Clicking with headlight, help please
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 944
Likes: 11
From: Davie Florida
Clicking with headlight, help please
Hello all,
I have an 84 vette crossfire,
Heres the problem I am having,
I went to get in the car to go to work this morning & my battery was dead, I have recently started hearing a clicking noise from the passenger side headlight motor, It sounds like a relay is opening & closing. If you touch the motor you can feel it everytime it clicks..
It is clicking wether the key is off or on..
What would cause this?
Thanks for you replies,
Ant....
I have an 84 vette crossfire,
Heres the problem I am having,
I went to get in the car to go to work this morning & my battery was dead, I have recently started hearing a clicking noise from the passenger side headlight motor, It sounds like a relay is opening & closing. If you touch the motor you can feel it everytime it clicks..
It is clicking wether the key is off or on..
What would cause this?
Thanks for you replies,
Ant....
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,226
Likes: 9
From: Irvine Ca
Ant, Look at the top of the page, there you'll see the Headlight repair thread.
What is occuring is your gears are stripping...the motor is trying to complete the rotation....when the bucket hits the rubber bumpers it creates a voltage spike...the relay reads that spike and turns it off.
Your Gears are stripping and therefore the spike does not occur and the motor keeps going.
As far as the "three spacers" that refers to the '88 and later headlight motors. You have the early one. Yours (ours) has a twist gear that turns a drum gear...the twist dear grinds off the middle of the larger drum gear and you get what you have occuring now.
all you have to do is take it apart and replace the large white gear and put it back together.
Ecklers list a "kit" that contains two gears for ~$50...but you only need the large white one for ~$23...
What is occuring is your gears are stripping...the motor is trying to complete the rotation....when the bucket hits the rubber bumpers it creates a voltage spike...the relay reads that spike and turns it off.
Your Gears are stripping and therefore the spike does not occur and the motor keeps going.
As far as the "three spacers" that refers to the '88 and later headlight motors. You have the early one. Yours (ours) has a twist gear that turns a drum gear...the twist dear grinds off the middle of the larger drum gear and you get what you have occuring now.
all you have to do is take it apart and replace the large white gear and put it back together.
Ecklers list a "kit" that contains two gears for ~$50...but you only need the large white one for ~$23...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 8,838
Likes: 31
From: Australia
Check the circuit diagram below
When that happened in my '87 the motor was worn and the armature was not closing the cut off contacts at the end of the shaft so it continued to draw power running battery flat
Last edited by rodj; Dec 7, 2009 at 07:22 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,226
Likes: 9
From: Irvine Ca
Just to add.....I went outside and thought there was some motor over at the Elementary school running and running....it was night time and I wondered WTH it could be....My curiosity got the best of me so I started walking towards the school......my '84 was parked in between me and the school.......
....as I got closer to my Vette I realized that noise was coming from the car...
It was the headlight motor spinning and grinding away.....Had I not stepped outside, My battery would have been dead by the morning as well.
....as I got closer to my Vette I realized that noise was coming from the car...
It was the headlight motor spinning and grinding away.....Had I not stepped outside, My battery would have been dead by the morning as well.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 944
Likes: 11
From: Davie Florida
Ant, Look at the top of the page, there you'll see the Headlight repair thread.
What is occuring is your gears are stripping...the motor is trying to complete the rotation....when the bucket hits the rubber bumpers it creates a voltage spike...the relay reads that spike and turns it off.
Your Gears are stripping and therefore the spike does not occur and the motor keeps going.
As far as the "three spacers" that refers to the '88 and later headlight motors. You have the early one. Yours (ours) has a twist gear that turns a drum gear...the twist dear grinds off the middle of the larger drum gear and you get what you have occuring now.
all you have to do is take it apart and replace the large white gear and put it back together.
Ecklers list a "kit" that contains two gears for ~$50...but you only need the large white one for ~$23...
What is occuring is your gears are stripping...the motor is trying to complete the rotation....when the bucket hits the rubber bumpers it creates a voltage spike...the relay reads that spike and turns it off.
