So my drivers side headlight didn't open up the other day so I had to turn the dial to get it up to drive home from work. When I got home, I turned the lights off and they both dropped but I had the worst noise you can imagine. I have since, turned the lights on and lowered it back down with the ****. When I turn the lights off, it still makes that god aweful noise. Before, at dusk I would turn my light **** one click so my fogs would light up and my switchbacks would turn clear. Pop Ups would stay closed. Now even at that position the pop ups go up but the headlights stay off. Is my gear bad and I need the brass ones?
What can i do for now to get rid of that noise? I'm lost here.

 

It is the Jackhammer sound!!!!

 

headlight gear is stripped...you have the right idea to replace it with a brass one. Same thing happened to me...hated the noise and didn't want to manually raise the lights - so in the mean time I left the lights in the up position and removed the fuses.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...orialized.html

 

I would call MSI in roseville,I sure they have fixed this problem at sometime. http://www.motorsportimage.com/

 

This might be your problemHeadlight gears
The gears in the headlight motor are plastic, and wear out over time. Ice, heavy Euro or projector headlights and twilight sentinal will cause the gears to wear out quickly. Fortunately a few years ago, Rodney started selling replacement brass gears, check out his website. Corvette America and probably a few other vendors now sell their own copy of his brass gears. Here’s a thread that shows how to replace the gears.

Replacement nylon gears are also available from Motormite Help!, part #42400 for $10-13. Src

To replace:

Quote:
Originally Posted by MyBlueC5
Src
Raise the headlamps.

Remove the screws that hold the plastic bezel around the headlamp.

Remove (3) 10mm bolts holding the motor to the headlamp assy. (one is a bolt with a nut on the end, the other two are just bolts)

Unplug the wiring to the motor.

Remove (3) 7mm bolts holding the cover for the gear.

Replace gear, reinstall.

Literally a 10 minute fix.

…it is completely unnecessary to remove the headlamp assy to pull the motor off to get to the gear.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pattymelt1285
Src
At first my driver’s side headlight would only come halfway up and I would have to get out of the car, turn the headlights on then manually pull up the light. After a few weeks it would not even go up or down at all. I decided to order some new brass gears. After much research I decided to buy them from www.bfranker.badz28.com

The gears from bfranker do not use the stock rubber inside the gear. Good thing, because when I pulled out the stock gear and it was fine! But the rubber bumper was destroyed! With bfrankers gears you don’t have to retain the stock rubber bumper. In this picture you can see the good stock gear on the left on the bad one on the right, also notice it broke the plastic tabs inside the gear that keep the rubber bumper from spinning:



Pic of the stock gear and stock rubber bumper:


Picture of bfrankers gear:


Installed:


Rodney Dickman's gear:


Installed with rubber bumper:


I would go with bfrankers, because with his gear it eliminates the rubber bumper. On 97-99 Corvettes the motor case unbolts with 3 bolts, but on 00+ they are sealed and with bfrankers kit he even includes the epoxy to close the motor case as does Rodneys. I am not ******* on Rodney’s gears, but I am just letting you guys know what else is out there. Bfrankers kit is $43 shipped for one gear kit, or $81 shipped for two. The install only took about 45 min and they work perfect now. More info and instructions for bfrankers gear can be found here:

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/index.htm

The install is almost the same as the 93-97 Trans Am in the instructions.

Info for Rodneys gear:

http://www.rodneydickman.com/corvette.html

 

Thanks for the tip on the fuses. I just raised the lights and pulled em' so it will at least get rid of the jackhammer.

Where is the best place to buy the rebuild kits?

 

http://www.rodneydickman.com/corvette.html

 

I just did mine on my 01. Not bad at all most of time was waiting for the excellent adhesive to dry. Very well made kit. Has everything you need to do the job. I went ahead and ordered two kits and did them both at the same time. Goodluck!!

 

Nylon gear is the noise you are hearing. I bought the kit from http://rodneydickman.com
using the brass gears. Kit comes complete with all the items needed including the gear, lube, and adhesive.

Also, check out this video,

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/C...amp_136150.htm

so you can get an idea on how to replace the gear.
I did both headlights on my car. Did one making the noise one day and did the other the next day. Easy to do and no special tools needed.

 

If it's not the gear, then it's the motor. Figure $500. installed each.

 

definitely the gears. I swapped mine out with the brass ones from Rodney about a year ago.
Not a tough project at all and there were some really great walk-throughs here on the forum.

Good luck.

 

You can save weight by using a Fierro nylon gear and it's only like $14. It's a Motormight Help! part available at O'rielly, Autozone or what have you. Forget the part number, but if you search in Gen or Tech, you should be able to find it.