Ever since I bought my 87 Coupe three years ago the headlights were in the open position. The guy I bought it from said HE bought it like that. I found the harness was disconnected on both sides. So I rotated them by hand to the closed position, connected the harness on both sides, switched on the lights and they would not rotate. So I took out the driver's side headlight motor, opened it and found the gears were not broken. I closed the motor and rigged it to the battery and it rotated. So I concluded that motor works. I assembled the headlight. Then I disconnected the harness on the driver's side and used a test light . When I connected the test light to an outside and the middle terminal the light went on. Then I connected the test light to the other outside terminal and the middle terminal and the light did not go on. So, I switched on the lights and the test light went on. That proves that the switch works, and the polarity is OK (I have been told that polarity changes to make the motor run in both directions). Note: I checked all the fuses and they were OK. I changed the three relays for the headlight motors and they still do not rotate. Do I have to manually close the headlight to "reset" the system? If the driver's side motor works when connected to the battery, why doesn't it work when I switch on the light with the new relays? Any help will be appreciated.

 

Unplug the headlight motors. On the LH, jump 12 v to the green and white terminals, neg on the white and the door will open . Jump 12v to green and grey, neg on the green and the door will close. If the door doesn't open and close, then you have problems inside the motor. The motor has a reversing switch that can wear out and bushings that can wear out. On the RH, jump 12v to the green/wh and white/blk, neg on the white and the door will open. Jump 12v to the red and the green/wh, neg on the green and the door will close. If the doors open and close, then power is not being applied to the motors from the door relays. Place a 12v lamp on the sockets and observe if it lights up when the headlight sw is on or off (use the same color wires described above). I recommend using a light bulb because a voltmeter draws extremely small current and if there is resistance in the circuit, the voltmeter will read 12v, but the lamp will not light because it draws much more current and a resistance in the circuit will not deliver 12v to the lamp.
Let me know what you find and if you need further help, post your findings.

 

Thanks, jfb. Early tomorrow I will try your suggestions and let you know. :thumbs: