Porsche 911 Litronic Headlights - Beam Seems Dim Not Bright As Expected?

When I bought my Porsche 911 one of the items on the spec sheet were Litronic Headlights that apparently give an excellent long distance beam and were a high cost extra option when new. On drving the Porsche home at night I wasn't overly impressed by the headlights but with a new car it is hard to tell when something is as expected or is an issue such as the Litronic headlights being much dimmer than standard.

Video of removing Porsche 911-996 Litronic Headlights and adjustment for continental driving

When preparing the 911 for taking to Europe I worked through the owners manual section to switch the Litronics from UK to Continental adjusted beams aware that this would reduce down the power of the lights. On removing the Litronic headlight units I found that the switch for UK/Continental (on the Litronic units shown as O/T) was already set to T for Tourist so needed no further adjustment.

Having returned back to the UK one of the first jobs was to correct the Litronic lights so that they were correctly set to O (for Origin) and hopefully increase the power of the lights in the process. I also videoed the procedure for Litronic headlight removal so that anyone interested would be able to see the way it works. The Litronic units are simply held on using a metal rod that can be switched in and out of position to release them using a 5mm Allen key.

The photos below are taken before and after the adjustment of the headlights - the top ones show the Litronic units set to T for Continental driving and the lower shots are set correctly for the UK.

How to Adjust Porsche 911 Litronic Headlights for Continental Driving

How to adjust Porsche headlights for driving abroad? What is the O & T Setting on Porsche Litronic Headlights

If you have a UK Porsche 911 (996 Model) Carrera that has litronic headlights then you can adjust the headlight beam to be able to drive on the right side of the road for using your Porsche in Continental Europe without needing to buy special headlamp stickers to cover parts of the light.

There is a switch within the Litronic headlight unit that switches from O (default, Own Country) to T (Tourist) setting and alters the headlight aim to avoid blinding oncoming drivers when using the Porsche 996 in Europe. However this setting within the Litronic headlight unit does reduce down the light output.

When I came to make this adjustment to my Porsche 996 Carrera I found that the Litronic units were already set to the T (Tourist) mode rather than the default for the UK. It would explain why I thought that the lights weren't that bright for night driving as the beam was being partially obscurred by the internal mechanism. Video of removing Porsche 996 litronic headlights and adjustment settings


Tool to remove Porsche 996 Litronic headlight units



How to Adjust Porsche 911 Litronic Headlights for Continental Driving



Access to remove Porsche Litronic headlight unit



Headlight removed showing spindle that turns to hold Litronic headlight in place

At some point a previous owner has presumably driven in Europe but forgotten to reset the lights to the O setting on their return so as soon as I get back switching the Litronic units from T to O will be the first thing on my To Do list!


Adjust Porsche 911 Litronic Headlights for Continental Driving



How to Adjust Porsche 911 Litronic Headlights for Continental Driving