I've noticed that ever so often when I'm driving my 69 at approx 55-60mph, the drivers side headlight starts to open, then closes again. Besides this, the headlights work fine. I remember from my Porsche days that when nearing the top end, if the actuator was starting to go, the headlight(s) would fly open, so I was wondering if the situation with the vette could be the same.

Thanks

 

I think you are correct in that your actuator is starting to go. There are many forum members that have this same problem. Somebody even posted a video of a C3 doing a burnout and I noticed there headlight went up.

 

What causes this ..Is the air pushing it open or is it "pulled" open by the air?

 

No, I dont thinks so. Try and pull yours up by hand (with headlights off), it wont come up. I think its has something to do with an increased amount of vacume somehow getting to the actuators.

 

how the hell do you guys see your head lights?? I'm about 5'10" and I gotta smash my face against the top of my windshield to see my me headlight doors. I might very well have that problem too and not know it, I guess I'll have to try a face squisher at 60mph today after work. :lol:

 

From what I have looked at so far these actuators are not cheap. I also remember reading somewhere that you have to pull the hood to get the actuator out, I really can't believe that this is true?

 

No they are not cheap, but they do sell rebuild kits. And I'm not sure if you have to pull the hood but I am sure it would make the job one hundred times easier.

Here is a vid of that burnout I mentioned earlier. Right click on the link and select "Save Target As...".
http://www.sdmember.com/corvetteburn.avi

 

until you find out about the possible actuator problem , have you tried to close the vacume override valve (under the dash/column) ? maybe try that ! :)

 

Somewhere back home I have a neat little book on troubleshooting headlight(and wiper door) vacuum problems. I think I got it from Corvette Central when I got some headlight parts. It lists tests to do in order to isolate the cause. You may have a bad valve (can't recall the specific name of it) on that side that regulates vacuum to either side of your headlight canister. But test to be sure - the part is ~$50.

 

Think that's expensive? Check out prices for 91-96 headlight motors.

Pass side- $329
Drv side- $429 :eek:

 

If it turns out to be the actuators, they are not that hard to rebuild. I did both of mine not too long ago and could have done it in about 2 hours had I not wanted to clean, paint and detail the area.

 

hi there:
The problem is not the actuator. The actuator does no thinking, it is just a dumb piece of equipment that does what it is told. If the seal in the front goes bad, the lights will go down, but not up. If the diaphragm inside the actuator goes bad, then it will do neither. The actuator should always have vacuum to the front or the rear causing the light itself to be constantly pulled down or pushed up.

With your lights off, you should be getting vacuum to the signal (small) hose at the top of your relay. That signal tells the relay to direct the vacuum to the back of the actuator which would make it pull your lights down constantly. When you turn your lights on, that signal is cut-off, the vacuum is redirected to the friont of the acutator which pulls your light up.

When a relay starts to go bad, you often find that the lights want to pop up even with the headlight switch off. You may want to check the condition of your relays and also the amount of vacuum that you are getting to the relay signal (small) hose accross the rpm range. You may be loosing vacuum somewhere. If you have a vacuum gauge, you should not loose more than 2-3 inHg between any two points in the system. If you do, there is a leak somewhere.

I have talked to many customers who have the same problem, which also tends to occur more often in the 68-72 wiper door system with the door always wanting to pop up. It is my experience that it is usually the fault of the relay.

I hope this helps.

 

I'm with you bloodvette80. My lights could be doing the same thing and until they are fully up I can't see them.

 

QUOTE]how the hell do you guys see your head lights?? I'm about 5'10" and I gotta smash my face against the top of my windshield to see my me headlight doors. I might very well have that problem too and not know it, I guess I'll have to try a face squisher at 60mph today after work. :lol: [/QUOTE]

it's easy for us 6'2inchers with our heads hitting our T-tops![ :conehead

 

:iagree: with the vacuum relay diagnosis. Until the vacuum tells the actuator to pull, the headlight linkage should have it mechanically 'locked'
from raising itself.