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I have been reading posts by searching and can't find the answer. I just bought this 2003 and wanted to clean the headlights without turning them on. So I tried raising the passenger side and evidently was turning the wrong direction and the cover broke off. Now it won't go up. I did the same to drivers side and was able to man. raise without a problem. They both worked fine the last two days. Thanks, I suspect you guys have read these posts hundreds of times.
I do believe you can raise headlights by turning on and then turn switch back to parking light. It will stay up with the light off.
I knew that, I'm having issues with the battery also so wanted all lights off while I did this. Just need to know if I broke the gear? Or is there something else to try, I checked the fuse and that is good. It worked the last 2 days without a problem.
Does the healight motor make any grinding noise or anything when you turn them on? The worm gear that the **** is attached to is made of metal so I doubt you hurt that at all. The big gear that runs with the worm gear is most likely the plastic one and that may have been damaged. Do you have a picture of what part you pulled off? I'm assuming it's the **** on the top of the motor though. Have you tried to maybe gently pull up on the headlight when you have them on? Maybe it's just stuck a little since you turned it the wrong way?
No, I don't hear any noises when turning the headlights on. Yes, it was the **** that broke off, that's what puzzled me about it not working because the **** is outside of the motor-gearbox-housing. I have to leave soon but when I get back home I'll try helping it. I understand what you mean about going too far. It surprised me when I turned it because I must have turned it 3-4 full revs before I could feel anything and I just assumed I was taking out backlash. As soon as I turned it further it broke off. Thanks
Sounds like your gear mechanism could have been temporily jammed or possibly something was blocking the motion of the bucket at the time. The way the manual actuation works is that you can turn it continuously in either direction indefinitely and, if working properly, the headlight bucket will just continue to cycle up and down. There is no stop built into the manual rotating assembly - turning the **** rotates the worm which, in turn, spins the plastic worm gear which just continues to spin as long as you continue to turn the ****.
I have seen pieces of plastic gear teeth that have broken off the worm gear and, if this happened to your setup, could possibly jam the worm/gear set. Continuing to force the **** at that point could be destructive.
Here's a pic of mine to illustrate that:
And the thread I posted about how to change the plastic gears out with a brass equivalent.
Thanks for the info on the gears, I suspect that is what the problem is.
It seems so, with the additional complication of the broken ****. Do you think the **** can be reattached? I can't tell from the picture.
Let me just add some links so you have more info on hand.
There are several kits available to replace these plastic gears, but this one is one of the best (pay attention because there are 2 different kits: one for "97 to early 2000" and another for "late 2000 to 2004"). Read these great step-by-step directions from Patches to understand what's involved. If you have to replace the gears and you decide to go the DIY route, you could save money and they will last forever
You might need these as well (the rubber bump stops).
There is a TSB, that calls for shimming the driver's side motor. The parts needed for this are included in the above mentioned kit.
I am not sure I am reading you right. Are the lights working now? Is it possible the **** you say broke off is only off its thread as my experience is they thread on but has a left hand thread (counter clock wise) Really don't know what you could have broken as the assembly is almost bullet proof and sounds as if you did not force anything. Let us know.
I doubt it could be reattached with any luck. The area that broke is only about 3/16" square. I appreciate all of this information. I plan on driving it in the morning then will probably leave it in the garage for the rest of the winter so will have plenty of time to work on it.
The lights did work, I just wanted to raise them manually. So when I tried, it appears that I broke the **** off. In the very middle of the **** I can see it is broken off. The square area in the very center of the **** towards the gear housing is very small, about 3/16" square, and it looks very much like it is broken off. You can see were it would go into the gear housing where it was attached.
Your rotors look really rusty. Did you wash all the road chemicals off them. That crap really eats them up. Replaced the rotors twice on my GMC because of corrosion.
My guess is that you've jammed the mechanism by turning it so tight that it broke the **** off. Since the light won't raise now, you've got to put on your thinking cap. You state that the shaft appears to be square and about a 3/16" opening. If it were me, I'd proceed one of two ways. I'd either use a flat screwdriver inserted diagonally (corner to corner) into the shaft opening and use that to turn it or I'd find a hex or square socket like one of these
And this time remember, righty tighty, lefty loosy....
Counter clockwise to raise, clockwise to lower.
If the broken shaft is round inside, then if any of the shaft is available, use a dremel tool and cut two notches in it, 180 degrees apart (across from each other). Then use a flat blade screwdriver that's large enough to catch both notches. Turn to the LEFT (counter clockwise) to raise the motor. Once it starts to raise, you can use the normal light switch to make it open and close normally. As stated above, to clean your lights, raise them normally then turn the switch to park lights and the headlights will go out but remain raised. GL.
Last edited by CactusCat; Jan 1, 2016 at 11:10 PM.
yup, on the rotors. I bought the car in Bloomington,MN. Flew there this Tuesday and drove it home to Michigan. There was a lot of salt on the roads because of the storm earlier this week. I'm going to pull the wheels and clean.
If you want to replace the broken **** you could try talking to Marc at VetteNut,net. He is a great Forum vendor here.
Mr. Sam
PS: I agree, a pretty combination which you can only get with a convertible. That's the only reason I bought mine except it is in Navy Blue with the same Light Oak top and interior.
OK, so I had a few minutes this morning to look at it more closely. I think you can see in the picture the center of the **** that appears to be broken. I measured it and it's round and only .150" dia. But if you look in the housing it appears square. Awfully small to transmit any amount of torque. I was thinking maybe I could drill and tap for a screw however I can't see anyway to keep it from turning when I tap it.
I'll try and center drill and pick some out to get a square driver in there like you suggested. I guess at this point I can't hurt it.
The picture is the inside of the ****, as you can see there aren't any threads inside and what it attaches to is not threaded either. Perhaps the part that broke off in the housing is threaded although the end in the housing appears to be square.
Thanks
Headlight, did I break it
