C5 Headlight Inconsistency
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 19
Likes: 2
From: California
C5 Headlight Inconsistency
Rebuilt passenger side headlight mechanism a couple yrs ago with excellent advice provided by the Forum. Worked great until recently as same light occasionally does not rise. Both headlights come on and it will sometimes rise when switched on/off a few times. Can always get it to rise by manually turning mechanism a few turns and then turning on electrically. Not making any unusual noises, always closes fine.
Suspect a few of the great brains on the Forum have encountered same and hope to get a clue or two.
Suspect a few of the great brains on the Forum have encountered same and hope to get a clue or two.
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 19
Likes: 2
From: California
C5 Headlight Inconsistency
Used the Brian Franker gear. Was a little suspicious about omission of the bumper as the General seldom adds parts just for the heck of it but worked fine until recently. Seems like the bumper would provide a little tolerance for motor start vs a locked rotor start.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 261
Likes: 6
From: Alva Oklahoma
Does that gear solve your problem? I have this problem with both of mine. The headlight motors were rebuilt with some bronze gears over the pastic ones and now they will get too much tension when closed most of the time to reopen.
I can pop the hood and give the ***** a quick turn and the lights will open normally. Is it possible they were not rebuilt correctly?
I can pop the hood and give the ***** a quick turn and the lights will open normally. Is it possible they were not rebuilt correctly?
Acct Suspended APR 2026 by request
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 10,367
Likes: 1,272
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
it's brent franker... i used his gears and have the same problem, oddly enough with the passenger side motor... in my situation it is being caused because the cover on the passenger side motor keeps separating where i epoxied it and causes the gear to bind so initially the passenger light won't pop up but after a few on/off cycles it will pop up... it has happened twice and i temporarily fixed it with the motor still in the car... i have the motor out right now and i am trying a heavy duty epoxy on it and hoping it will hold for good this time
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,300
Likes: 115
From: Odessa FL
St. Jude Donor '10-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17
it's brent franker... i used his gears and have the same problem, oddly enough with the passenger side motor... in my situation it is being caused because the cover on the passenger side motor keeps separating where i epoxied it and causes the gear to bind so initially the passenger light won't pop up but after a few on/off cycles it will pop up... it has happened twice and i temporarily fixed it with the motor still in the car... i have the motor out right now and i am trying a heavy duty epoxy on it and hoping it will hold for good this time
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 161
Likes: 14
From: Florida
Rebuilt passenger side headlight mechanism a couple yrs ago with excellent advice provided by the Forum. Worked great until recently as same light occasionally does not rise. Both headlights come on and it will sometimes rise when switched on/off a few times. Can always get it to rise by manually turning mechanism a few turns and then turning on electrically. Not making any unusual noises, always closes fine.
Suspect a few of the great brains on the Forum have encountered same and hope to get a clue or two.
Suspect a few of the great brains on the Forum have encountered same and hope to get a clue or two.
it's brent franker... i used his gears and have the same problem, oddly enough with the passenger side motor... in my situation it is being caused because the cover on the passenger side motor keeps separating where i epoxied it and causes the gear to bind so initially the passenger light won't pop up but after a few on/off cycles it will pop up... it has happened twice and i temporarily fixed it with the motor still in the car... i have the motor out right now and i am trying a heavy duty epoxy on it and hoping it will hold for good this time
You can use silver dollar sized washers over the 3 bolts on the covers to keep the covers sealed. No epoxy even needed. You will NOT find an epoxy that will hold these things permanently - they just don't seem to want to bind. You can buy the T-Brace from Dickman or go to Lowes and pay $.8 a piece for a few washers and it will hold the covers on perfectly.
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 19
Likes: 2
From: California
C5 Headlight Inconsistency
Gear housing on my C5 has the screw vs epoxy cover so eliminated that possible cause. Chk'd motor this AM and it's secure to the housing also.
However, after chk'g motor the problem headlight has now opened 10 times in a row, no problems. Suspect phase-of-moon or daylight savings time as the cure......................
Imagine I will be revisiting same issue in the future.
Thx for the clues!
However, after chk'g motor the problem headlight has now opened 10 times in a row, no problems. Suspect phase-of-moon or daylight savings time as the cure......................
Imagine I will be revisiting same issue in the future.
Thx for the clues!
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Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,962
Likes: 29
From: Van Buren Arkansas
Wounded Warrior Escort '11
When assembling the motors while replacing the gear, its possible to put one of the three spacers in the wrong position. This results in the bumper stops, riding up and over the bumper, therefore causing it to jam or bind. I learned this the hard way!
