I've read the old threads about adjusting the aim of the headlights, and I even poked a screwdriver down into the little adjuster hole without a lot of success.

Someone in the earlier thread mentioned something about a plastic cover over the hole ... I'm wondering if that was a change they made to the '06's (?)

When I look down into the adjuster hole, there appears to be nothing but a shallow cylindrical opening with a tiny "peg" protruding into the opening on one side. Other headlight adjusters I've dealt with had a toothed ratcheting wheel that you would engage a phillips screwdriver into to turn.

These are excellent lights, but mine are aimed just enough too low that they need a little tweak. Has anyone with an '06 actaully made an adjustment to their low beams?
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I have a 06 and I was able to adjust the light by using a philip screwdriver and a good light source. You have to apply some pressure into the toothed wheel and turn. You will see the light going up/down after about 5-6 turns.

 

Thanks, UW. I was looking for something like this:



Maybe the little "peg" I can see is one of those teeth.

I'll press harder and see if I can make anything happen.
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Well, I jammed the screwdriver into the little cylindrical orifice and turned. I could see the headlight beam jiggling on the garage wall, but in spite of making a number of turns I didn't make a lot of difference in the aim. Just drove it around the neighborhood, and I think it is a *tad* better, but nothing dramatic.

I expected to engage something down in there that would give me some feedback that I was actually turning the adjuster wheel, but all I got was a tight feeling. I've adjusted these things before on other cars, and it was a more straightforward process.

And for the record, this is the 5th xenon-equipped car I've owned, so it's not a lack of familiarity with their brilliance, patterns, cutoffs, etc.. Three of the 5 cars were adjusted properly from the factory, but my RL is one of the two that weren't aimed quite high enough for safe nighttime driving.
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I just had the dealer adjust mine when I was last in for service. Certainly makes a difference.

 

Yeah, I may end up doing that, too, but I always have better luck making a number of fine adjustments until I get it right. The dealers sometimes just crank it up some and send it back out to you ... maybe right and maybe not.
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you probably want to try a smaller (#2?) philips screwdriver (cross) and it should fit through the hole on the housing. You WILL feel that's kinda tight, and it's normal. Good luck.

 

Thanks, UW - I used a #2 phillips. I guess I could try a #1, but the posts so far have indicated a #2 was the ticket.

Like some of the others, I didn't like pushing as hard as I did, but maybe that just wasn't hard enough! Is it your impression the adjuster wheel is down inside that tubular part, and you have to push to get the screwdriver head past the restrictive tubular opening?
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I used a #2, and push HARD.
Your best bet is to do this with the headlights on and aimed at a surface that has a horizontal line so you can actually see the cutoff of the headlights at the top move relative to the line on the wall.
It takes at least 5-10 turns to see any movement.
Be patient, it will work.

 

The plastic cover thing was possibly from one of my earlier posts. For some reason, I had mistaken that the adjustment holes towards the front of the engine compartment were for up and down headlight aim. On my '05RL, these have plastic covers. As a result of those covers, I've never made any effort to adjust the headlights myself, and it's a good thing as I'll explain.

I've not updated my headlight aiming experience from my last posts on the subject due to my schedule, but can summarize that it's been awful. Note that I've let the Jackson, Mississippi dealer do all of the adjusting. This dealer is 100 miles from my home. As stated in my original posts, the dealer first adjusted them all the way up. On the next visit, the dealer pulled the aim down, but the left one needed to go back up a little higher. On the next visit, I requested that the dealer aim the left light just a tad higher, and discovered several nights later on a several hundred mile night time trip that they had reaimed the left one back all the way up resulting in oncoming traffic either flashing or hitting me with brights full time. On the next visit, I asked that the light be adjusted downward and also requested that they check the light before sending me away...they were about to let me go again as if they'd fixed the problem. They pulled down the garage door and the left light was still aimed all the way up. There was a pregnant pause with the service guy sitting in the car looking at the aim. The service advisor called in the tech, who showed up with a drill. He put the drill in the hole and when the light didn't move, it became immediately obvious that they had at some point stripped out the headlight adjustment. There was another pregnant pause, with the service advisor sitting in the car and the tech leaning over the engine compartment with the drill. No one moved. No one said anything. I finally broke the silence by stating that they'd stripped out the headlight adjustment, whereupon the service advisor immediately said that they'd replace it under warranty. So, on the next trip, they replaced the left headlight under warranty. I asked the tech whether or not the right one was stripped, but was told that it wasn't...I've decided not to touch the headlights myself, so can't confirm whether the right one has also been stripped. I suspect that it's also stripped.

What is particularly disturbing to me is the realization that this dealer was returning me to the road with misaimed headlights on multiple, repeat visits to have this problem fixed.

When they replaced the headlight, I popped the hood before leaving the dealer, and discovered that they'd failed to replace the rubber bumper on the left side front cowling of the car. The tech found the bumper and replaced it at my request. I haven't had time to take a closer look underneath to see if anything else is missing.

In one of my earlier headlight update posts, I mentioned that it was curious that the headlights were aimed all the way up the first time these were adjusted by the dealer. It's become pretty obvious to me that one or both of my headlight adjustment mechanisms were probably stripped out at that time, resulting in my experinece on subsequent visits to have these headlights aimed properly. I also mentioned that the service manager mentioned early on that it was just as well that I continue to let the dealer deal with the headlight aim. At no point did anyone ask me to show them where I wanted the headlights aimed...rather curious to me at the time.

But, now I suspect they knew the adjustment(s) was/were trashed.

