the reservoir to spread the clips of the cover securing it in posion) and provides a bit more space. I found that I did not need a bent screw driver to rotate the lever (anticlockwise when looking at it through the opening, the top end of the lever going in a downward direction) - a straight one was OK

For the RHS, I could not see the same type of lever - so I assumed that it must be on the "other side" of the bulb housing. The only way I could see of getting to it without removing the headlight (and therefore the bumper as well - re Baker21's comments) was to remove the cover of the dipped beam bulb. To achieve this I had to remove the heat shield screws (two top ones) of the air filter and the single bolt holding the air filter in place. This allowed me to lift the airfilter housing slightly in order to remove the dipped beam cover cap

I could then see the lever on the "other side". Moving it up and down was achieved with a long (about 10 inches) thin screw driver - a bit fiddly but not a big deal. However , I did find that I had to rotate it in the same direction as the LHS one (ie imagine that you could see it through the undippped beam opening, it was rotating clockwise - the top end of the lever moving in a downward direction) - the original description stated that the moved in different directions. I have had the car from virtually new and cannot believe that they have been moved previously

I am assuming I have found the correct levers!!!! - I can't imagine there is more than 1 each side.

The only other comment I have is to watch that you do not drop any screws - they will end up on the underneath sump guard tray which (unless you are lucky enough to slip your hand into a gap and find it by feel - as I was)) will then have to be removed to recover them

Having sussed it out I believe that it is now a 10 minute job

I look forward to reading your comments about the differences I found - thanks to all

[berr0010]

I had a little more time on my hands and removed the headlights. This was because a got a little confused about which way the levers moved. I would like to say I did move both leavers headlights while in place and then took them out to examine my efforts.

The LHS as mentioned was a peice of cake and I did not have to remove anything. You unclip the Large over and if you look across the engine bay towards the headlight opening you can see the leaver clearly.

Now the confusion! You cannot see the leaver on the RHS and like Rotodiesel said you have to remove the air intake cover. You then remove the smaller headlight cover nearest the RHS wing and if you look closely you can see the leaver. I used a bent tent peg very carefully. This is what confused me if you enter though the smaller hatch (main beam) the leaver moves in the same direction as the LHS but I can see how people interpret it as the opposite. Both leavers in my experienve move from normal angle of how a plane would takeoff to horizontal . Therefore both in an anticlockwise pushing downward direction.

If anyone in Dover on Saturday morning wants there headlights on a superb changed I'll do it for in 5 mins for £20 lol

I have a white garage door and both beams look dead flat and I am now ready for my drive to Perpignan on Saturday.

Hope this helps.

PS If anyone knows where I can get an aux input lead for my sat nav please pm me!!!

[rotodiesel]

To clarify, there are in fact 2 levers in each lamp assembly, one on either side of the dipped light unit. Because they act on a "rocker bar" in order to flatten the light shield which gives the cut off, the levers move in opposite directions on any given lamp in order to achieve this.

As the sensible way of accessing the levers is through the main beam hatch, it follows that you will be using both inner levers - hence they move in opposite directions.

If you shine the dipped beams onto a flat surface whilst you adjust the levers, it all becomes perfectly obvious. The levers move easily and click into place.

rotodiesel.

[superb1]

I am wondering if there are different types of Factory fitted Xenon headlights - I know that my son who has an earlier model Passat with different type of Xenons (and adjustment method) fitted

I have attached pictures of the LHS of my 2007 Superb (where the lever can be seen clearly) and the RHS (where no lever can be seen)

I gave up trying to take a picture of the RHS lever because of limited space - but I'll have another go when I do the adjustment for real in a couple of weeks