got one, left hand, that thumps 5 or 6 times every time it opens or closes. Is that an easy fix?

Also have a couple of stripped bolts in the hardtop at the windshield. I'm hoping they are replaceable, and that it's the bolts not the tap plates that get replaced. Any guidance there? Thanks.

 

Noisy headlight is due to a stripped gear. Do a search, there are 2 vendors of brass/aluminum gears, an easy fix, but takes some time.

Can't help with targa bolts/threads, sorry.

 

Check out the Tech section>Ultimate DIY sticky

 

Scroll down to Headlight Gears. All the info you need.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ngths-etc.html

 

Search Rodney Dickman - brass gears - get two one for each side - and you are good to go!

 

Did a little more reading, looked like pulling three bolts would remove the motor, but gave up and pulled the entire headlight assy. an arthritic spine can only take sitting on a tire for so long. it's been messed with. The cover gasket was hanging out, and there were a couple of missing bolts. Pulled the cover and sure enough, lots of nylon dust. Looks like I have to drive a pin out of the shaft to remove a crank end,then the motor should be free from the headlight body and I'm almost good to go. I assume then that the shaft and gear come out the cover direction with a couple of light taps. I'm curious as to what controls the power to the motor. I'm guessing the motor armature floats against a spring load and when the headlight reaches the stop in either direction, a force slightly higher than the spring load drives the armature in one direction or the other and interrupts the current to shut the motor down. If that's the case the end play may be critical. Too much load, read travel, and you tear up the gear. Too little load and the headlight may not complete it's travel. I see that the end play is adjustable. Does anybody have a spec for free play?

I appreciate the enlightenment. My last Corvette was a C1 '62 fuelie 4 speed, and much easier to work on than this one. Thought it was easier to get in and out of as well but that may not be a fair assessment. The body is much less flexible at 70 than it was at 23.

How do I move this post. The car is a C4, not a C5

 

Well, the gear was fine. It was the pins that are dust. And all my surmising about how they worked (above) was made during a huge brain fart. Found out that one of the electronic brains moniters the motor for amperage and shuts the motor off when the amperage reaches a given value. Slow learner I guess. Now all I have to do is try to remember where I saw the delrin pins.

 

Look VERY CLOSELY at the gears, check EVERY tooth. The stripped gears are only 2-3 teeth. They only strip at the end of movement, when they hit the up or down stops (usually the down stop).

In fact, if you look at one of the brass gear websites, they tell you that you can rotate the gear 180 degrees and it will last for quite a while.

The headlight module (a black box), located near the passenger headlight shuts off the current to the motors when they hit the stops and draw a lot of current.

If your "thumping" sounds like a machine gun for about 5 seconds you have a stripped gear.

 

Maybe this thread will help you with the delrin pins. No need to apolgize for this being in the wrong thread. Trust me we won't hold it against you.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-g...wink-wink.html

 

Did that with my C5 and way over a year it's still going up and down. Still that brutal gear noise though. Even ordered the brass gear but not looking forward to the job.

 

I'm confused now. This is for a C4 ! I checked the OP's profile and it lists a C4. Did the OP post in wrong section? I don't know how similiar the C4 headlight mechanism is to the C5 ?

 

At first glance the gear looked pretty good. Just went and looked at it closely. Still looks good. No tooth wear visible at all but the pins were shot. A lot of powder, and the biggest piece looked about the size of a BB.If I had to guess at the frequency of the noise, I'd guess it to be maybe twice a second at most. I'm surprised it worked at all. I appreciate your help.

 

Found some pins. Couldn't find 'em here but did on Ebay. Bought a set of 3 for $5, then found a set of 6 for $2.99. Now all I have to do is wait for the postman. Then onto backup lights, antennas, Bose stereo and Targa top screws.

 

First, the C4 motor doesn't remove as easily as apparently the C5 does. I had to remove the whole headlight assy. before I could get the motor off. The motor mounting screws are a bear to get to. Then, the crankarm is held onto the output shaft of the motor with a 3/16" roll pin and there' no way that I would attempt to remove that in the underhood position. There is a zinc die cast part pressed onto the other end of the shaft with three pockets in it 120 degrees apart. There is a triangular pocket molded into the back face of the gear and the three delrin rods fit both in the zinc part and the apexes of the triangle, which are rounded to accept the rods. The C5 gear has a cross molded into the back face of it instead of a triangle and the pressed on diecast part is replace with a welded stamping. The stamping has four fingers bent over that fit into a rubber piece or pieces, I'm not sure, which in turn fit over the cross in the gear. I think the idea behind the change was noise reduction, rubber damped, rather than hard plastic to hard plastic.

 

In the C5 the drive gear (worm gear) is metal, only the driven gear is plastic. One reason the driven gear strips.

 

That's the way it is on the C4 as well. The worm is metal, the bull gear is plastic, with the triangular section inside. It drives the output shaft through the 3 delrin rods which rest at the apexes of the triangle and nest inthe three corresponding cavities in the die cast piece that is pressed onto the output shaft.

 

Thanks for the thread, I need to fix mine as well!

 

i have new OEM hl motors for sale @$289 / set if you need them
rimexlighting@yahoo.com
charles 765 635 7949