wrmcmaha

I've finally chased down my headlight problem to the driver side actuator. When plugging the red hose I cannot manually lift the headlight, however if the headlight is up and I plug the green hose I can effortlessly push the headlight down. Im not sure if this means I need to replace the whole actuator or not but I did notice that the boot is completely ripped in half on that side. My question is, does the boot actually seal anything or is it to protect the actuator from dust? And if by having a ripped boot caused a seal to go bad is it replaceable?

Alan 71

Hi w,
What you see on the shaft is a dust boot, in side it is a separate seal.
Hook the vacuum pump to the port for the red hose. If the vacuum holds, both the diaphragm and seal are good. If the vacuum drops, but held when you tested the green port, the seal is bad.
It can be replaced.
Using the headlight door to force the diaphragm is hard on the diaphragm seal; think about buying a vacuum pump with a gauge like a Mity-Vac.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

wrmcmaha

Hey thanks a lot Alan. I hooked up a vacuum pump to the red hose while the headlights were down and it does hold vacuum. But the green hose does not hold vacuum when the lights are up. So is this a seal issue? I already checked the Vacuum regulators and the passenger sides system works fine if I pinch the hose going from the vacuum canister to the driver side assembly. Im just confused because I just bought the actuator last year and its hard to believe it went bad so quickly. It was not a re-pop, it was off of an 80 vette with 22,000 miles that was totaled

Mike Ward

That makes it a 32 year old part- you're surprised it failed?

wrmcmaha

well mike, when you put it that way I guess not... Im just more frustrated. I replaced my radiator and after the install the headlights stopped raising so I figured it would be something little like a pinched hose but the actuator is a pain, or at least it was for me to replace

SciVette

I feel your pain. I just replaced an actuator on my '80. Did not remove hood or under-skirting to do so, but man... It was tight with very little room to work or get a wrench/socket in there. I lost some skin.

As you've already done this I'm sure you know, but just to add for those who have yet to experience the joy: be sure to count the number of turns or threads of your clevis prior to taking it off. I failed to do so and after buttoning up found that the light would not lower completely (even with adjustment screw completely out). As the clevis was super tight I had to remove the actuator again to rethread it a bit.

BUT, all is well now. Both lights snap up and down on command.

wrmcmaha

+1 for mentioning that

I too made the mistake of not counting the threads. Theres nothing like doing a job twice for careless errors

phclub

I would like to jump in here; I am planning to repair the boots on both actuators this winter, can the actuators be removed from where the front license plate mount is. Assuming I remove the center grill and support.

wrmcmaha

There are a few different ways in which you can do it. If your doing it on a car that your not worried about nicking (Such as a car your getting ready for paint) raising the headlights and removing them from the top is the easiest. If it's on a car you would rather avoid scratching raise the headlights to remove the fiberglass bezels and then I would lower them back down and do the rest of the work from through the grills

phclub

WRM, are you saying remove the bezel and replace the seal/boot while the actuators remain attached to the car. Isn't this very difficult and on your back type of work?

wrmcmaha

What I meant was the easiest way to remove the actuators was to first remove the fiberglass bezel while the headlights are open, Then close the headlights and remove the actuator from the front grill. Yes you will have to be on your back to do it but that way you dont risk scratching your paint. There are springs and such that you need to remove and if one gets loose on you from the top side it might shoot off the rod and nick your paint. I have a 79 vette so my front grills may be different from yours if you have an earlier c3 with the longer grill but it should be just as easy. I also like to remove the rod that the springs sit on and grease up the bushings and other moving parts to make sure everything is riding freely. I've never actually replaced the seal or boot before though so I'm not sure if you're supposed to grease and of those components but I'm sure someone here would know

7t9l82

i find needle nose vice grips work nice on the springs.do yourself a favor and do both seals on both sides or you'll be doing it again soon.