The light goes up and down. Its just that at the end of travel, it glitches as though it does not know it has reached the stops. For like 10 seconds, it attempts to continue (even though hs reached the limit) and then it stops. It does this in both directions.
So is there an adjustment or is the unit just shot and in need of repair?
Thanks for your time.

 

Tourettes

 

Your right. It doesnt cuss and say cool stuff. Its more like seizures.

 

When you turn on and off the Headlights they do their travel but when they Hit their Stops the actuator motors keep running. Sounds like Pucks/Bushings Possibly the Gear Sets are worn out inside the Actuators, Is there a White Dusty Oatmeal under the Headlights on the frame? Sometimes times when the Headlights act up this is present.

If you are at all Handy with a Tool you can do the repair Yourself in about 1HR. per side and you have the Later Style Actuator.

 

So the motor keeps churning even though its reached its full range? And does it do that in one direction or does it hit the stop and go back and forth? What year car? Agree with Carter

 

It does it in both directions. This car is a 96 Collectors Edition.
I really appreciate all the help i get from this community. You guys are awesome!

 

'96 CE here too, doing the same. Based on research done (mostly here on this excellent forum), I've come to the conclusion it is time to change out the pucks and maybe the gear. Good luck with yours.

 

You as well. Thank you sir.

 

 

The video was excellent!

 

I'd agree with that. My plastic ones looked good coming out until someday I looked at it with a light and saw hairline cracks. IDK how much longer they are going to keep making them so I'd get bronze or brass or whatever metal they are.

 

For what it is worth:

Even though buying the brass gears may seem to be a great idea. I think of it as now there is no point where it can fail if it needs to fail without wiping out the motor itself.

I do not care if it is a two wire or three wire motor. I put back in what was designed to go back in.

IF the motor is the two wire design and you are installing those pellets that are hard white plastic. I would keep the white plastic gear. I want a point where it can wear and fail and not damage the motor or its bearing in any way.

I install the same solid pellets that will powder and break up like the facotry used.

And ...this is an area that is completely open to a persons interpretation. Becasue if it is 10+ years til you have to do it again...depending on how much you drive at night or need your headlights up. I do not see what the big deal is....because they are not that hard to do.

DUB

 

I understand that is more than one way to do something.

All I can say is that video is laughable.

Using a flat blade on a Torx screw...need I say more. And I wondered who it was that messed up all of those Torx fasteners I have had to deal with.

There was nothing wrong with the white plastic gear. It was the pellets that disintegrated into a powder. That is what those pellets are designed to do. It saved the gear. The reason I know it was not the plastic gear itself...is becasue the headlight assembly fully rotated. IF the gear was wiped out...it would have stopped its swing when it hit that area on the gear that was wiped out and it would just sit there and hang.

Using a drill bit to knock out a roll pin is asking for trouble. Hopefully any of you who follow this practice do not run into the roll pin snapping in half (long ways) and then it can not be used and you have to go get another one. Use the correct tool for the job. They do make roll pin punches.





Disconnecting the wiring harness for the headlights and not correctly securing it to the side marker light like GM did....is just asking for problems.

On that year model..there is a fuse that can be taken out right by the left side marker light that turns off the under hood lights. So no need on disconnecting the wiring connectors.





The way I do it...There is NO NEED to remove the entire headlight assembly to do this on either headlight motor design. That way...you do not have to try to get them set back in with good gaps.

Best of luck to those who do this.

DUB

 

2 questions

1. I've seen pellets disintegrated often in posts and personal experience. I've even had gears crack. Has anyone see much of gears being the sacrificial part of the motor? If anything I'd think it would be the pellets

2. Just because it isn't too bad to do in 10 years, how can anyone be sure they will be making the gears? Even reproduction parts are being obsoleted so who can say they are available next year or the year after?

 

Dawww, someone doesn't like Chris Fix. Point being, video is a GUIDE, not a bible or a manual.





I have friends who have those plastic gears strip. If you want the brass gears, just get the brass gears and check the box that the job is done. And absolutely, parts availability sucks. I'll pay for the metal gears with the plastic pellets. Who knows what the availability will be in 10 years, but I put more faith in metal lasting than I do plastic. I can always shave new pellets if need be, but I sure cant cast new gears or carve them from some plastic

 

Nothing in life is for certain. I do not worry about the 'what if's' in life. If I did I would go crazy. The same holds true to unique one color interior packages. So I guess a person should buy 20 gears and 20 pellets and 2 motor assemblies for each side now while they can. I myself would not. This part is so inexpensive to reproduce and the need for it will not go away.I seriously doubt the these parts would ever be a concern.

Heck..now-a-days..a 3D printer can make one. Or at least the master plug so mold can be made....or even the mold and they can be casted form it.

I bought numerous GM plastic molded vacuum hose assemblies for the L98's and LT1's when they were still available. Now...you cannot buy them and I have them sitting on a shelf with a GM tag on them. If I did that with many parts that I WISHED I had. I would be a millionaire buy doing just that.

DUB

 

That's different but I haven't been observing every post on headlights. Good to know.

 

I guess my thought process was that it is the same effort today. Might as well put a longer lasting one in while I have the chance.

I honestly don't know one way or the other but seeing how a lot of parts have gone away, I'm not sure if it is worth chancing it.

I'm sure it can. I'm just not the patient sort to wait with a broken part while someone makes one up.

Parts counter, before they lost their GM franchise would say "OBSOLETE" or "They are over their credit limit (Amex)" whenever he saw me. Often he was right. I would have made an offer on the hoses I needed instead of trying to get something from a junkyard but all of my hoses are generic and not really formed after I redid my motor.

 

Yeah but I do not even think it is even classifies itself as a GUIDE. There is enough 'butchery' done on Corvettes every day by people who do not use the correct tool for the job...or the correct procedure when a repair is made. I know this because I deal in it just about every day.

Actually this video may be great for many people so they can see they also can use whatever they have laying around for tools to take something apart. Why spend money on tools when I do not have to.

As for the gears..I have expressed my views on that and those who choose to use what they feel is they best option is up to them and then they can live with the outcome in the future.

Simple as that.

DUB

 

After a forum member stiffed me on some plastic gears (Could have been an honest mistake.) I picked up two of the brass kits from a local corvette shop.

The quality was really low on them. To the point I had to lathe the plastic bushings down to get them to fit in the gears.

I forget who made them now, but they're kinda pricey so take a good look at them before you buy.

I had them for maybe a year before I unpackaged them and really checked them out.

Sil-Glyde seems to work well as a replacement for the dried up grease.

It did immediately fix the "tourettes" condition you describe..