NCT fail

[Navin]

My car failed its nct today and one of the fails was the headlight alignment. i got a few bits done to the car two weeks ago and the fella doing them said he tried to set the headlight beam but it wasn't shining on his machine as it should be. he said the light should shine in a line with a flick upwards at the end but my beam just seemed to be a round dot so he found it hard to do it. has anyone come across this before? would it just be a case of different bulbs or do i need new lights altogether?

Thanks

[Rebelbloke]

Hey there, my mechanic said the same to me. He wasn't able to focus the lamps as they were too old. He just said I'd most likely need new lamps - preferably the un sealed type so that the bulb can be replaced separately in future rather than the whole unit.

Will be goin for nct next week so will see how I get on before I change anything

[Navin]

do you have to replace the whole lamp to change the bulb?? never knew that!!! not a very good design, is it!!!!

[Rebelbloke]

Yeah it's not the best design! I forgot to ask if yours is a mk1 or 2? Mine is a mk1 so it may be different for mk2. I posted a similar thread & there were a few suggestions - replacement bulbs aren't that expensive. If u do a search for headlamp replacement you should find it.

[Navin]

mine is a mark 1. its a 94 jap import. I'm after spending about €900 euro in the last month so don't want to spend much more!!!

[Rebelbloke]

I hear ya, mines 92 and had to get a good bit done in the past few weeks as well - it's one way traffic on my bank account and it remains to be seen whether it'll get through NCT I don't think the lights are too expensive though so if thats all it failed on for you then you're nearly there!

[Navin]

it failed on the emissions too, hopefully that won't be to bad to fix, my mechanic seemed more worried about the lights! i'v had the waterpump and timing belt done, 4 new tyres, the rubber boots on the ball joints and track rod ends replaced, the cables for the drivers window were replaced, the heater hoses replaced and an oil leak at the back of the engine done!!! thought it would walk the nct!!! could of been worse though!
the headlights are around €50 on the internet so not too bad!

[Tomasso]

do you have to replace the whole lamp to change the bulb?? never knew that!!! not a very good design, is it!!!!

I never knew that either, Sounds like a disaster!

[Panda5]

the sealed beam units dont have any form and so they usually wont pass an nct... U can get a normal set of headlamps in an auto factors in which u are able to just change the bulb instead of the full unit... Taking the unit out is easy enough, just loosen the 3 screws around the unit and twist the metal casing off... Try and leave the 2 bigger screws in place as these are used to align the headlights:)

[Navin]

I got two new headlights and bulbs from my local motor factors in fermoy for €42 yesterday, must put them in when i have time. They sound easy enough to put in thank god!! Thanks for all the help and advice lads!!