Alright, so after getting my new corvette last friday, the clutch failed the same night...put the new clutch in myself at my friends shop about 30 minutes from my house, i finished up around 2:30 in the morn. driving home of course i had to hit a deer...all it did damage wise was destroy my left headlight, not a scratch on the car except for the headlight. order the new parts from ecklers, got the part in, put it on and now the motor is screwed up somehow, its timing is way off from the other motor, sometimes the headlight will not go all the way up or down, it will just kind if stop halfway...the motor makes some heavy clicking noise when you turn it opposite ways with the manual ****... is there someway this can be fixed easily? or do i need a new motor? still in highschool so money is a little tight, id rather fix it myself if i can...

 

What luck! You may try and replace the motor gears to start with. They are very cheap and a possible easy fix. There is a nice write up and detailed pics in the last months issue of Corvette Magazine. If that doesn't fix it the motor might be bad. Good luck and watch those deer....

 

It is great that you are doing such work when you are still in High School. Keep it up.

 

here ya go, I really need to do this to one of mine:

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2002...hts/light1.asp

hope it helps I'm pretty sure I just need the bushings..

 

same... if you get the "chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk-a" noise when going up or down, its bushings... I need to get of my *** and do mine too heh

 

if its bushings (the most likely), its really not a bad job. i jerked around with it and it took about 3 hours for the driver's side (i'm always damn slow the 1rst time around) if i had to do it again, i'd probably get it done in about an hour.

 

If you can change a clutch you can fix these headlights. Then sell rides to the girls at school .......

 

hmm dont know if i'm getting a chunk-a-chunk.. but the motor just keeps running after I close the lights.. is that what you're refering too?

 

yes. its all too probable that the hard plastic bushings have turned to dust.

mine looked like a pile of granulated salt once i opened up the motor housing and yanked the shaft/gear.

 

Corvette fever has a good writeup in thier Tech articles on how to do this. I used this info to do mine about two years ago. The funny part is that I had to do only the drivers side, the pass side still works fine.
Anyway, here you go...
http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/33098/

Good Luck

Randy

 

guess I should get off the puter and do mine also.

 

looked for some bushings at autozone but they didnt have em. I hear people go to home depot for them but I wouldnt know what to look for...

anyone have a site that would sell em?

 

Shawn, do this: http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?p...dept%5Fid=1476

 

Don't worry, be happy.

It's probably the bushings? (well,maybe the little buttons in the space between the drive gear and the round gear). Just take it apart and realize there's supposed to be something in the corners of the triangle part of the round gear.

By the way, take the round gear with you to the parts store. Ford and GM used this same drive design in their power windows. the round gear in the window drive is the same size as the gear in the headlight drive. the little buttons are the same also. Lots cheaper than going to the dealership.

good luck.

bill

 

Thanks!

 

no problem. just remember though, you can't put thanks in a wallet

 

LEFT: The first thing you need to do is locate the headlight motor plug. There are two different plugs depending on the year of the Corvette. The ‘88-89 has a two-wire plug, and all you need to do is unplug it. If you have a ‘90-96, then you have a five-wire plug, which is a little more difficult. First unplug the green and gray wires, then remove the wires from the plug by removing the cap from the back of the plug, inserting a paperclip into the front, and depressing the small prong on the terminal to release the wire


BELOW LEFT: With the headlight motor disconnected from the power source, you can rotate the headlight with the manual ****.


You’ll want to reserve a full day to accomplish the bushing replacement, just in case you run into any problems. You will need common tools such as a metric socket set, Phillips and flat-blade screwdrivers, a Torx bit set, and a small punch. The removal of the headlights is pretty straight-forward by just following our directions and
you shouldn’t have any problems. You want to pay close attention to the motor linkage and the angle it is facing because you will need to reinstall the motors in the same position.
As before in the 1984-87 headlight article, we received all of our parts from Zip Products.

Rotate the headlight until you can see the screw that holds the sides of the headlight bezel. Remove it along with the two Torx screws in the front of the bezel.


BELOW LEFT: Once the bezel is off, continue to rotate the headlight until you locate the 13mm nut that holds the motor to the housing. Remove the nut.


