GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Driving our 2004 Vibe this evening, I noticed that the passenger side headlight is bouncing over bumps. Once I arrived home- I inspected the headlight, and found that the housing is intact, but if I move the electrical plug inside the engine compartment I can see that the reflector is moving as well. The driver's side headlight does not do this. I'm wondering if this is repairable, or if I now must purchase a replacement headlight.

I'm just guessing here, but I bet you'll have to at least remove the whole assembly to determine if it can be repaired. You might be able to glue it together with Super glue or epoxy. I doubt you'd be able to do that on the car.

Thanks for the reply. I took a closer look at the headlight (which is bouncing when hitting bumps) and it appears that the adjuster has disintegrated. The reflector moves the way I believe it's supposed to- but there's nothing holding it in any particular position. I wedged a crescent of rubber (scrap from cutting down a hockey puck) into the recess / interface between the reflector and the housing, and the fixture no longer moves. I'm guessing the alignment is not going to be great, (I'll find out once it gets dark) but at least it's not going to bounce around over bumps.

I am guessing the only option is to simply replace the headlamps. In general I'm against using cheap replacement headlights- but that is probably my only option. Surprisingly- it appears that there were 3 different headlight generations (2003-2004, 2005-2008, and 2009-2010) and my car being a 2004 there are relatively few options for sale online.

In case anyone comes across this post and wants to know how I was able to resolve this issue, I pushed the headlight reflector up so as to be as close to the level of the other headlight as I could manage, then used a piece of silicone rubber hose and wedged it into the gap between the reflector and the housing that was created. It seems to have locked the reflector perfectly into the correct position. No more bouncing, and no need to buy new (aftermarket) headlamps. I cut the hose to a length that allows the weatherproof rubber cap to fit. It's not adjustable, but it seems to be working fine.