Problem with headlights

[PipK]

Hi

An old problem has reared its ugly head again today

In 2007 I bought my used car and in 2008 I had it MOT'd at the small garage I bought it from

For many months in 2008/2009 I was having drivers flash there lights at me. I couldn't figure out why - Do they think I'm not paying attention? or Do they think my lights are on full beam? If they're thinking either of those things then they're wrong. So what could it be?

Eventually I took it to a proper Ford garage for its April 2009 MOT and asked can they see a reason why drivers are flashing at me? They said it was because the bulbs were pointing too high. They put new bulbs in and corrected it, and there was no longer any flashing.

For the April 2010 MOT I took it the small garage I bought it from again and he replaced the bulbs again.

In the short drive I did today I had 2 cars flash at me and one of them beeped horn too - the first time in about 20 months. Another thing I've noticed is that when I adjust the headlight levelling switch the lights aren't moving at all

So I'm wondering can someone tell from this what exactly is going wrong?
Could it be caused by me going too fast over road humps?
If my speed over road humps isn't the cause then what else could it be and how could it be prevented?
Or does it sound like a fault in how this small garage fits the bulbs?


Thanks

[ScoobyChris]

May be dependent on car, but imhe the headlight alignment is unaffected by fitting different bulbs. Is the independent adjusting the headlight alignment as well as fitting new bulbs? Could be that they're adjusting it too high which is dazzling oncoming traffic...?

Chris

[jcochrane]

It might just be that the bulbs are not fitted correctly. I've encountered beam pattern problem a number of times and had to take the car back to be sorted our by a more experienced mechanic. In some cars to get the bulbs to seat correctly can be tricky and requires a certain knack.

[Octy_Ross]

I've had problems on our Octy - miss-fitted a bulb which resulted in an odd, but not entirely unsatisfactory beam pattern.

Ended up fixing it in the end not because I was being flashed but because I thought the bulb was faulty (when I took the headlight off (as you do on an octy) I could see the problem )

[PipK]

Thanks for your replies. I'm going to take it to the independent garage this weekend. If he can't see a problem even though it's the only thing I'm asking him to test, then I'll take it to a Ford garage for a 2nd opinion.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Beam pattern shouldn't be affected by replacing the bulbs, but in practice, it can be, so it's sometimes necessary to get the headlamps realigned. As others have suggested, it could also be that the new bulbs are not seated properly. It should only take a matter of minutes for the garagiste to check the alignment though.