I have a problem with the headlights on my 88. When I turn the lights on they roll over about half way. If I push them as the are coming around the passenger side will stay up. The driverside falls right back down when I hit a bump. However, last weekend they worked fine. I didn't even have to push them over. Should I get the headlight motors rebuilt, or is there something else that I should look for? :cheers:

 

Get the nylon bushing kits from MAD or Eckler's.

If they feel "mushy" when you push on them, it's the bushings.

You will have to remove the motor assembly and open up the gear case to access the three bushings. These turn to powder over time.

You will need a long Torx wrench or ball driver to remove one of the Torx bolts that hold the motor assy to the frame.

 

Yeah, they do feel kind of mushy. I have thought about rebuilding them myself but I just don't know what I might be getting into. I 've never done anything with headlight motors. Is it hard to replace the bushings? I was thinking of just sending them to mid-america and letting them do, but if it is easy then I'll do it and save some $$. Thanks for you help! :cheers:

 

I haden't done it till about a year ago; now I've done both.

The hardest part was getting the headlight assembly off the car and then getting the motor & gear off the headlight frame.

After that you just remove three bolts and pull the gear and bushings out of the motor body (have some newspaper ready to catch the nylon powder from disintegrated nylon). You don't actually take apart the motor, just remove the lower gear case cover.

I had to sand down the diameter of the new nylon bushings a little to get them to fit into the gear case, but no big deal (that was the easy part).

If you turn a wrench, replacing those bushings won't be a big deal; it's mechanical not electrical.

 

Cool. Thanks for e-mailing me back about the headlights. Where did you get your rebuild kit from? Mid-America? Well, thanks again for the help. Keep 'Vettin' my man! :cool:

 

I think mid america was about the cheapest.you want to replace the gear as well as the bushings.

 

Black88vette,

There is a complete writeup in the CF Tech Tip section. Download that article & print it out. It does a nice job of explaining everything. You can get the delrin bushings made specifically for the C4 headlights from Ecklers for $4.99 per side. Each side needs 3 bushings and each kit contains the 3 you need per side. It is also possible to use nylon spacers After buying the kit for one side from Eckler's I matched them to 27/64" x 29/64" nylon spacers from Home Depot (UPC 30699-87278). So far both sides work fine on my 88.

I don't think the Tech Tip article mentions that to do the headlights yourself you will need a 1/8" punch. You need it to remove a set pin. Pretty easy job. First headlight might take a couple of hours if you are very careful and work slowly like I do. The second one will take less than an hour easy.

It was mentioned that you might need a new gear also. If you have an 88 you do not need a new gear. For 88+ the factory gear is nylon and does not go bad. The special gell inside the gear deterioates and that is what you are "replacing" with the spacers. My brother bought the metal gear for his 89 and upon disassembly found that it wasn't needed. Same was true for my 88. Pre 88 C4s have a slightly different internal setup and sometimes they need new gears. That is who should consider buying the metal gear before starting the job. -Good Luck.

 

Definitely download the tech tips and read thoroughly!

On the 88 and up, after yu remove the headlight assy from the car, all you have to do is remove the three small bolts that hold the face of the gear drive case on and take the face off, carefully. Then pull the large gear and you will see what's left of your bushings.

The "big" post on tech tps is pre 88 and will have you doing a lot of difficult things you don't need to do.

There's a second, smaller post that deals with 88's

if you have questions, e mail me. It shouldn't take over an hour to replace

Jack