head light noise?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 932
Likes: 0
From: Las Cruces New Mexico
head light noise?
My right head light is making an awful noise when I turn the lights off. I also noticed that the dial used to manually open and close is spinning after the light is all the way down. Is this the gear problem I have read about or some thing else entirely? Suggestions on whether this is DIY fix or dealer too please. Thanks folks. 
Wil Cooksey #256
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2,814
Likes: 24
From: Sacramento Kalifornia
Originally Posted by rcknusa
My right head light is making an awful noise when I turn the lights off. I also noticed that the dial used to manually open and close is spinning after the light is all the way down. Is this the gear problem I have read about or some thing else entirely? Suggestions on whether this is DIY fix or dealer too please. Thanks folks.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 932
Likes: 0
From: Las Cruces New Mexico
Waaaay past warranty. 2000 coupe with 84K happy miles. Getting ready to drive back out to San Antonio too. Would like to eliminate the head light noise and wind noise from both windows before we leave.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 3,604
Likes: 396
From: Austin, TX
Originally Posted by rcknusa
My right head light is making an awful noise when I turn the lights off. I also noticed that the dial used to manually open and close is spinning after the light is all the way down. Is this the gear problem I have read about or some thing else entirely? Suggestions on whether this is DIY fix or dealer too please. Thanks folks.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,340
Likes: 35
From: Folsom Lake CA
One of mine did EXACTLY what yours did. I just fixed it last weekend without replacing the gear. You don't need to replace the gear if it's only recently started. All you need to do is rotate the gear 90 degrees. No cost except for epoxy to glue the gear housing cover back down. Older C5s have a screw on cover, so that would be completely free.
Search for recent posts by me, and you'll see how I did it following instructions on the web from someone else. Pictures, and even a video make it quite a simple thing to do.
Search for recent posts by me, and you'll see how I did it following instructions on the web from someone else. Pictures, and even a video make it quite a simple thing to do.
Safety Car
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 4,961
Likes: 2
From: Vette-hid.com Lost in DFW texas
Cruise-In V Veteran
Cruise-In VI Veteran
Cruise-In VII Veteran
St. Jude Donor '06-'07
Originally Posted by 50 4Ever
Yep, the dreaded gear problem... I've had it happen twice, both fixed under warranty.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 35,617
Likes: 167
Tech Contributor
Cruise-In 11 Veteran
NCM Ambassador
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'10
with the others you have a headlight gear about to fail. Have a look here.http://www.rodneydickman.com/retail_new.html
Paul
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,340
Likes: 35
From: Folsom Lake CA
I just looked at your profile. You're lucky, in that you have the year car that the motors simply come apart with screws. So, all you have to do is unscrew the screws holding the gear housing cover on, rotate the gear 90 degrees to one side, then reassemble it.
Assuming that your headlight will be in the raised position when you remove the motor, just position the bad teeth toward the front of the car. If you refer to the pic in the article referenced in the link below that shows how the gear moves, place the bad teeth somewhere between the raised and lowered positions, which is the same side as where the author of the article references the "halfway up" mark.
http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headl....htm#FreeGuide
It took me awhile to figure out what he was trying to say, and at one point I actually thought he was wrong. But after going over in my mind how the gear rotates, I confirmed he was right.
Ignore the part about prying open the cover, cause like I said, your gear housing comes apart with screws.
Assuming that your headlight will be in the raised position when you remove the motor, just position the bad teeth toward the front of the car. If you refer to the pic in the article referenced in the link below that shows how the gear moves, place the bad teeth somewhere between the raised and lowered positions, which is the same side as where the author of the article references the "halfway up" mark.
http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headl....htm#FreeGuide
It took me awhile to figure out what he was trying to say, and at one point I actually thought he was wrong. But after going over in my mind how the gear rotates, I confirmed he was right.
Ignore the part about prying open the cover, cause like I said, your gear housing comes apart with screws.
Last edited by MrLeadFoot; Feb 2, 2006 at 07:55 PM.
