[tirana]

I've noticed that when I plug in my key fob at night (with the headlights set to automatic), the beams do a little dance - first moving up and then down to a set level they then stay at. Is this normal? From outside, it probably looks kinda cool (unless you're being dazzled). The beams are straight ahead as the wheels are not turned (i.e. this doesn't seem to be the adaptive effect on cornering). Perhaps the lights auto-re-align at start-up?

[canucklion]

it's a feature called "Self-levelling"

[Zonian22]

It's normal! My MINI Cooper S did the same thing too.

[tirana]

Originally Posted by canucklion

it's a feature called "Self-levelling"

So what sets/affects the level? The incline of the car? I'd guess not or the lights would point to the sky if on a hill.

[canucklion]

uh, no, if the car was on an incline, it would point towards the road up ahead, a non self-levelling headlight would point to the sky if you think about ti

Originally Posted by tirana

So what sets/affects the level? The incline of the car? I'd guess not or the lights would point to the sky if on a hill.

[dmontic71]

My old e46 xenons did the same thing.. A very cool feature, kinda feels like having pop up headlights...

[EdmBimmer]

They use to self check together, but now the driver goes first then the passenger.

[user1]

From e92 US brochure, page 46: "The dynamic auto-leveling feature adjusts for varying passenger and cargo loads, helping to keep headlight glare out of the eyes of oncoming drivers."

I only wish all cars with super bright headlights did this. Those high intensity lights are dangerous to other drivers at night. I'm sure we have all experienced a blinding by some kid in a Honda modded with Xenons that aren’t properly adjusted.

[MeTaL]

It's normal, what isn't normal is what happened to me a week ago.

The headlight on the driver side didn't adjust it's level anymore, actually it did but it started pointing up A LOT. I could see trafic signs a mile away and was blinding just about every driver. Took it in and they updated the software since it was a software error. 2 days later...problem came back. It's back in today so I hope they will fix it.

[PiperD]

Originally Posted by user1

From e92 US brochure, page 46: "The dynamic auto-leveling feature adjusts for varying passenger and cargo loads, helping to keep headlight glare out of the eyes of oncoming drivers."

Right - people need to understand this. It has to do with load, not incline (specifically, suspension compression) Going up a steep hill will not make the lights adjust. Logically this doesn't make sense.

Related part for e90 330i: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...=31&fg=05&hl=2

(sorry, no e92 parts on realoem.com yet)

Edit: To be clear, note that the part has a mechanical linkage (attaches to sway bar I believe). A tilt/incline sensor would need no such external linkage.

[tirana]

Originally Posted by PiperD

Right - people need to understand this. It has to do with load, not incline (specifically, suspension compression) Going up a steep hill will not make the lights adjust. Logically this doesn't make sense.

Related part for e90 330i: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...=31&fg=05&hl=2

(sorry, no e92 parts on realoem.com yet)

Edit: To be clear, note that the part has a mechanical linkage (attaches to sway bar I believe). A tilt/incline sensor would need no such external linkage.

Yikes, thanks for the detailed pointers PiperD! Much more to this than meets the eye (or headlamp). One more thing to do wrong (as noted above) but sure beats manual adjustment (that most people don't bother with hence the incorrect levels of beams on many cars).

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by tirana

Perhaps the lights auto-re-align at start-up?

yup, that little dance thing is called a stress/warmup to make sure all the movements in the joint/pivot is moving/flexing correctly.

[E90Fleet]

The movement on startup is for calibration and self test. Its moves to all the stops and back


As for the aim on incline or declines:
I have double checked the manuals on this

On a level road the hardware on the suspension feeds information to sensors which feed info to the light control unit on how to set the lights. ( there isnt a mechanical link )


Going from a light to heavily loaded car will change the angle of the lights

Braking ( thus having the nose dip down slightly) will cause the lights to move up

Accelerating ( thus lifting the nose slightly) will cause the lights to go down a bit.


On a uneven road the suspension will move up and down, causing the lights to adjust up or down



Now there isnt a specific senfor for inclines or declines, but one can think of it this way

On a sharp decline the weight of the car will cat mostly on the front suspension, causing the nose to dip, thus causing the lights to moce up a bit

On a sharp incline the weight of the car will act mostly on the rear suspension, lifting the nose slightly, causing the lights to adjust down slightly

[canucklion]

thanks Fleet for sharing your wisdom!