Your Gears are stripping and therefore the spike does not occur and the motor keeps going.
As far as the "three spacers" that refers to the '88 and later headlight motors. You have the early one. Yours (ours) has a twist gear that turns a drum gear...the twist dear grinds off the middle of the larger drum gear and you get what you have occuring now.
all you have to do is take it apart and replace the large white gear and put it back together.
Ecklers list a "kit" that contains two gears for ~$50...but you only need the large white one for ~$23...
I tried to check out the sticky but I can't see the pictures, just the little red Xs..
Since I have to pull it apart,
Should I just change both the gears?
I am going to do both headlights as well...
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 944
Likes: 11
From: Davie Florida
Thank you for all the replies,
I tried to view the stickey at the top of the page but cant see any of the pictures, Just little red Xs...
I will try to work on it this weekend if I have the time,
Thanks again all...
Ant....
I tried to view the stickey at the top of the page but cant see any of the pictures, Just little red Xs...
I will try to work on it this weekend if I have the time,
Thanks again all...
Ant....
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Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,226
Likes: 9
From: Irvine Ca
The red Xs are there but there is a link to a Corvette Mag that you can print out. It is a good guide but it is too picky....
I had to put it down and just use the pictures for a guide as to what I was looking for.....once I put that thing down, I had the whole bucket out in 15 minutes.
No, I would not replace both.......actually there are three gears...One is a Screw gear (do not replace) One is the large white barrel gear (replace that one, when you see it for yourself you'll understand fully) then there is the smaller black gear which gets no wear on it at all.
Just buy yourself two of the larger white gears.
Once you figure out how to swap the gear...the second headlight will take you maybe 30-45 minutes to complete.
I had to put it down and just use the pictures for a guide as to what I was looking for.....once I put that thing down, I had the whole bucket out in 15 minutes.
No, I would not replace both.......actually there are three gears...One is a Screw gear (do not replace) One is the large white barrel gear (replace that one, when you see it for yourself you'll understand fully) then there is the smaller black gear which gets no wear on it at all.
Just buy yourself two of the larger white gears.
Once you figure out how to swap the gear...the second headlight will take you maybe 30-45 minutes to complete.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 944
Likes: 11
From: Davie Florida
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,226
Likes: 9
From: Irvine Ca
What are you referring to? My info?? If that is what you were thinking, I think you need to rethink what you are thinking.
All the advice I've given is for the earlier 84-87 Headlight assemblies.
Not only that, both Gens are easy to fix....I'm not sure there is a "harder" one out of the two.
Be careful, just a bit of misinformation contained within this thread.
Yes, That Sticky thread DID commingle both generations of the headlight assembly.
There has been one mistake when giving advice from me on an '84....and that guys (PappyFreeBird if you want to know who) issue turned out to be that the previous owner had swapped his old Gen assemblies with a new Gen assemblies. He bought the two gears ahead of time and when he opened up the motors, he needed the new spacers.
Of course you can make the spacers from material at Home Depot or Lowes.
So, Pappy used the new White gears and was back on the road after a two hour (rain) delay while he figured out how to buy and make those spacers.
Don't get confused however, your older Gen does not have these spacers that deteriorate. So purge your mind of that subject.
All the advice I've given is for the earlier 84-87 Headlight assemblies.
Not only that, both Gens are easy to fix....I'm not sure there is a "harder" one out of the two.
Yes, That Sticky thread DID commingle both generations of the headlight assembly.
There has been one mistake when giving advice from me on an '84....and that guys (PappyFreeBird if you want to know who) issue turned out to be that the previous owner had swapped his old Gen assemblies with a new Gen assemblies. He bought the two gears ahead of time and when he opened up the motors, he needed the new spacers.
Of course you can make the spacers from material at Home Depot or Lowes.
So, Pappy used the new White gears and was back on the road after a two hour (rain) delay while he figured out how to buy and make those spacers.
Don't get confused however, your older Gen does not have these spacers that deteriorate. So purge your mind of that subject.