LEFT: On the under hood side, remove the bracket between the motor and the hood hinge. The carriage bolt has a 13mm nut and there is a 10mm nut that holds the bracket to the headlight frame.


BELOW LEFT: Using the Torx socket, remove the motor bracket screws that attach it to the headlight support.


BELOW RIGHT: Once the Torx screws are removed, the headlight motor will pull away from the housing and frame. Before you remove the motor from the housing, rotate the headlight to the closed position. Also, note the location the linkage assembly because you will need to reassemble it in the same location.


LEFT: Now you can remove the headlight. Locate the clip that holds the wires to the headlight frame - it should be located in the corner of the frame. Remove this clip with a small flat-blade screwdriver by carefully prying it off. Once the clip is removed, unweave the wire from the support and remove the motor assembly from the car.


BELOW LEFT: With the motor out, start disconnecting the motor from the linkage assembly. Use a small punch to remove the roll pin from the linkage where it connects to the motor shaft.


LEFT: Use the Torx bit to remove the three screws that hold the linkage to the motor itself, then you can remove the motor from the linkage. There is a small stop that rotates with the motor and linkage, so make note of its location and how it is mounted so you can reassemble it in the same manner.


BELOW LEFT: Remove the small 1/4-inch screws that hold the gear cover on. Once they are out, the cover will come off by gently prying on it.


LEFT: Now very carefully loosen - but do not remove - the pair of motor housing screws. If you remove them you could permanently damage the motor.


BELOW LEFT: Now carefully loosen the set-screw in the other end of the motor. Just back the screw out two turns.


LEFT: Insert a small punch or screwdriver through the hole in the end of the motor shaft, then pull the gear assembly out of the housing. You may have to pull fairly hard or rock it back and forth a little.


BELOW LEFT: Once the gear is out, you will see a nylon gear and the aluminum housing the gear sits on. Press the center shaft while holding the nylon gear. This should separate the aluminum housing from the nylon gear.


BELOW RIGHT: As you can see, our bushings were going bad but not as bad as some we’ve seen. Some are just powder.


LEFT: Here are the new bushings supplied by Zip Products for the rebuild. The headlight motors use three bushings per side.


BELOW LEFT: Place the three new bushings in the gear, then press the aluminum housing over the top of them. It will be a very tight fit.


LEFT: Now reinstall the gear into the housing, and reverse the disassembly to reassemble the headlight motor and linkage. Once they are back together, use the manual **** and completely rotate the headlight through its full cycle to make sure it does not bind. If it does bind, you probably put the little stop bracket between the motor and the linkage on backwards. Once the headlight works manually, set the linkage back to the closed position and reinstall the motor into the car.
Source
Zip Products
8067 Fastlane
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
800-962-9632
www.zip-products.com

 

I'd bet money the problem is the bushings. They can be ordered form any of the major catalog supliers. Replacing them with a write up like above is really pretty simple if you are the mechanical sort. My first one took about 45 minutes and the second one took about 15. My other C4 took about 30 minutes...total.

 

Most likely, your problem is the bushings, but since it was actually damamged on impact, you may want to make sure after its unbolted to change the bulb, that the 4 screws in place(The ones positioned diamond-shaped in unison on the lamp when looking at it on level-positioning) for the actual headlamp adjustment are still positioned to the light correctly, meaning nothing there snapped or was bent to make the housing off-center. Most likely they shouldn't be, but it depends on the impact. You may have to get it adjusted if replacing the bushings and everything else doesnt line the headlight up correctly. Dealer has specs for all that crap even though I'd otherwise advise steering clear of those f****ers.

 

This can turn into something more than just replacing the bushings. My right side headlight starting doing the same thing. Motor would spin but light would not fully turn, it was slipping. Took apart the side cover. The three original bushing are in new condition no wear at all. I installed the new bushing anyways. I inspected the white plastic gear. It also looks okay. I put it all back together and it still slips. I also took the two motor assembly screws out and remove the motor to verify the shaft was not broken. Nope shaft is okay. Now the motor seems to ahve stopped working. Also now my left side light has issues opening and closing. It's not slipping at all but the motor seems to stop spinning fully sometimes.
Gotta love it.