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c3 Headlight problems

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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 01:36 PM
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My drivers side headlight goes down and closes all the way but the passenger light dosent go down all the way its up about a half inch not to big of a deal but very anoying any ideas?
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 01:40 PM
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Originally Posted by vetteman77
My drivers side headlight goes down and closes all the way but the passenger light dosent go down all the way its up about a half inch not to big of a deal but very anoying any ideas?
I'd look for binding and possibly an adjustment issue.
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 01:43 PM
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In the vaccum lines?
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 02:05 PM
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Does it close if you push it on down with your finger tips?
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 02:07 PM
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There is a bolt behind the L shaped lever under the light to govern travel.

It is a little tricky to get to, but not hard.

It is part of the two levers that lift the light.

If not mechanical, has to be vacuum.
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 02:30 PM
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i have tried pushing them down and they wont budge
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 03:17 PM
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Originally Posted by vetteman77
i have tried pushing them down and they wont budge
They lock in the up position, you need to reach under and pull down slightly to unlock it, then you should be able to press the headlight down. If you look up into the assembly, you should see a little black connector with 2 wires connected to it, that is your headlight warning switch, it is supposed to let you know when you headlight is not locked. There is a little plate that presses against that switch when the headlight is locked up, that is where you want to pull down to unlock the headlight.

If the headlight goes up bu itself, but not down, then I don't think it's the actuator. You can test this by pulling the vacuum lines off the front and back of the actuator, and seeing if both the up (engine side with the rod) side, and down (front of car side - not the rod side) side have vacuum. With the engine on, and the headlights off, then the down side line should have vacuum, when the headlights are on, then the up side should have vacuum.

My guess is that the down side will not have vacuum with the engine running, and the headlights off. If it does, then the actuator is the problem, but if it doesn't, then either the relay, or the control line is the problem.

The relay controls whether the source vacuum goes to the up or down side of the actuator. We know the source is working, because the headlight goes up. There is a small vacuum line connected to the relay, if it does not have vacuum on it, then the source is directed to the up line, if it does, then source should be directed to the down side. With the engine running, and the headlights off, there should be vacuum on the small line at the relay, if there is, and the source is not directed to the down side, then you have a bad relay. If there is not vacuum on the control line, then the control line is either pinched, or disconnected somewhere. Since the control is working for the one side, look to see where the control line is teed, and make sure the connection is good there.
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Old Oct 25, 2014 | 09:00 AM
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Originally Posted by vetteman77
i have tried pushing them down and they wont budge
You can push until you are blue in the face and they won't come down unless you unlock the two L shaped levers as Mashman said.

If the lights worked fine before, but not now, it is probably not the bolt adjustment I was referring to.

But the bolt is part of the two levers that have to be unlocked to lower the lights.








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Old Oct 26, 2014 | 04:24 PM
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If the assembly is pulling down to within a 1/2" of closing, then it is not a vacuum issue, but an adjustment issue. There is a down limiting adjusting screw. There is also the possibility that the actuator eye bolt rod is not adjusted properly, not pulling the assembly down far enough before it bottoms out internally.
Has the actuator been replaced recently?
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Old Oct 26, 2014 | 06:55 PM
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