Headlight vertical aim control not working - E46 325ci

[craigb]

Hi all.. firstly apologies if I am in the incorrect forum category.. Has anyone had any issues with the vertical aim control for their headlights stop working?
I have a E46 325ci with halogen lights. it does not have the automatic headlight aim feature, just the manual control switch inside the car. At first it was an intermittent issue but it seems that now it has stopped completely on both lights. I can still hear the aim control motor working when adjusting the control knob but nothing happens. So now the lights stay pointing down.
On realoem there is the motor component for the vertical aim... but where is this fitted? do you have to take the headlight apart? Is it possible to fix this or am I going to have to replace the headlights? (horror of horrors)..

Thanks..

 

[Kish2604]

the headlight adjusters work with servo motors connected to a rod that either runs forward or backwards thereby adjusting the level of the lights, if you can still hear your servo motors working then those are fine and its the rods that have failed, best advice i can offer is to pull of the one headlight and open it up and see whats going on inside, if you need spares then PM vsomai and he should have some handy..

 

[Bayn46]

The little plastic wheel inside the mechanism is a well known failure point on the E46. Usually that is the first thing to go, and relatively cheap to replace (if you can find the part).

Someone has posted a DIY fix for it; just search the forum and you should find something.

 

[craigb]

Thanks Guys... i will search for that DIY