Dealership issue, other options

[RandyDaytona]

Has this happened to anyone else?

I was at the dealership for something else and asked them to check my low beams, as they only seem to be lighting up about 15 feet of roadway. I thought maybe it had something to do with my front end damage last winter or with the ARB bumper “blocking” some of the light with the edges of the hoops.

Anyway, I didn’t even get that far. The dealership said I have halogen lights and not HID’s, so there’s nothing they can do.

Huh? I actually just replaced my factory lights with HID Osram Nightbreakers. And even if I hadn’t, the factory lights were also HID on a 2014 if I’m not mistaken.

Is this just a gross error or is it because they don’t want to do the job? Maybe because they don’t see a lot of LC’s? Not a big enough job? I don’t know. I’m going to try a different dealership. But if anyone has recommendations on shops in the tidewater area of Virginia who are familiar with LC’s, I’m all ears.

 

[doru]

Both halogen and HID lights have adjustments, and FSM describes how to check and adjust aiming. It is just a maintenance procedure like many others.
I don't know why they behave so strangely. Maybe they do not have a dark place/wall/screen to test and did not want to bother staying after hours to do it, so just used a lame excuse thinking the customer doesn't know better. Or maybe that guy was indeed clueless, although if he put the VIN in, he should have found the procedure listed.

 

[TimCFJ40]

It sounds like you have either the wrong bulbs, or the front headlights weren't properly re-aimed after your front end damage or both. I'd pull one of the bulbs and cross reference from OSRAM's sight to make sure you have the right bulbs. Discover the new NIGHT BREAKER headlight bulbs | OSRAM Automotive - https://www.osram.com/am/campaigns/nightbreaker.jsp
Then I'd check alignment by using something like the strategy on this video: https://encrypted-vtbn1.gstatic.com...dxWNlyQZDH7fFI3c-CcthD7UnRY4Iht_ZxzKW-Qy3LvSe

 

[bloc]

Different manufacturer but I was once told that my vehicle had terrible caster after an alignment because it wasn’t adjustable. When I offered to show them on the vehicle how it is adjusted, they refused. Only after printing and bringing them the FSM pages explaining the process would they admit they were wrong… but by that point I didn’t trust them to touch it further anyway.

They also didn’t torque the bolts they did mess with for camber.

In general, dealers get away with this because most owners don’t know enough to call them out on it. Welcome to the world of having attention to detail.

 

[GrouchyTech]

Different manufacturer but I was once told that my vehicle had terrible caster after an alignment because it wasn’t adjustable. When I offered to show them on the vehicle how it is adjusted, they refused. Only after printing and bringing them the FSM pages explaining the process would they admit they were wrong… but by that point I didn’t trust them to touch it further anyway.

They also didn’t torque the bolts they did mess with for camber.

In general, dealers get away with this because most owners don’t know enough to call them out on it. Welcome to the world of having attention to detail.

That’s unfortunate but I know it does happen. We’re lucky enough to have a guy who ONLY does alignments—5 days a week for many years.

Which reminds me I need to get him to align mine after I install these nice big OME MT64s and UCAs…

 

[KLF]

My '15 has a knob on the dash that I can adjust the beam height, does yours? Maybe it's dialed all the way down?

 

[prwillard2]

My '15 has a knob on the dash that I can adjust the beam height, does yours? Maybe it's dialed all the way down?

Isn't this knob to adjust internal brightness of the dash lights?

 

[yOHda]

Isn't this knob to adjust internal brightness of the dash lights?

You most likely have knobs for both. I don’t own a 2015 so not exactly sure. But would stand to reason.

 

[KLF]

Isn't this knob to adjust internal brightness of the dash lights?

Nope.

Sorry for the crappy photo, top row, far left dial. Adjusts the height of the headlight beam. Try it.

 

[prwillard2]

Nope.

View attachment 4034518

Sorry for the crappy photo, top row, far left dial. Adjusts the height of the headlight beam. Try it.

My 2021 does not have that knob. Just the one right next to the Odo/trip reset button.

 

[bloc]

My 2021 does not have that knob. Just the one right next to the Odo/trip reset button.

Your 21 (and any 16+ US LC) has a height sensor on the rear axle so this function is performed automatically.

That’s also why an extended linkage is required to get the beams in the correct place after a lift.

 

[Fisher23]

I thought there was also a screw adjustment above the headlights that would aim them up and down and another side to side?

on the 16+ it has this plus the linkage used for height adjustment. The height adjustment is for when your towing and the rear sags down it re-aligns the lights so you are not blinding people. but you still need to adjust using the screws under the hood above the lights. it's in the manual.

 

[bloc]

I thought there was also a screw adjustment above the headlights that would aim them up and down and another side to side?

on the 16+ it has this plus the linkage used for height adjustment. The height adjustment is for when your towing and the rear sags down it re-aligns the lights so you are not blinding people. but you still need to adjust using the screws under the hood above the lights. it's in the manual.

Yes, that's correct. The knob on 2013 is intended for temporary changes in rear ride height due to loading in the cargo area or tongue weight of a trailer. Mostly the same for the linkage on a 16+, however due to suspension geometry changes from a lift (the front raises too, but the vehicle doesn't know that) it seems this sensor can be thrown outside what it expects for the normal range and not only send the lights sky high but possibly prevent them doing some kind of range of motion exercise that they perform at startup without the linkage. The extended linkage puts the sensor back into normal range in spite of a rear lift, then the owner should fine-tune from there with the screws.

None of that is needed on a 2013-15. Ideally an owner would use the screws to set the lights where they were at a given knob setting before the lift.. that's what I did with my spacers, kings, back to spacers, and eventually all new headlight buckets. I generally run around with it at 1.5 so I can aim them up some on hilly country roads that might not quite call for high beams or the light bar.. but still have plenty of room to aim them down (higher number) if I'm loaded up.

 

[KLF]

My 2021 does not have that knob. Just the one right next to the Odo/trip reset button.

Sorry, I was intending this for the OP @RandyDaytona , he has a '14 LC. Maybe it will fix his problem?

 

[RandyDaytona]

My '15 has a knob on the dash that I can adjust the beam height, does yours? Maybe it's dialed all the way down?

Nope, mine is dialed all the way up. Which isn’t very far, lol. Actually looked at it closer last night and the incremental changes from 0 to 5 are so small you can barely see any difference.