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Broken headlight motor 2000 C5

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Old Aug 5, 2023 | 04:31 PM
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Default Broken headlight motor 2000 C5

Driver side wont come up. Whoever had the car before me replaced the motors with cheap-*** amazon crap. I know what the OEM's look like and this is junk.

Anyways, I tired to manually get the headlight up by spinning the **** on the back so I can get the headlight covers off to get the motor off and the friggin **** twisted right off with barely any pressure. Circled in red below on a similar model.
So now there is just a plastic nub inside a little hole in the back of my motor that I cannot get to to turn and try to manually pop up the headlight.

I have been trying to get the motor off without being able to pop-up the headlight / taking the housing off (because I cant while it is down) and I have already lost a wrench and a socket into the great unknown of my front end.

I have tried wrapping a flat-head in a rag and manually lifting the headlight from the front but I feel like I am about to break it.

Is there any way to safely pop up the headlight with a broken **** on the headlight motor?

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Old Aug 5, 2023 | 05:16 PM
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This is out of left field but if you can drill a small hole in that "knub", thread in a screw covered in an epoxy or glue and after it sets try turning the screw and see if the assy moves.
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Old Aug 5, 2023 | 05:16 PM
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Vice grips to the rescue! Problem solved.




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Old Aug 5, 2023 | 05:40 PM
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Originally Posted by yellow2007
This is out of left field but if you can drill a small hole in that "knub", thread in a screw covered in an epoxy or glue and after it sets try turning the screw and see if the assy moves.
I almost went there but apparently the metal around the plastic inside was able to be turned to make the gear move the headlight up. Thank god.

Otherwise what I think you suggested may have been my only option outside of breaking the motor into pieces to get it out of there and make the headlight "floppy" to get the bolts on the motor and housing out.
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Old Aug 6, 2023 | 08:43 AM
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Moved to C5 Tech for further discussion.
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