Dipped Beam - How Far Ahead Can You See?

[oldie68]

Yaris 2010 1.33 TR. Driving at night on motorways or dual carriageways, the main beam carries for what seems like hundreds of yards. However, when I have to go to dipped beam, it only lights up the next ten yards or so of the road. Even on a motorway, you only see the curves as you go into them, slight though they are.

Is this normal? I have a headlight level adjustor; this is set to zero, which according to the handbook means the light is on the highest setting.

Anyone else have any experience of this problem? I have a service booked early next month - should I mention it then?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Get the headlight alignment checked at the service.

Otherwise consider fitting brighter bulbs - Osram Nightbreaker Plus +90% (£24'ish for a pair of H4 bulbs) or Philips X-treme Vision +100% (£32'ish)

[Parts-King]

That is very much standard for the modern headlight setup, as mentioned above, some Nightbreakers will certainly help

Kingo

[Lorna2]

Quite a few years ago I drove a Ka before I got my first Yaris. The full headlights in the Ka were terrible, far too dim. After having awful headlights on the Ka I thought the Yaris headlights/dips were really effective. So the Yaris lights have always been bright enough for me, though I've never compared them to the likes of Nightbreakers/Philips.

[Senahel]

Your problem is that your bulbs are not in properly, I had this before.

Take out the bulbs and when you put them

Back in make sure they fit properly into the groves.

Senahel....

[Geoff Peace]

A dipped headlight beam should fall at 1%. So in 10 metres the beam should fall 10cm. Park your car 10 metres from a wall and measure the distance of the beam cutoff line from the floor, then measure the height of the centre of the headlight, should be a difference of 10cm. If headlights are correctly aligned and clean then there is nothing to be gained from buying expensive bulbs.

Regards Geoff Peace.

[oldie68]

Thanks for the replies; I'll mention it at the service, see what they can do.

Your problem is that your bulbs are not in properly, I had this before.

Take out the bulbs and when you put them

Back in make sure they fit properly into the groves.

Senahel....

Could both of them be not in properly?

A dipped headlight beam should fall at 1%. So in 10 metres the beam should fall 10cm. Park your car 10 metres from a wall and measure the distance of the beam cutoff line from the floor, then measure the height of the centre of the headlight, should be a difference of 10cm. If headlights are correctly aligned and clean then there is nothing to be gained from buying expensive bulbs.

Regards Geoff Peace.

I'd guess that, at 10 metres, both beams would be on the ground.

[Senahel]

Why not? It depends on who put them in.

Move 1 of them first and see, you can move it yourself.

My guess is that the bulbs are upside-down.

Senahel....

[Geoff Peace]

Thanks for the replies; I'll mention it at the service, see what they can do.

Your problem is that your bulbs are not in properly, I had this before.

Take out the bulbs and when you put them

Back in make sure they fit properly into the groves.

Senahel....

Could both of them be not in properly?

A dipped headlight beam should fall at 1%. So in 10 metres the beam should fall 10cm. Park your car 10 metres from a wall and measure the distance of the beam cutoff line from the floor, then measure the height of the centre of the headlight, should be a difference of 10cm. If headlights are correctly aligned and clean then there is nothing to be gained from buying expensive bulbs.

Regards Geoff Peace.

I'd guess that, at 10 metres, both beams would be on the ground.

It sounds as if your beams are far too low. Measure the height of the centre of your headlight from the ground in cm. change that to metres, that is where your beams should be on the ground. When adjusting headlights it is important that the final adjustment is in an upward direction. So if the beam is too high the correct proceedure is to lower the beam right down then bring it back up. If the final adjustment is down the beam will continue to fall when the adjustment is complete.

Regards Geoff Peace.

[oldie68]

Why not? It depends on who put them in.

Move 1 of them first and see, you can move it yourself.

My guess is that the bulbs are upside-down.

Senahel....

I'm off on holiday next week (flying) and the service is booked a couple of days after getting back. I'll leave it up to them. Thanks for the advice, though.

It sounds as if your beams are far too low. Measure the height of the centre of your headlight from the ground in cm. change that to metres, that is where your beams should be on the ground. When adjusting headlights it is important that the final adjustment is in an upward direction. So if the beam is too high the correct proceedure is to lower the beam right down then bring it back up. If the final adjustment is down the beam will continue to fall when the adjustment is complete.

Regards Geoff Peace.

I've just nipped out with a tape measure - the centre of the headlight is about 77cm above the ground. There's no way the dipped beam extends to 77 metres. Definitely one for the garage.

[Senahel]

You don't need service to change them surely. You could do it yourself.

And then you could relax on Hols

Enjoy.

Senahel.....

[oldie68]

No, the service was already booked. And then, driving unlit roads after dark, for the first time since spring, my memory was refreshed about the lights. Hence my initial post.

And since it's still under warranty, the thought of someone else doing a fiddly job like that, won't spoil my holiday. <g>.

[oldie68]

Just an update. I had the service yesterday, and mentioned the lights. Later, the service manager told me the lights had been checked (something which I'd seen being done via a window in reception looking onto the workshop) and were spot on. He suggested brighter bulbs, if they were in stock. I agreed, but, after checking, he said they weren't in stock, and suggested trying Halfords.

So next time I pass Halfords, I'll have a look in.