Headlight angles

I recently bought my 2003 Petrol C3 Desire, and quickly discovered some water in the headlight units. It seems someone had put the left cover on the right unit, and vice versa, and as they aren't a symmetrical fit they had been leaking. As a result, the motors that sit at the bottom of the units to adjust the angle of the lights are no longer working. I was able to adjust the driver's side light using the white plastic gears outside the unit, but when trying the passenger side I'm not getting any movement from the unit. The gears both turn, but the angle of the light isn't changing. Any ideas of how to adjust the angle of the light without these gears?

I know the sensible solution would be to replace the units so that I'm not using any damaged electrics and then I can use the adjuster next to the steering wheel, but unfortunately I don't currently have the money to look at replacing them, so I'm hoping I can manually fix this for now.

fudjy wrote:I recently bought my 2003 Petrol C3 Desire, and quickly discovered some water in the headlight units. It seems someone had put the left cover on the right unit, and vice versa, and as they aren't a symmetrical fit they had been leaking. As a result, the motors that sit at the bottom of the units to adjust the angle of the lights are no longer working. I was able to adjust the driver's side light using the white plastic gears outside the unit, but when trying the passenger side I'm not getting any movement from the unit. The gears both turn, but the angle of the light isn't changing. Any ideas of how to adjust the angle of the light without these gears?

I know the sensible solution would be to replace the units so that I'm not using any damaged electrics and then I can use the adjuster next to the steering wheel, but unfortunately I don't currently have the money to look at replacing them, so I'm hoping I can manually fix this for now.

Hi fudjy

The covers are not handed, but often fitted incorrectly giving a poor seal.

This link has images of the water damaged motor electronics if you wanted to see what it looks like now

The mechanical adjustment should still work if the motor is toast, but you can't repair them because they don't go back together after taking them apart and replacement unit (from ebay - here) is often the way forward.

Unfortunately, for now, £108 is a little much, I'm not in a position to spend that kind of money just yet. Might just have do make do for now. Cheers for the advice though

fudjy wrote:Unfortunately, for now, £108 is a little much, I'm not in a position to spend that kind of money just yet. Might just have do make do for now. Cheers for the advice though

that is a pair and for new, scroll the page to find singles that are used, for less money