the dealer did not say. i found out the owner had put in HID bulbs and they had been changed back out for the sale. I had posted whether previously questioning if the HID bulbs could have damaged the housing ect. Other forums members had not thought so. I have not tried to change bulbs in this truck before. Is this a process that someone could damage the alignment?
It depends on how the previous owner executed his HID modification. The projectors for halogens and HID headlights are different, even though they "look" the same from the outside. Some people can't tell whether an Explorer has HIDs or halogens until they turn them on.
Now one way the owner could have done a HID modification is by (in the simplest terms) removing the halogen bulb, and replacing it with an HID bulb. Some HID kits require some rewiring, while others are simply plug and play. But doing this method has lead to problems in headlights being too bright and blinding, incorrect light refractions and coverage, etc.
The other way the owner could have done the mod (and to remedy some of the problems above) is by removing the halogen bulb AND the halogen assembly/projector within the headlight assembly/housing, and replacing the halogen parts with HID counterparts (ie bulbs, projector, etc). To do this, he would have had to bake the headlights, remove the lens, take the headlight apart, and make the changes. If this were the case, then I strongly believe this would have voided any warranty.
If the dealer did not say, then I would at least challenge the dealer's with-holding of that information. If you want work to be done, and all he can say is "it looks like this part was tampered with" and would not elaborate, I would press more for information.
Since your headlights are not aligning properly, I would also check to see if any of the headlight tabs are broken or if the headlight is seated properly. Aside from mechanical things inside the light from screwing up the alignment, the whole headlight could be crooked too. Confirm with the dealer that the whole headlight assembly is straight and proper. Then you can narrow it down to alignment issues being caused by the projector assembly, etc on the inside.
