headlight aim adjustment not working

I hit a deer and had to have a headlight replaced. The bodyshop "aimed" them but did a horrible job and they were way too low. I cranked them up and now they are too high. Spinning the adjustment screw does not seem to allow me to lower them now. Any ideas? Did I spin them too far and break it?

no one else has ever had this issue?

Which headlights do u have? The adjustment is a gear(rack & pinion) its possible u went past the end and its not catching in reverse. Pull the headlight and look through the back bulb access and u should be able to see the mechanism.

They are the OEM turbo 996.2 headlights. They are aimed so high that I cannot drive the car at night.

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Litrontic style or halogen? Maybe post a pic if u dont know.

All turbos have litronics. I think you need to take a light out and turn the adjustment while watching what happens. DeJeeper might have the answer, it's possible the adjuster went all the way and came apart.

I pulled the light apart and see the inner gear spinning. The bodyshop that installed the light and then leveled it may have spun it too far. The auto level adjustment motor is not attached. I am not sure if that�s normal. Can a dealer play with the level adjustment and maybe expand it to make it attach. I work at a Porsche dealership.

Not normal the motor attaches with a ball and socket rod. U have to reach in and snap it together. The dealer software can raise and lower it but only if its connected. No offense but why r u messing with it at this point as it seems a little beyond your ability. If u work at a dealership then buy a tech lunch and have him set it up or just go back to the body shop.

I vote to find a tech at the dealership. If you work there, you�ll know which tech has the best skills for working on issues like this. If you send it back to the body shop, they may carelessly pick a random schmuck to fudge with it. If you want to try working on it yourself, you could try to use the auto-leveling function - which occurs at ignition on (key position II) - to force the motor to move the position of the lever. Then, quickly disconnect the harness to stop the lever at your desired position, so that you may easily reattach the components. You�ll have to find a volunteer to turn the ignition on and off, and possibly many times, so I hope they�re patient. Does that make sense?

I will give it a shot but I�ve never seen my headlights go up and down like they do on my 2019 Cayenne. Which starts low and then raises to the desired position. The lights on the 996 never seem to move. Never gotten a dash warning light. I can try the dealership but I know they probably don�t deal with this issue too often. They have told me before that they do not work much on older models and I have never seen another 996 turbo come through service in the year I�ve been there. We get a few other 996�s though. They did know how to fix my HVAC foam issue in only one hour of labor. (Don�t ask me how) I just want to be able to drive my car at night. Right now I know I�m blinding other drivers.

Sounds like your dealership kinda sucks. Its a factory car that they sell and support. They have access to the repair info and equipemnt but they just dont want to do it. There r probably a half million of these headlights out there, im sure if my amature a$$ mechanic can figure it out, one of your shop monkeys can do it. The lights r controlled off a suspension height sensor on the front and read drivers side lower control arms. Both have to be working. The piwis3 system can read these sensors and verfiy they r sending a signal. It can also sweep the headlights on its own.

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The motor is not attached? To the frame or the ball joint? My WAG is that the ball joint socket in the headlight adjustment is disconnected (and moving but not pulling the projector frame) If you still have it out, look for the white socket and black ball (the one the motor is connected to, the up-down adjustment) You can try removing the motor, re-adjust the lower adjustment from the outside, and re-install the motor ball in the socket (it goes in and out, from the side of the socket) I just happen to have my headlight apart, and here is the adjustment mechanism, this is for the driver side, with the adjustment controls to the inboard side of the headlight (I think the upper gear/ball is the left right and the gear that slides the motor fore-aft, is the up down) Good luck, Paul

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The motors for the lights move when the ignition is turned on, regardless of whether the headlights are on or not. Since our headlights are manually switched, maybe you�ve never seen it? Try this: turn on your headlamps, then insert your key and switch the ignition on. If you still don�t see the headlights move, then you either have an issue with the headlight leveling, or maybe your car never had it to begin with.

The car has the auto leveling motors in the headlights. I will try to turn the key with the lights on. I have had my other headlight apart to do the projector upgrade and know it was a bitch. I managed to do the switch after about 4 hours of struggling with it. I was really hoping I didn't need to take this one apart since its brand new. I have the upgraded projector I can always throw in there but didn't want to mess with my virgin headlight since the light output is similar to the upgraded projector on the other side.

I turned the ignition on with the headlight switch set to on and neither headlight moved at all. I am lost on what to do. The dealership does not sound like they can help much.

If both headlights do not move up and down when the ignition is turned on, then you may either have an issue with your leveling function, or it may not even be present at all. I think your best course of action at this point is to disassemble the headlight. It�s the fastest and simplest path towards resolution. Your other option is to find out why the headlights don�t move, and fix it if possible.

your dealer has a piwis system. Have them plug it in a run a diagnostic it will show if there r faults from either of the 2 level sensors and the can drive the headlight motors up and down with the software. This will tell u where the problem is. If it all checks out in tge piwis with no faults then its probably the mechanical linkage in the headlight.