I've got an 86 and recently my passenger side headlight started acting up. When I pull the headlight switch to "on", occasionally the light would not rotate, but the seal beam would illuminate.

Sometimes, I would wait and it would, on its own, rotate; on other times it wouldn't.

Other times I would press on the headlight in the rear part (toward the windshield) and after a few moments the light would rotate in four increments. First about 1/4 open, then 1/2, then 3/4 and finally all the way.

During the times it wouldn't open even when pressing on it, I would pop the hood and very slightly turn the manual raising **** and the light would rotate open, again in four steps.

Has anyone had this problem before? If so what's the fix?

I don't know if I'm dealing with a motor problem; gear problem or something else.

Thanks for any advice.

Jake


[Modified by JAKE, 10:35 AM 10/22/2003]

 

Sounds to me like a stripped gear.....it may be "grabbing" at times and other times just spinning.

 

Hello Jake!!!
With my 86,I had similar symptoms some years back with the 86 motors and it was the magnets in the motor coming apart.The gears were fine.Its real easy to take the motor out and inspect it and the magnetic housing plus check the gears.

If it makes a difference,I did the 88 and up headlight motor upgrade several years back and its been working great.

 

The headlight bushings are failure-prone on 86's, too. You can get them from MAD and Eckler's among other vendors along with instructions on how to replace. Good afternoon project for sure. :seeya

 

had a similiar problem and found that the relays were the issue. ther is a small contact inside the motor (depending on what model year). i replaced it with direct contact to motor.. and install new module from newer year..check the tech info note on this forum for wiring details and fix for your headlites.. i have extra module available. if you need one.
check here for bushing replacement: https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=156&TopicID=2
check here for motor repair: https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=16&TopicID=2
upgrade driving lites: https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=52&TopicID=2
upgrade module and harness: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=577724
hope this will work for u! :thumbs:

 

Thanks for all the advice guys and gals.

Getting out of the car to tickle the headlight to open has become a real pain. Guess I'll order gears and bushings first and have at it.

If it turns out to be the relay, I'll give you a holla, Bev.

Jake

 

no problem Jake...glad i can help :seeya

 

lucky you and the CF does it again... :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

i would not do that just yet
first thing you want to do is switch the left side relay with the right side, and see if the problem crops up on the other side... however, usually when the relay is at fault, the headlights don't work at all

then you want to have someone turn on the headlights while you stand beside the problematic one and listen... is the motor turning while the light is staying down? if so, then you have a stripped gear... order a replacement set in metal... this is a likely cause of your problem since it would explain why the light goes up in increments

another possibke cause is general wear and tear on the armature, field magnets, and brushes
is the motor difficult to turn by hand at all? if so, a magnet might have come unstuck from the metal casing
it's also possible you have a badly worn brush in the motor that's not touching

after checking the relays, your best course of action is to remove and dissassemble the motor - you will have to do this to replace the gears anyways

 

Hi I had the same thing happen it is the small gear BUT DONT BUY IT FROM ECKLERS get it from MID AMERICA its a better gear buy the way buy both of them :cool: :cheers:

 

Thanks again for all the advice.

The relay check-out advice sounds like a winner to me and I'll try that first.

Here's my other dilemma: My car is a daily driver (hard to carry home bags of groceries on my motorcycle) so I would rather not have to remove the headlight, disassemble it to find the problem then have to reassemble and reinstall it then order and wait for the new parts to arrive.

My plan is to order the most probable culprits and when they arrive, do the headlight removal, etc. That way the car will not be down for night time use. If I end up with ordered parts I do not need, I can send them backor hang on to them for future use.

If it turns out to be the parts I've ordered, then I'm home free. If not, then I'd be stuck with either not driving at night until the correct parts arrive or reassembling everything and reinstalling. See what I mean.

I've done a little research on the problem and I find that:

Metal gears are not specifically recommended for the 86 because of the plastic motor case which will crack if the metal gears bind; later years have metal motor cases so metal gears are okay for them. If the motor case cracks, it's new motor time.

There are no bushings offered for the 86, but there are for later years; later year Vettes come from the factory with some sort of heavy gel that dries out over time causing the gears to free-wheel. Those with gel can be replaced with bushings.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Just called me "Blinky".

Jake

 

First replace the bushings for BOTH Headlights cuz if its happening to one, the other one's probably not too far behind unless you know for a fact the other one was fitted with new bushings separately and recently when the first was not. They're very cheap items. If that doesn't work, go for a new motor gear replacement in that light. If all else fails it may just be a bad motor, but that's the LEAST likely of any headlight situation. Try the easy fixes first. Mid America sells all the parts you need. Also, even if it boils down to an actual headlight motor replacement....instead of having a chevy dealer do it and rip you off BIG, send your headlight motors to MiD America and they'll do it for a fraction of the cost. I think it's like 1/3 of the cost a Chevy dealer would charge. GL man. :chevy

 

you can disassemble it to check out the problem and put it back together once they do

now that i've done it a few times, it doesnt take me longer than 15 minutes to install a motor and align the cover