[txusa03]

when I hit a road that is wavy up/down, I actually see my light beam bouncing up and down (like the light bulb is loose).

[tctic]

Mine isn't self adjusting all the time lately. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Anyone have this issue?

[PAT]

I think the self leveling feature is some kind of European safety standard. It is not standard on ricers, and that's the reason you get blinded by Japanese cars with factory xeons when you meet them on an incline.

[The Chad]

Originally Posted by user1

From e92 US brochure, page 46: "The dynamic auto-leveling feature adjusts for varying passenger and cargo loads, helping to keep headlight glare out of the eyes of oncoming drivers."

I only wish all cars with super bright headlights did this. Those high intensity lights are dangerous to other drivers at night. I'm sure we have all experienced a blinding by some kid in a Honda modded with Xenons that aren’t properly adjusted.

Factory-equipped cars from Honda / Acura (S2000, all Acura line) with HIDs do NOT auto-level. The feature is included on the cars sold in Japan and Europe, but they don't include it on the US versions.

Yes, people mod their headlights and don't adjust correctly, but not all Hondas are aftermarket HIDs.

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by The Chad

Factory-equipped cars from Honda / Acura (S2000, all Acura line) with HIDs do NOT auto-level. The feature is included on the cars sold in Japan and Europe, but they don't include it on the US versions.

Yes, people mod their headlights and don't adjust correctly, but not all Hondas are aftermarket HIDs.

Who cares if they are aftermarket or stock if they don't auto-level.

[777ER]

Originally Posted by FirstClass

Who cares if they are aftermarket or stock if they don't auto-level.

true dat...how many times have you seen a car on the road with one headlight looking brighter than the other?

Always at night here in the NY metro area... either they got into an accident and the bodyshop didn't repair it properly missing the headlight alignment part...or they changed the headlamp or the bulb and don't even align it right as it's supposed to be.


Everytime I change a headlight bulb or the housing in one of my cars, I print out the service manual section on headlight alignment.

Fill up the gas tank to full, check all tire pressure.

you find a place where there is a wall and a perfect level floor as possible...AFAIK park the car 20-30 feet away and shut it off.

Draw a stright line from the car front end to the wall (I used a laser line beam from a construction leveling equipment)

Best way to do this is start from the center of the diff from under the car to the front end center measurement...use that line to line up the true center of the car to the wall.

Measure the distance from the center of the low beam headlight bulb to the other headlight and find the center of that by diving it by 2.

Now transfer that measurement onto the wall (i used masking tape and a sharpie) starting from the center and out for each side. Should look like a cross now.

Measure the height from the floor to the center of the low beam headlight bulb and transfer that height to the wall on the line from the center to the target from the center out (where the headlight bulb would be), now mark the beam aim target 2 inches lower from the level line.

Turn the headlights on and adjust the headlights on each side to the target spot you marked with the sharpie...

If the high beam is enclosed with the lowbeam, it should be in alignment already as you adjusted the low beam... if it's a seperate housing, then make the high beam on the the horz. line about a 1.5 to 2 ft away from the center on each sides.

Other than that...there's those SUV's and ricers who put in a "HID" kit which has a ballast, bulb and wiring...but no headlamp assembly made for the HID bulb...the end result is that the light is fractured all over the place.

2 weeks ago I was driving home from VT with my gf and saw one car with a light beam aiming into the sky like 30 degrees from level!
WTF r they trying to do...ET phone home?!

[ZBMW]

Have the xenons on my wifes E39iT. She likes to snug up to those concrete parking blocks when she is making her calls. Unknown to me she got too close and hit the leveling arm attached to the swaybar. It causes the lights to point straight down and we had to drive two hours in the morning without brights. Easily reattached with channel locks but had me baffled for a while.

[hue]

Originally Posted by sc88

They use to self check together, but now the driver goes first then the passenger.

This seems to be hit and miss... Some headlights will autolevel together and others not. Anyone else have headlights that do not autolevel in sync? My driver's headlight autolevels first and then the passenger but not sure if this is normal.