Headlight aiming weirdness

[texadelphia]

I noticed that the driver headlight on my recently purchased rig was extremely low. I used the FSM procedure to aim them this morning and to get the driver light to the correct left/right position I had to max out the adjustment screw. Now the lens is extremely close to the edge of the hood when it's closed. Has anyone else run into similar issues? Seems odd that I had to max it out to get it right.

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[gamefreakgc]

Sounds like to me your newly purchased 4Runner was in a front-end accident at some point and the radiator support frame is bent.

 

[Skulking]

Before jumping to any conclusions, it would probably not be a bad idea to just double check that the headlight bulb is fully and properly seated. I would also check that it is an appropriate bulb and not some sort of retrofit.

 

[texadelphia]

Just checked the bulb and it seems to be seated correctly. I know that there was a minor front end collision where a guy backed into the car at a stoplight. Owner said they just replaced the grill. I can't see any obvious distortion in the radiator support frame.

 

[pluton]

One other possibility: One or more of the plastic structural pieces on the rear side of the headlight assembly is broken. There are also screws (metal threaded into plastic---Fail!) in this assembly, and if they strip out and change the geometry, the headlight aim will be affected.

 

[texadelphia]

I look it all over again in the morning and see if anything looks cracked or broken.

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[brillo_76]

Just a thought that may not pertain to your particular issue. What kind of bulb if in your headlight? If standard halogen, good deal. If Led, you can turn the bulbs to change the beam position.

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[Ed_C]

Aftermarket headlights? Aim as been iffy on ones I've used. My current set of aftermarket replacements are ok height-wise but maxed out the side-to-side adjustment on the driver side, so it's aimed way too much to the right. I'll probably take that headlight off this weekend and put a washer or two between the mount on the headlight itself (not where the headlight bolts to the body) where the adjuster rod pops into.

 

[texadelphia]

Aftermarket headlights? Aim as been iffy on ones I've used. My current set of aftermarket replacements are ok height-wise but maxed out the side-to-side adjustment on the driver side, so it's aimed way too much to the right. I'll probably take that headlight off this weekend and put a washer or two between the mount on the headlight itself (not where the headlight bolts to the body) where the adjuster rod pops into.

They're normal H4 halogens but I'm not sure if they're OEM. Are you saying aim has been an issue with aftermarket H4s or other non-standard LEDs or something like that?

Something I noticed is that the lower core support mount looks like it might be a little out of whack. There's a witness mark where it looks like the bolt/washer used to be, and it looks like it's either further forward or the lower part of the support is further back by about 1/4 of an inch. Anyone know if I can just loosen that mount bolt and pull the core support forward to see if it affects anything or is that likely not a problem? Passenger side doesn't have the witness mark and looks like the washer/bolt head sits further back.

Driver side. Notice the witness mark on the support aft of the washer.

Passenger side. Hard to see, but no witness mark. Bolt/washer sits further back on support.

 

[Ed_C]

They're normal H4 halogens but I'm not sure if they're OEM. Are you saying aim has been an issue with aftermarket H4s or other non-standard LEDs or something like that?

They're just aftermarket OEM replacement headlights, H4 halogen.

 

[phattyduck]

They're normal H4 halogens but I'm not sure if they're OEM. Are you saying aim has been an issue with aftermarket H4s or other non-standard LEDs or something like that?

Housings will say Toyota on the bottom center if they are OEM. Aftermarket will probably be TYC.

Aftermarket housings are just not as good as OEM... And it does look like your front end is at least a bit tweaked.

-Charlie