A few weeks ago, my right headlight had one of the wires going to the motor get nicked. After some researching, I tracked it down to the the control module, which I replaced today. Now the motor works, but only for a couple of seconds. The headlight moves about 1/2 inch, does this mean my motor is bad to or does it have to be recalibrated or something?

 

Sounds like you need to put a kit in it. You may as well do both if the oter one has not been done. What you need is the 3 piece fiber bushings. I got mine from Bob At adavancedautocc.com or call 239-573-9933 I think it was like $8.00. Took me about an hour on the 1st one and about 45 min on the next one. Those bushing turn to powder after a few years.

 

I just replaced the bushings, no the problem is the right motor turns for about 1 second, while the left turns for about 3 seconds.

 

You say it's the right (passenger side) motor? Make sure the motor mechanism is not getting caught up in the lines or hoses that run on that side of the engine. It's pretty common for this to occur.

 

I've done an '85 but this is different; I have the shop manual but I don't get it and it's poorly/not illustrated. Headlight motor not even directly discussed, not well anyway.

Driver side, I have the nylon kit but can I open the side of the motor and do the kit without removing the motor? One hex head bolt is blocked it appears, so it looks like you have to remove the motor, and then it looks like the motor has a big bolt (one of 3?) holding it place that is blocked off.

In the shop manual it seems to indicate you have to remove the entire headlight assembly, with the motor and all as one piece????

I'd sure appreaciate guidance on this, thanks much.

 

Found it here on the forum, fantastic, about 30 pictures, every step detailed. I did everything wrong in my first attempt the other day - and my wife reminded me I did the passenger side back when we met about 7 years ago, it was spread out on her dinner table for a couple days.

Maybe I'm getting too old and senile to own a vette. Ouch.

http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/33098/index.html

 

If all was ok before the wire got 'nicked' then I'm suspecting that light control module you put on there.

 

No, the problem is that the motor only turns for about a second. I replaced the bushings early last year, so they should be fine.

 

Hey, I bought my '85 with the headlights not working. I put in a new control module and they starting working sometimes, and sometimes they would only go partway. I adjusted the screw on the bottom of the motor out a little bit (opposite of the manual adjusting ****), and they've worked fine ever since. It only takes a second, is easy, and might fix your problem.

 

For anyone who found this thread and is using it to guide them in troubleshooting headlight problems, thought I'd wrap mine up.

That link in the previous post by me, which I got from someone else here, is terrific - go there, study it, print the pictures, etc.

Here's a couple extra things I learned:

- if the motor is dead after all troubleshooting, Ecklers will sell you a nicely rebuilt - this is my second from them - for about $150 net after you send back your old one. However, the one they sent me this time, the pin that goes through the shaft that is what the motor turns, the pin that along with end of shaft plugs into the actual headlight to turn it, mine broke off just handling it! So I had to swap out the shaft from my old headlight. Bad Q/C, theirs was rusted through.

- when you put it together, the shaft, get it in sync with how the good headlight is; won't go into detail but if your other lamp is 'closed'/off, then if you're installing this one closed/off, see that they look exactly alike, it's easy to get them 180 degrees out of sync. - I'm not so sure this is a problem, see below, but I recommend you do it this way.

- there is a green and a grey wire coming off the motor, when you plug them back into the plastic connector (along with about 4 other wires that join there), be sure to match the wire color and orientation with your other headlight or you'll be 180 out of sync.

- that screw adjustor on the opposite end of the motor from the manual ****, I wish it's effect was documented! It can keep the motor from doing anything if turned enough, but I never really figured out what it does otherwise.

Good luck.