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...you mean you have backed the adjusting screws OUT all the way (so that they don't stick up from the T pieces) then you've backed them out too far!
What holds the headlights up while you're driving is spring pressure on the bellcrank that makes them go up and down (the bellcrank is the L-shaped piece that's moved by the headlight pullrod.) The headlights have to be stopped short of full "pop-up" for this spring to exert any pressure.
You have to have the adjusting screws far enough in (meaning having them stick up from the T piece) that they hit their stops BEFORE you run out of travel in the pullrod. In other words, the adjusting screws have to hit their stops positively, so the spring pressure on the bellcrank can hold them firmly against the stops. If you're not getting firm pressure against the stops, you need to run up the adjusting screws until you do.
Another trick about this is that the left and right headlights will need different adjustments of the screws. The reason is that the crossways rod that links the two pods together has a certain amount of play in it. You need to adjust the screws so that the passenger-side headlight's screw hits its stop first, leaving the driver's-side screw backed out a bit farther so you have to pull out the pullrod a bit more to get it to hit. This will assure that there's always a bit of torsion on the crossways rod, so the passenger-side headlight won't droop.
If you get the Sonett supplement to the shop manual (West of Sweden sells authorized reprints) it contains a procedure for adjusting this exactly. It involves marking two lines on the pullrod at specific distances -- you adjust the stop screw for the passenger-side pod with the pullrod at one mark, and the driver's-side pod at the other mark.
If the headlights don't behave when adjusted to these specs, you've got a different problem and will have to investigate further. For example: A couple of years ago I couldn't get my passenger-side headlight to stay up firmly no matter how I adjusted the screws. Finally I pulled off the nose and discovered why: The metal rod on which the headlight pod pivots was rusted almost all the way through! It didn't have enough strength to hold the pod up anymore.
Another point: If you've been dinking with the stop screws trying to get the headlights aimed up enough to light the road (yes, I've done that too) then forget it; it won't work. If you can't get the headlights aimed within the limits of their normal adjusters (the little screws around the lamp) then you have to look at why. Again, here's one of my experiences: I couldn't aim the headlights high enough, and after measuring and looking at everything else, I realized that the front springs had sagged enough (common Sonett problem) that the car now rode too nose-down to get the headlights up enough no matter what I did! Only real cure for that is a new set of front springs...
posted by 204.76.11...
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