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ZB RS/V Commodore headlights

Skylarking

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VF’s only have up/down adjustment on their halogen headlamp assemblies and no longer have left/right adjustment. Seems to be a growing trend to remove adjustability (maybe to sell more body parts after minor crash damage) so ZB may not have headlamp aim adjustments at all o_O

Anyway, roadworthy rules down under show both left and right low beam lamp horizontal beam cuts are at the same level from what I’ve read and seen on the focus charts. From memory they must be set 40mm below headlamp centre height when the car is a specific distance from a focus screen. The headlamp focus rules are technology agnostic, whether the lamps are halogen, hid, led or matrix makes no difference as left and right lamps must be at the same specified level.

NZed may be different but likely not in a big way.

HID lamps, due to their brightness must also have a self leveling system. In such cars, when they are turned on, the HID lamps cycle up and down before settling at their auto position with both left and right beam cuts level to each other. In such hid lamps, a faulty levelling motor can be seen during this cycling as the faulty lamp beam doesn’t move up/down.

I’d expect ZB matrix led headlamps to work in the similar way to HIDs on startup since such bright lamps also need self levelling system. And it must be cycled on startup to verified it’s ok. If the two lamps are not level (in normal low beam mode) them something seems wrong.

But if your ZB has halogens, if easily done check the bulb is correctly seated. If you have matrix leds, consider the above but also check the mode they’re in and whether you can turn off AFL and set a basic low beam as a cross check (hopefully it remembers such settings between shutdowns).

You could also park on a flat surface near a wall (car park?) and turn the headlamp level knob from 0 to 1 to 2 to 3 and hopefully you’ll see both left and right headlamp cut lines move brown equal amounts. If not something seems rather wrong (or AFL is playing funny tricks) so I’d want clear documentation from the Holden dealer that nothing is wrong.

Then also talk to the NZ registration authorities about the headlamp focus and the fact the two lamps are at different levels and see what they say. They should be able to provide you with some docs you can present to the Holden dealer that thinks your cross eyed lamps are ok.
 

Skylarking

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^ Yes, the rising part of the beam cut would be to the left ( \__ ) for LHD countries and to the right ( __/ ) for RHD countries. However, in both LHD and RHD countries the horizontal part of the beam cut ( the __ part) thrown by both the left and right headlights should be at the same level.

From what I’ve understood, @Rexby’s issue is the the left hand beam seems lower than the right hand beam.

I’d think either the levelling system is stuffed, the headlight assembly needs adjustment, the headlight assembly is incorrectly mounted or there is frontal damage to the vehicle (it wouldn’t be the first time a new vehicle was damaged and repaired before delivery).
 

87VLCALAIS

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I am looking through the user manual to find out how to turn OFF the auto headlights. There are times when the headlights come on and it is not really that dark. I cannot find where the 'OFF' is. I looked at the Buick Regal user manual and there is an OFF position on the switch but it seems there is not one on the ZB. Any ideas?

I'm away at the moment so don't have access to the Owners Manual or the car. However one place I would look is in the Settings pages on the multifunction display. There's a lot of stuff that can be turned off/on there.
 

Skylarking

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Owners manual is here where lighting systems is described on page 114 (relevant cluster lamps) and from page 133 (lighting system proper).

Adaptive Forward Lighting is about the only ‘smart’ lighting feature that can be switched off (that I noticed in my quick scan of the OM). For AFL you need matrix headlamps but such is not standard across the range. Lower models have had halogen headlamps as described on page 338 (and seem much much easier to replace than on the VF’s).

Oddly as indicated in an above post, the headlamp dial doesn’t have an ‘off’ setting, just auto, park and headlamp as indicated by the icons.
 

VT2Commie

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This wouldn't be the first time overseas designed and built vehicles have had the headlights adjusted incorrectly or not adjusted to the country of sale before.:rolleyes:
 

benny66

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It seems there is no way to turn them off. Overseas models have an off position. Holden dealers tell me it's in the manual but it isn't.
 

Skylarking

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^ it is in the manual, which describes all switch positions ;) It’s just that Opel never put in an OFF position on the switch within our market o_O :p
 

benny66

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^ it is in the manual, which describes all switch positions ;) It’s just that Opel never put in an OFF position on the switch within our market o_O :p
Yes so there is no off. Our zb manual does not show the off position and the switch doesn't have it. It means it's not possible to turn off the headlights at night without stopping the car and opening the door and waiting for them to turn off automatically. Seems an oversight.
 

John a

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The car has just had it's first service and I asked the dealer to have a look at them to bring it up. They said there's nothing wrong with them and that if they adjusted them up I would be blinding other motorists. That doesn't alter the fact that the left hand lamp is a lot lower than the right. And the levelling control may as well not be there. According to the manual it is put there to level the lights depending on load but I've never used it yet and I'm not blinding others.
Could they intentionally set one light lower than the other?
That's the way they come I put hi intensity globes in mine narva plus 150 H7 a big improvement
 
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