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I went to turn off my head lights the other day and heard this terrible noise. My mechanic said it was the head light gear. He wants to sell me a whole new assembly for $550. I want to just replace the gear and he said they don't last. What should I believe because I can buy the kit for $60 and probably install for $100.
There are lots and lots of post on this here. Replace the plastic gear with a brass one. It will last the life of your corvette. Do it yourself and you will begin to understand how to maintain it.
If you are mechanically inclined it is possible to repair the problem at no cost and a minimum of work. If you locate where the actuating arm attaches to the motor, remove the nut holding the arm, and remove the arm noting the way it aligns to the motor. There is an eccentric on the shaft you can feel and see, turn the manual operating **** while watching the eccentric rotate 180 degree's. Reattach arm and retainer nut. Your now using the other half of the stock gear, that was previously untouched. Much easier than changing gears, when unnecessary. If they go out again, then replacement would be necessary.
In addition to the above post, whether you decide to rotate 180 degrees or decide to replace the plastic gear with the brass one, when you disconnect the actuating arm, take a moment to notice the orientation of the bend in the actuating arm and put it back on in the same orientation. Headlight will not operate properly if you reverse the orientation.
What year C5 do you have? GM changed the construction of the headlight motors starting in 2000. They went to a plastic housing setup which while still using similar type gearing as the earlier C5s the housing itself can often be a weak point. Worse yet, many early C5s have the later style when owners would go to replace entire motor assemblies since the plastic style housing eventually superseded the earlier style.
At a glance, you can tell what style motor you have by the image below;
(image (c) Rodney Dickman)
On the left is the early type and on the right is the later type.
Rebuilding these is not difficult and I've rebuilt plenty in my F-body/Fiero days (the C5 uses a similar design as developed for the last gen Firebird and gen 2 Fiero motors). I cannot suggest enough that you source a gear kit from Rodney Dickman. He produces some real quality parts and his headlight gear kits in particular are real good.
Another vote for Rodney Dickman! You received good advice in the previous posts. 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 step-by-step directions 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.
Head light motor gear replacement
Another vote for Rodney Dickman! You received good advice in the previous posts. Let me just add some links so you have more info on hand.