My service experience with this $50,000 car at three dealers continues to be bizarre, surreal. and quite beyond my comprehension.

 

Wow. I'd say the reason the adjuster was stripped was because the idiot was using a drill motor to adjust it! It appears to take a few turns to move the point of aim, but I'd surely think it would be wise to do it slowly, and without applying the torque to the mechanism that a drill would deliver.

I'd rethink using those bozos for ANY service work if it were me!
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I would like to go ahead and adjust my lights also. Can anyone point me to the original thread/link where the step by step directions are?

Thanks in advance
05 RL

 

I don't recall where I originally read about it, but a search might turn it up.

The gist of it is that there is a small opening on each of the underhood covers on each side just behind the headlight assemblies. It is marked witha curved arrow (denoting the direction to turn ) and a "U" for up and a "D" for down.

Several inches down in the darkness of these openings is a cylindrical "tube" into which you can push a #2 phillips head screwdriver and turn in the indicated direction to adjust the height of the beam center. You will need at least an 8" screwdriver to access the adjuster easily. You will have to exert a little effort to get the screwdriver head down into the tube sufficiently to access the adjuster wheel. Keep in mind this is a fairly delicate mechanism, so proceed at your own risk.

You should park your car a few feet away from a wall and make a mark so you can tell how much you have moved the light. Note that even if you're 3' from the wall, raising the beam's top edge even an inch will make a LOT of difference out there on the road. You will have to turn the adjuster a number of turns to get much movement, but do it in small increments, watching the mark on the wall as you go.

Then go drive your car and see how it looks. If people flash you, you've probably gone too far. What I like to do is get another person (wife, girlfriend, friend) to drive at you and let you know how your lights look to them. Even better, get that person to drive your car while you drive theirs, so you can see exactly how much your lights might affect other drivers.

Hope that helps.
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Let me add that aiming the headlights up a little higher really makes a big difference in having a safe drive at night...at least that was in my particular case. My car was dangerous to drive at night before the lights were readjusted. The original aim may have been very close to the manual, but there was simply no light being directed down the road in some normal driving conditions...and I mean none.

I figured that it was just a matter of conservatively tweaking them and observing the results on subsequent drives through territory where you know they have been too low.

Regarding my experience with a dealer so far with aiming these lights, I'm left wondering if my posts on this site have resulted in the way I've been treated at this dealership....particularly when the lights were origionally reaimed by this dealership all the way up and into the sky. It's easy to imagine that someone might have thought that was a huge joke...or payback for my original comments on the ineffectiveness of the headlights as originally aimed.

Can a dealership service department really not know how to aim headlights, and then damage them, and then not admit it?

Anyone else having these kinds of experiences after posting here?

 

I think you're probably a little paranoid. I can certainly believe that a tech would be that incompetent, and then certainly cover up his incompetence. That's very easy to believe.

 

Hi,
Here's the secret to adjusting headlights on the current generation RL. Get a long, #2 Philips head screwdriver. Insert the screwdriver into the hole in the housing behind each headlight, wiggle it a bit so that it engages the white geared cog, then twist as if you were screwing in (or unscrewing) a screw. Works perfectly and easily. Where I went wrong before was in trying to push the gear assembly with the tip of the screwdriver, kind of prying it. The secret is to get the Philips head meshing with the gear assembly and then you just turn. I finally have headlights that I can adequately see with at night. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Ralph

 

There are #2 screwdrivers, and then there are #2 screwdrivers. I've purchased a couple of #2's that didn't seem to fit into the hole...one at an independent hardware store and one at a Sears...also, none of my regular screwdrivers seem to go into that hole very easily, so I've not tried to adjust the headlights myself. These screwdrivers all appeared to have a larger head on them than the Snap-on that the Honda service department was using.

So, with a help of a tech at my Honda service department, I've just acquired a Snap-on #2 Phillips screwdriver that will fit into that adjustment hole...it's a little tight, but I know it works because the Honda tech just used it on my RL. He ordered one for me...mine is actually a little longer than his, but he says that it's actually better if it's longer.

It's a two foot long Snap-on, No 2, with the following numbers: 6368536 USA, DES414095, SGDP162A G(it looks like a G).

 

FWIW, here's an update to my continuing '05RL headlight saga.

Happily, the right headlight adjustment was *not* stripped.

I've had two fog light replacements since that left headlight replacement (for a total of 3 fog lights in all.) So, we've (my Honda dealer) had an opportunity to have the front bumper off, and I've also taken a closer look at the left front headlight supposedly replaced by the Acura dealer. I've discovered that the headlight is not properly assembled...inside the light assembly, the part along the bottom which houses either the parking light or turn signal has tabs which are supposed to fit into matching holes along the bottom of the headlight assembly...one of the tabs is not seated into the hole, so that part of the interior assembly sits up a bit.

The Honda dealer can't fix this and advised me to return to the Acura dealer, which I'm not about to do on my own.

In replacing my fog lights, the Honda tech (he's worked at Acura) showed me where the headlights weren't aligning up properly with the front bumper facia/assembly, and he was attempting to fix this, and I think he's finally got all of that looking OK. He made a statement that he didn't think the car had been wrecked (oh boy?).

In doing all of this, the headlights have had to be readjusted at the Honda dealer and are now to my satisfaction in the up and down adjustment. However, something is not right about the pattern being thrown by the headlights...the left lights are brighter when compared to the right ones. Additionally, the brights are still too close together, which I've posted about before...at some point, I mentioned how closely the brights were aimed to the the Acura dealer and was told that the brights couldn't be spread apart.