FredR

Was a little cooler today so decided to take a look at the headlights again to find out why they were not seemingly locking correctly and why the passenger side light was flopping about.

I noticed that when in the up position it seemed as though the lift bar was not fully rotated and noticed that if I wound on the manual lift mechanism a bit further then it seemed to lock fully so concluded I simply has not aligned the crank correctly on the splines of the motor idler shaft- a bit of playing around sorted that out OK.

Then set about the problem with the passenger side light flopping around. After removing the cover it was soon obvious what the problem was- the receptacle that the probe on the low side engages had fallen apart so nothing to latch it into.

After a cup of tea and a think I cut off a section of 1 inch silicon tubing and used it to pack between the carrier and the frame. I then used some duct tape and encapsulate it. Not very elegant but you cannot see it and it seems to work-useful trick if you happen to be stuck in this position.

It does not seem there is a replacement part other than the complete ssembly that the beam unit sits in.

Trust this helpful to some of you.

Regards

Fred

Alan

So the white cup that holds the adjuster ball just fell apart?

There must be something equivalent we could use - I seem to have an idea of an old thread on this topic - Anyone?

Its not uncommon for used H4s (or H5s for that matter) for sale - to have parts of this cup snapped off - fortunately they still seem to work OK with just 3 of 4 remaining.

Alan

LT Texan

Mine tilted up due to the white ball popping out of the seat.

I just zip tied it down.

MainePorsche

I remember some 10 years ago, I had the same issue on an 86.5. Zip ties worked. I didn't feel like buying the whole unit.

Alan

I presume Fred's GTS has electric adjusters for the H4s - for those to work there has to be an articulating link between the shaft of the adjuster motor (ball) and the bottom of the frame (socket) - hence the ball/socket design.

On USA cars the same ball/socket exists - but its basically just vestigial - since it only connects to a fixed dummy unit where the adjuster motor goes. In this case locking it in place via some other means is no real functional compromise - and movement will be much less anyway since the frames are rigidly bolted to the yokes. On ROW cars the frame to yoke is just a hinge each side so the frame moves more easily and much further.

Alan

MainePorsche

Like I've said before, ALWAYS a learning experience.

FredR

Alan,

That is exactly the case- I just have to remember not to play with the swtich although I suspect the hose I have packed it with would permit some elastic movement and anyway, there is now a gap at the piston where the socket used to be- the light unit being pushed into its down most position.

I assumed this feature was universal as I had it on my S4 as well- pity I did not save the carrier from the side that was not trashed in the S4 write off. Ironically the cat wrecked my spare headlight unit and I suspect I threw the job lot away thinking it would be of no use- how ironic!

Hopefully I can restore the original fitment but it is not the kind of bit that one simply pops in and out due to the rivetted construction of the holder. I suspect a replacement, if it is available, would be a $200 touch type of thing- a poor return for a secondary bracket.

Alan

Fred - I have this idea that Herman K patched his up somehow - maybe check with him...

Alan

Bill Ball

It took me a minute to figure out what was broken until I saw Alan's post. For others reading along, here are some relevant pics.

First is an H4 headlamp with a red arrow pointing to the socket Alan mentions as being broken. H5 (US DOT) headlamps have the same socket.

For H4's the second photo shows the yoke that holds the lamp with the adjustment motor that has a ball end that fits into the socket.

Last picture is an H5 yoke with a fixed (non-adjustable) ball end that fits into the same type of socket.

Alan

Nice photo's Bill - perfectly covers what we are talking about...

Now who knows who it was who came up with some kind of a replacement for the white socket...? (and what was it?)

Alan

Hilton

Fred - which end receptable has broken?

On my 89, the receptacle for the dumb-bell broke at the adjuster end. So I swapped in the factory piece used to eliminate the headlight adjusters for US market, which is shown clearly in Bill's picture I've shown below.

Its a fixed-length spike which mounts exactly where the adjuster actuator goes on the headlight frame - the ball end of it goes into the clip at the base of the lens frame. My 89 had non-functional hydraulic adjusters - so no loss of function in the switch for me.

FredR

Hilton,

The bit that is bust is the white plastic receptacle as shown on Bill's first photo indicated by the superimposed red arrow. It is kind of like a socket with 4 side lugs, two of which are no longer of this world, one looks as though it probably went some time ago, the other somewhat "fresher".

It is not the kind of thing you notice unless you go looking for it and I do not drive the car too often at night these days as I usually take it for a mad dash only on my days off being a hobby car as such.

I dare say it would be possible to implement a better fix as the job lot is easy to get apart but the module that carries the broken socket is rivetted to the frame that carries the H4 unit. Two 8mm [?] nuts release the assembly, disconnect the power socket and the job lot is out of the car. Once the assembly is removed from the carrier, pop rivetting or possibly through bolting a replacement should be quite easy to achieve once one has a piece to fit in there. Something to catch the ball socket is thus required to effect a potential solution.

Just irks me that something as simple as this does not have an obvious 2 cents solution on what is an otherwise sophisticated system to compensate headlamp alignment for load. At least the drivers side lamp still travels until that goes pop as it invariably will next week!

Oh the joys of 928 [Porsche?] ownership! Just had to stump up $500 for two vacuum line assemblies on the Cayenne Turbo just because one split- Had I understood that one I could have fixed that problem for the most part for $1- grrrh!

Regards

Fred

Bill Ball

A couple of views of the offending socket riveted at the bottom rear of an H4 headlamp frame.

FredR

Just looking at Bill's latest photo makes me wonder if some kind of spring clip assembly can be knocked up. In reality it is little more than something like the push on cap of a ball point pen so there just has to be something commmon that can be easily adapted to catch the head of the adjusting piston.

Regards

Fred

928Myles

This thread reminds me that I measured one of these up ages ago to get it into CAD so it could be plastic printed....
Now where did I put that piece of paper??????

Do people think that a replacement printed part would be worth pursuing?

Myles