Hi all, I know there are many topics on headlight adjuster issues but I am so confused!

Two weeks ago I changed my standard Octvy VRS bulbs with Philips ones. After I placed the new bulbs in, I noticed they seemed a little "loose" in the slots even after popping the metal clip around them. I could move them side to side with my finger more than I would have thought so. Still, I accepted that that may be just how they are and having not paid attention to the old ones before taking them off, thought nothing more of it.

Went out that night and thought "Brilliant!". The road was very much lit up and the difference was great. However, over the last week or so I noticed I was getting flashed by oncoming drivers. On every night time journey this was happening twice at least and there I knew something was wrong. I asked a friend to stand in front of the car and he confirmed that the beams were pointng extremely high. When I flashed my main beam it was not coming up much higher than the dipped beams so something must be wrong. I tried the in dash adjuster and the passanger side beam seemed to move up and down while the drivers side didn't.

Today, I decided to tackle the problem. Thinking back to the loose fitting of the bulbs I considered the fact I hadn't seated them properly. After taking the black plastic covers off, the bulbs still felt loose. I considered the fact that I had placed the metal clip which goes over the bulb back on wrong. The clip I'm talking about has the longer end which goes "over" or to the side of the bulb and the shorter end which sit to the bottom and the side of it. Previously, I had replaced it so that the hook on the longer end sat on the hooked bit of plastic in goes over. Now I have ppushed it further forwards so the hook can be seen in the headlight next to the bulb as you looked at the front of the car. This seems to tighten the bulb in the casing a lot better. The drivers side seems nice and secure but with doing that on the passanger side, the bulb still has side to side play in it. In its natural state, the passanger bulb now seems to point downwards and towards the kerb slightly (not checked in the dark yet, this is just the bulb position I am talking about). Is the metal clip supposed to be pushed this far forward, so it is visible in the headlight?

Secondly, when I use the in dash adjuster (moving it from the blank setting to setting three), the motor in the passanger light whirs and makes a continuous noise for ages. I can intermmittently hear a noise from the drivers side one, but this is not all of the time. If and when the noise stops from the passanger motor, I placed my hand onto the motor and placed pressure onto it for some reason. Suddenly, it started making noise again. This carried on until I took my hand pressure off of the motor unit. Also, with the iginiton and lights on, I tried moving the bulb slightly. This results in a buzzing noise, as though I am moving something motor related.

I am wondering whether I have knocked something off when changing the bulbs or disturbed something, as they were both working fine before. I am very very confused by all of this and don't really want to shell out for new motors unless I need them.

Any thoughts of suggestions from anybody most most welcome! And apologies for the long post!

Do you have sport suspension?

No, I have standard VRS suspension.

It sounds to me like you were correct in the thought that your original fitment hadn't seated the bulbs correctly.

Also, I suspect your LHS height adjuster has just failed.

You just have a duff motor, so you'll have to replace it. Cheap and easy.

The motors won't like it if you poke the lenses, as this is what they are connected to, and the motors are pretty weak. You may have damaged the motor by pushing/pulling on the back of the lense when changing the bulb.

Locating the bulbs should be pretty obvious. Never had a problem with that. Sure you've bought the right bulbs?

Thanks for the replies all. Fairly sure they are the correct bulbs, H4 fitment from powerbulbs after following a link on here. Not sure though, they just don't seem to sit tight as I can move them. Well I can't move the drivers side one anymore, but can still move the passanger side one. If I leave it alone, the side of the bulb nearest the side of the car lifts away slightly causing the bulb to angle that way. Is the metal clip actually supposed to go over the top of the bulb, or to the side of it? As said previously, I currently have it going to the side and the hook end is visible from the front of the car.

Think you could be correct about damaging something,just thought it strange how the motor whizzes up and works when I press the back of it or turn the ignition on, although won't be able to tell if its adjusting anything until its dark a bit later. It's as though I've knocked something loose, but I have no idea how the adjuster works and which parts move so wouldn't know where to start diagnosing it lol.

The bulbs should have three tabs around the bottom, one of the tabs is slightly bigger than the other two so that gives a guide to where the bulb seats as the hole that tab sits in is slightly bigger than the other two holes. You just push the wire against the back of the bulb and hook the longer bit of the wire round the plastic tab to hold it in place. Did both mine last week with Osram Nightbreakers as one of the Phillips X-tremes had blown.

The adjustment motor can be fixed in the short term with WD40 but better to get it replaced, I replaced one of mine at the start of July and it was £29 inc VAT from the dealer.

If you need to manually adjust the lights the innermost hex nut on the top controls the up/down adjustment but you should get it done at a garage with proper beam alignment kit and do it while your adjuster switch on the dash is set to "-" (lights at their highest).

The bulbs should have three tabs around the bottom, one of the tabs is slightly bigger than the other two so that gives a guide to where the bulb seats as the hole that tab sits in is slightly bigger than the other two holes. You just push the wire against the back of the bulb and hook the longer bit of the wire round the plastic tab to hold it in place. Did both mine last week with Osram Nightbreakers as one of the Phillips X-tremes had blown.

The adjustment motor can be fixed in the short term with WD40 but better to get it replaced, I replaced one of mine at the start of July and it was £29 inc VAT from the dealer.

If you need to manually adjust the lights the innermost hex nut on the top controls the up/down adjustment but you should get it done at a garage with proper beam alignment kit and do it while your adjuster switch on the dash is set to "-" (lights at their highest).

Thanks mate.I'll have a properpeak as its getting dark so I can tell whats working and whats not. Stupid question I know, but where do I spray the WD40? I'm guessing that I don't shoot it straight onto the black motorbox? Also, when you say innermost, are you meaning the oneat the front of the car? I can see one towards the fron,t and one more at the side.

Best bet if you're going to try the WD40 trick is to take the motor right off of the headlight unit:

1. Undo the bolt holding the indicator unit in place then slide the indicator out

2. Undo the 3 torx screws holding the headlight unit to the car

3. Unplug the multiplug from the back and take the whole headlight out.

The adjuster motor (little black box) is held on to the headlight unit with three hex head screws but you need to undo the two visible screws first then twist the motor to one side to reveal a hidden third screw (this one holds the adjuster arm of the motor to the light).

Once you've got the motor seperated from the light you can see the motor is in two halves which clip together, unclip the halves and spray a little WD40 inside around the motor.

WD40 didn't work for me so had to buy a new unit but IIRC it has worked in the past for a couple of members.

Thank you for taking the time to reply,much appreciated.

No probs, I have just been through the same issues with mine so it's all fresh in the memory!

Right,just went outside to check things out in the dark. This time the in dash adjuster is working and on number three the beam lowers considerably. However, now the passanger side beam motor clicks, adjusts and stops, whilst the drivers motor clicks continuously. This is the complete opposite of earlier! My head hurts lol. I suppose I could drive around with the adjuster on number 3 all the time, but that isn't fixing the main problem. :(