Projector Headlights are odd

5612 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Hsada 23, 12 mo ago

RJC2

Discussion Starter · Sep 22, 2014

Hey all, my first post on the forum. Just bought a used 2014 Explorer Limited with 20K miles a few days ago. Last night was my first night run and I noticed that the projector headlights had a really odd beam pattern. They had vertical lines that shined into the trees when on high beam only. When put against the garage door the lines were distinct, and a few feet apart. It's very distracting when driving, however would be great for **** hunting.

Has anyone experienced this before?

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me1950

· #2 · Oct 30, 2014

Haven't noticed that on 2015 however I find the low beam odd as its like having a giant sun visor across the windshield as the light pattern has a distinct and sharp horizontal line above which no light is projected, its like watching a letterbox movie on an old TV the top half of the windshield is black and the lower half of your forward view is lit. Fine in the city where street lights fill in the missing light but out on country roads its an unpleasant lighting patter Not a fan.

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RJC2

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 4, 2014

me1950 said:
Haven't noticed that on 2015 however I find the low beam odd as its like having a giant sun visor across the windshield as the light pattern has a distinct and sharp horizontal line above which no light is projected, its like watching a letterbox movie on an old TV the top half of the windshield is black and the lower half of your forward view is lit. Fine in the city where street lights fill in the missing light but out on country roads its an unpleasant lighting patter Not a fan.

Thanks for your reply. I thought no one read my post. What you're describing is considered normal for those lights. It's intended to keep the very light bright on the ground and out of the eyes of oncoming traffic. My lights on the other hand were in the tree tops on high beam. It's really annoying. Looking for some raccoons in those trees...

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Gemini_NKR

· #4 · Mar 22, 2016

I upgraded to LED's and realised that the factory setting for these projectors was on the ground, all you need is a large Philips screw driver to adjust them, very easy..........

I pissed a few people off for a while as I had them pointing uo which was blinding other drivers, but that I had poor visibility because 8000K bulbs don't put out a lot of light, I since then down grades to 6000K white bulbs and it's amazing.............but I miss the blue.

Just adjust the headlights up, you'll see the adjustment hole at the back of each beam........

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RJC2

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 28, 2016

Gemini_NKR said:
I upgraded to LED's and realised that the factory setting for these projectors was on the ground, all you need is a large Philips screw driver to adjust them, very easy..........

I pissed a few people off for a while as I had them pointing uo which was blinding other drivers, but that I had poor visibility because 8000K bulbs don't put out a lot of light, I since then down grades to 6000K white bulbs and it's amazing.............but I miss the blue.

Just adjust the headlights up, you'll see the adjustment hole at the back of each beam........

Thanks for the reply, it's been a while since I posted this. I was so fed up with that Explorer that I sold it. It was a shame as my wife loved it, (it was her drive) but between the headlights looking like "cat eye" slits (vertically) and the seats hurting me and my wife, we just traded it in. We still miss it as it was one of the nicest cars she ever had. To be fair, the seat problem was as much to do with both of us having severe spinal cord injuries. (its tough going through an airport) There was a steel bar in the outboard side of the seat bottom that would pressure my leg and start hurting after 20 minutes of driving. Very uncomfortable. I found this hard to believe as my 2014 Super Duty's seat was more comfortable than my Lazy-Boy recliner and had it own heat & a/c to boot.

My wife decided to buy an Infinti QX70, we've owned it for almost 1.5 years now. While its a nice vehicle, guys (and gals) don't fall into that trap like we did. The Ford Explorer is a MUCH nicer vehicle. One gets a whole lot more amenities with the Ford and they are a whole lot more thought out and easy to use. The Infiniti Bluetooth is "a pain where a pill won't reach" to use. There are no seat heaters in the back seats (my daughter reminds me about this one) and because its an Infiniti, the parts are sky high. I guess they figure if you can afford the car you won't mind paying for parts.
Bottom line is that when we decide to replace the QX70, we are absolutely going to try out another Explorer and see if the seats have been improved by then. I believe that my headlight issue was probably due to the previous owner wrecking it and it wasn't reassembled correctly. That was weird. It was like driving with your headlight rotated 90 degrees so that the cut off line was vertical rather than horizontal.

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Gemini_NKR

· #6 · Apr 4, 2016

Lol, no problem, if your back is an issue, go with the top of the line Explorer Platinum Edition, the seats are amazing..........

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me1950

· #7 · Apr 11, 2016

lights not well thought out

RJC2 said:
Thanks for your reply. I thought no one read my post. What you're describing is considered normal for those lights. It's intended to keep the very light bright on the ground and out of the eyes of oncoming traffic. My lights on the other hand were in the tree tops on high beam. It's really annoying. Looking for some raccoons in those trees...

I know its intention but it really doesn't work well as that cut of line tends to be right in the center of passenger car windshields who in turn constantly flash their highs at me. On the other hand if the line was any lower I would need to just turn them off and point a flashlight at the pavement, still not a fan of the new tech. Im higher than most cars and oncoming traffic with this type of lighting is very bright so Im sure mine are very aggravating to cars i approach.

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Hsada 23

· #8 · 12 mo ago

It is likely that there is some problem with your headlights. You need to adjust the headlights to get the correct light beam. Here is a blog: What is Proper Headlight Adjustment? Hope to help you.

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