Headlight adjustment 2002 996

Is it true that the only adjustment for the headlights (high and low beam) is up and down and that there is no side to side adjustment? Or am I missing something? Any suggestions on side to side alignment? Thanks

Top hole is side to side and bottom one is up and down. You need a longer 5mm hex driver than any normal human owns, preferably with a ball-end.

+1 on the long driver, been there done that. believe the manual recommends a qualified shop to the horizontal adjustment, it does however give directions for vertical adjustment.

Thanks, I will try that tonight -- very casual way of alignement -- out on a dark stretch of road -- takes a while but is a very good excuse to go for a drive on a warm evening

Look around page 237 of the manual. There are 2 adjustment screws for the main beams. The access cover for the vertical adjustment is labeled B. The unlabeled one above it is the lateral adjustment. I found the easiest way to make the adjustments is to pop the whole headlight assembly out and then you can make the adjustments using a regular philips head screwdriver. You can pop the headlight out using the special hex tool in the hole covered by the round rubber bung with the small **** handle. Try to keep track of how much you turn the screws so you can reverse the change if necessary. In my manual there is a misprint, it should be "turn clockwise = move beam up" and "turn counterclockwise = move beam down". Have to be careful raising the driver side beams (especially if you have xenons) to avoid blinding oncoming traffic.

Thanks Smackboy for the detailed info -- really helpfull -- it's a good place this. I was going to do the alignment tonight but alas the month end billing duties kept me in -- and it's a perfect night for it -- really black out there -- thanks again -- I will let you know how it goes Michael

Quotes source post: 6956668

The manual for my 2002 has the same misprint.

Thanks for the tips, job's done -- the adjusters were way out -- the driver side was off the scale meaning that it was wound out too far and althougth the light was at the correct height it was pointing a long way to the outside -- so it had to come out -- that's easy -- and then some fiddling by holding the little adjustment wheel and rotating it with a finger whilst turning the adjuster with the 5mm hex key got it to re-engage and so I put it to the middle of its range and it was very close to aimed -- shows how well built/aligned these cars can be. The most important part of my aiming the lights is to keep the low beams low because my car has got 55w HID's in both high and low beam and I had a mate out with me and we drove toward each other just to make sure no "burning bright" light was put out to oncoming cars -- all ok. The 55w's are much better than the standard and are even noticiably better than the dual xenons on a friend's 997 -- but still they are nowhere as good as most cars in this part of the world where hitting the numerous and unpredictable kangaroos at night is only a matter of time -- the main highway from my town Sale to Bairnsdale (which is about 45miles) has one part where there are dozens of recent roadkill including (as I saw yesterday) a Sambar deer (not quite as big as an Elk) and some "old man roos" being over 6 foot tall Eastern Grey Kangaroos -- all a bit scary and good reason why most people drive the big 4wd with a "bull bar" and lots of big driving lights. Thanks again for the help.

Interested to hear about the 55w lights. Is there a drop-in kit to replace the stock bi-xenon/litronic bulb and electrics?

Yes -- purchased from ebay -- Australian supplier of a Chinese kit -- the electronic units fit in the same place as is provided for the porsche (Bosch?) ones on the back of the light assembly -- but you have two of the same units so have to piggyback them -- very simple to do -- one side has to be ofset a little to miss some fittings but easy to see and do. The 55 watt bulbs are good and little/no scatterred light like others have complained of. Also -- I purchased the lowest color bulbs I could get -- I recall 3000 -- which are the closest to quartz halogen as you can usually get. But -- although they are way brighter and to reach out a lot further than standards they are still not as good as a good pair of old fashioned big driving lights with Halogen bulbs which although old fashioned "yellow" when compared to the HID's are still easier to see with -- a softer light is the way I would describe it. So -- yes -- very happy with the 55 w HID's -- the very small warmup time on high beam is "interesting" 'till you get used to it and in a car that would look a bit silly with driving lights bolted up front they seem to be the best way to go -- and at $80 a set of $160 for all 4 globes and the electronics and wires etc are value beyond campare when the alternative is factory HID's at about $2500 over here.

Wait--did you add these to factory HIDs or replace halogens with them?

Replaced the standard factory halogens -- 4 halogen globes out and in with 4 x 55w HID's and the 4 electronic boces -- each about the size of a cigarette pack

An added note. "All" my 5 mm allen wrenches were not long enough to reach the adjusters. I was able to do the job with a long 3/16 Allen. My SAE set was the only "long set" that I had. Thanks for the info guys 👍