Xenon Litronics - beams different lengths? adjustment?

Hi There I have just bought a pair of Mint used Porsche Litronic Xenons, and installed them in my early 996 However, whilst the new white light is great, im NOT that pleased with how far they project, I was struggling to see the Motorway (abroad) last night at 100mph+ without the lights on Full beam (Blue) Also, the drivers side beam projects further than the passengers side, is this normal, I dont remember this on my old headlights!? The light ahead is at a slant! Of course, they do not have self levelling in them, so perhaps one/both is projecting too low, and can be adjusted up? does anyone know how to do this, I do not want to blind people, but need more light!?! Thanks Edward

As I understand, the 'Litronic' system requires the self levelling equipment which is fitted within the vehicle to function properly. Hence, the advantages of litronics are, for example, under heavy braking conditions when the nose of the car dives, so do normal lights, brightly illuminating the tarmac 3 paces from the front of the car. The litronic system compensates for this and adjusts the beam height of the lights accordingly, so you can keep your view ahead. Then once the car has stabilised, the headlamps return to their normal ride height. It also checks the weight distribution of the car when the ignition is switched on and sets the headlights to the correct height by the use of servo motors. So without the equipment within the car, they won't be litonics as the manufacturer intended. There are manual adjusters for initial trimming (5mm hex & posidrive IIRC) which can be found by pulling back the side carpeting in the boot and looking for some rubber grommets in the area of the headlight unit. The grommets have caps on them which simply pull off. I'm sure someone on the forum will tell you exactly which grommet to open for headlight height adjustment, I just cannot remember. Alternatively, pop the light unit out, make a small adjustment, replace and re-check. A little more tedious though.

Correct, adjustable from inside the boot. Not grommets though, they are behind a Black plastic door, 2 inches long, one above the other. Use a pointed posi-drive. One does the left to right and the other does up and down. Park car about 4 metres away from a wall and do your best to adjust BUT I strongly advise to get them done at an MOT station, costs about £10. High intensity discharge lights are very blinding to on-comers and can cause accidents. So for this reason need to be set properly. Lloyd

You need a 5mm ball-ended hex key with a shaft at least 150mm long....

Are you sure? 5mm ball hex to remove the lamp but im 99% it is phillips on the adjusters.

Positive: And it's a socket to remove the lights.

Cheers Guys, I will attach it with an allen key it looks like! It does sound like one or both is too low, especially if as I say currently the right light seems to be higher than the left I will prob get the MOT place to check its the correct height Thanks Edward

The throw of Litronics is not particularly long- its been commented on in magazine articles. It gives you a much more penetrating light, but not necessarily a significant amount of extra depth. More length must mean they are pointing higher, which is bad for oncoming cars. The best you can do is have them properly aligned at a specialist; it sounds like yours are wrong- the kerbside light should point slightly higher I think, not the drivers (RHD) side. The ones on my BMW 3 were the best I've had, but other road users hated them. I was always been flashed at, and I've noticed they are bad on other BMW E46 3's. Others, e.g. in my Audi and Lexus, no-one notices. I retrofitted some non-Litronic HIDs to my 4S- they were a dramatic improvement! As an aside, I found I could drive around with the 993 lights on full beam, and no one seemed to mind!

Wasn't thinking straight, really shouldn't answer Q's on here while at work, you know what they say with men and two things at once! I did mean 5mm socket for the removal but we are both right on the adjusters. I was so adamant that last night I removed my headlamp! There is a 5mm hex cut out but also star / posi-drive cut into it aswel. So mine are dual-tool option. Something else to be aware of is the tray that the lamp sits on is also adjustable by 3 either side, stud and nut affairs. These are really just for the mounting of the lamp itself into the wing aperture ensuring no gaps but could be raised slightly if required.

A thought just occurred. I looked at the instructions for the litronic retrofit kit, and there is an external control module in the kit. The light units are the same for the factory fitted or retrofit kits, so have levelling motors. I presume the control module sets the motor position. If you don't have the control module fitted, perhaps the lights have gone into their 'safe mode' position.

Thanks Richard, Lloyd & Robert Yes, it sounds like they could have gone into Safe Mode, and possibly the drivers side also needs adjusting too, hence why it is higher thatn the passenger, or vica versa. I have seen the module for sale here, to auto correct, I dont want to spend another £350 on it though! If I can just get them adjusted correctly I will be happy to leave them as is! http://www.forestfine.net/conversion-kit-for-litronic-lights-925-p.asp Robert - you mention your BMW bulbs are brighter, is it possible to put brighter Xenon bulbs into my Litronics? Nopt being able to see at 110mph+ is quite scary, at that speed you need to be able to see a decent way ahead Kind Regards Edward

Guys Just looking through my manual It seems with Litronics there are two cables you must connect with each light, and only one for the normal Halogen lights. I did notice that the The normal one you dont physically connect yourself, it connects as you slide the light in to the base. I could not see a wire for the second socket, the diagream in the manual (poor scan attached) shows that its a loose wire you connect first, does anyone know what it does and why I may not have one (or it could be hidden? Thanks Edward

The loose wire you mention is the wiring loom / control box assembly you have not bought (yet?) It will only be there if you have factory xenons (which your car didn't) As discussed in your other litronic thread, it is not possible to splice the manual interior height dial adjustment into a litronic unit as it expects different signals. Hence requirement for translation services of control box between suspension sensors and litronic motors (of which there are two per unit, as opposed to one in halogen units) As regards the xenon dip angle, you should be aware that the declination angle is less (1% = 2.4in at 20 ft) than halogens (1.6% = 3.84in at 20 ft) due to sharper cut off. Further, I would suggest that as 911s are very low, that aligning your beam to intersect distance wise with the throw of a family saloon etc (with xenons on horizontal ground) would be a pragmatically acceptable method of setting declination at an even shallower rate (<1%)

I havebeen reading this thread and I am inthe same situation, I bought my car with HID Litronics 'retrofitted' although the lights 'work' the self levelling doesnt. I have found this PDF on the net, and fowarded it onto porsche, they rang me back and said that when retrofitting HID Litronics to cars without self levelling ability they WILL NOT work and there is NO retrofit possible. PDF below www.filefactory.com/file/af4cga1/n/retrofit_pdf I may be confused here, but is that kit forrest sell meant to get the self levelling system working? or just the lights themselves? As porsche 'retrofit' kits in this PDF wont get the levellers working. I am confused now! HELP (mines a 98 c2)

You were both right - but I was even more right :agree: as I said you use a 5mm allen key or a posidrive screwdriver. :thumb: Edward has everything to book now as he bought my pre-facelift 996 Owners Manual last week. :bye: