Headlight Adjustment Issue

scottelble · August 29, 2007

I picked up a 96' ls400 for an extra daily driver. great car, but the headlight aim is a pain in my a$$. I did a search but it started talking about drawing paper diagrams and placing it centered w/ the car so on & so on........It didn't come w/ an owners manual and the two adjustment points i have found do not seem to move the beam.I'm looking for a shortcut alittle simpler than the answer i found thus far....A little insight would be very appreciated! Thanks in advance;)

scottelble · September 1, 2007

I picked up a 96' ls400 for an extra daily driver. great car, but the headlight aim is a pain in my a$$. I did a search but it started talking about drawing paper diagrams and placing it centered w/ the car so on & so on........It didn't come w/ an owners manual and the two adjustment points i have found do not seem to move the beam.I'm looking for a shortcut alittle simpler than the answer i found thus far....A little insight would be very appreciated! Thanks in advance;)

Umm...Thanks for the help? :whistles:

05silverls430 · September 1, 2007

Do you have an independent mechanic who works on your LS? If so, maybe they could help you with the aiming issue. Not that this helps you, but I had an '03 LS that had an aiming problem I could never fix. The instructions for aiming the headlights that appeared in the owner's manual weren't even correct. The adjustment screws that were shown in the diagram didn't even exist (or at least I couldn't find them).

Good luck!

scottelble · September 4, 2007

Do you have an independent mechanic who works on your LS? If so, maybe they could help you with the aiming issue. Not that this helps you, but I had an '03 LS that had an aiming problem I could never fix. The instructions for aiming the headlights that appeared in the owner's manual weren't even correct. The adjustment screws that were shown in the diagram didn't even exist (or at least I couldn't find them).
Good luck!

I do but i was thinking it was a easy DIY but i think thats what im gonna do...Thanks;)

flogdpup · September 5, 2007

Do you have an independent mechanic who works on your LS? If so, maybe they could help you with the aiming issue. Not that this helps you, but I had an '03 LS that had an aiming problem I could never fix. The instructions for aiming the headlights that appeared in the owner's manual weren't even correct. The adjustment screws that were shown in the diagram didn't even exist (or at least I couldn't find them).
Good luck!

I do but i was thinking it was a easy DIY but i think thats what im gonna do...Thanks;)

I have a '97 LS and just tonight finally figured out how to adjust the headlights. It is an easy DIY. Don't take it to your mechanic. I am assuming that a '96 has the same headlight setup as my '97. Anyway, this is what I discovered with the screws behind the headlight. My headlight aim left to right was fine, so I didn't have to adjust that, but I'll tell you how to do it just in case you need to do it. You will need a small 1/4 inch ratchet with an 8mm socket or something equivalent.

I did this in my garage with an old towel hanging down in front of the headlight that I was adjusting. The headlights were on and I made a mark on the towel showing the top of the brightest part of the beam. That way I would know if the beam was adjusting up or down. Now, here's the riddle of the screws on the back of the headlight. When standing at the drivers side of the car, looking down at the back of the drivers side headlight, you will notice that there are two screws on the upper right side of the back of the headlight. One philips screw is embedded in a small gray round plastic cog. The teeth of this cog interlace with the teeth of a hex screw about an inch below it. This lower hex screw is the adjustment screw for left to right on the headlight. Turn this hex screw with your 8mm socket. Once again, this will adjust the headlight from left to right.

Now for elevation adjustment. Like yourself, this is what has been bugging the :censored: out of me for some time now. Once again, standing at the drivers side of the car, looking down at the back of the drivers side headlight, you will notice another hex screw at the upper left side of the drivers side headlight. This will NOT adjust your headlight. I do believe it adjusts the fog light elevation, just FYI. Look below this screw and about 4 inches below it, toward the bottom left side, you will see another hex screw sticking out of a hole surrounded by black plastic trim. This is the headlight elevation adjustment screw. Turn it lefty loosy to raise your headlight beam or righty tighty to lower the beam. It will be a tight fit to reach this screw. I had to remove the battery hold down bracket for more room. Once you do this, adjusting the passenger side headlamp will be very similar except the position of the screws on the back of the headlamp will be reversed. Of course, to access the passenger headlamp, you'll have to remove the air cleaner assembly.

I have attached a quality drawring that my three year-old did showing the back of the drivers side headlamp... OK, OK, I did it. :blushing: Feel free to hang it on your fridge. I hope this helps you out.