Headlight motor replacement
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
Headlight motor replacement
Has anyone used an aftermarket headlight motor rather than replacing just the gear in their OEM motor? If so, do they hold up?
I have to do my driver's side and I'm looking at ~$50 for a gear kit or ~$60-80 for an entire aftermarket motor. I'm completely fine spending $20 extra to make it a quicker job since I have PLENTY of more important projects backed up that I'd rather get to. Just curious if they have any quirks or just don't last. My car sees a few thousand miles a year with maybe 40% of those being at night, I don't think I'll be wearing out even a cheap motor anytime soon. I just want to make sure it's not going to need to be replaced sooner than later haha. I'd be annoyed if I replaced a $50 gear in a 20 year old motor and the motor crapped out soon anyway.
I have to do my driver's side and I'm looking at ~$50 for a gear kit or ~$60-80 for an entire aftermarket motor. I'm completely fine spending $20 extra to make it a quicker job since I have PLENTY of more important projects backed up that I'd rather get to. Just curious if they have any quirks or just don't last. My car sees a few thousand miles a year with maybe 40% of those being at night, I don't think I'll be wearing out even a cheap motor anytime soon. I just want to make sure it's not going to need to be replaced sooner than later haha. I'd be annoyed if I replaced a $50 gear in a 20 year old motor and the motor crapped out soon anyway.
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 60
Likes: 29
From: las vegas nv
a few years ago i bought 2 Cardone motors, they lasted about 2 years in my daily driver. ended up buying 2 kits with the brass gears and redid them. If you plan on keeping the car just buy the kits, not much more.
Night Owl for life
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 24,725
Likes: 4,564
From: Bugs Bunny should'a made a left turn here
Firebird motors for ~$50 have been working great with a bit of re-wiring. See here:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tax-pics.html
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tax-pics.html
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 368,304
Likes: 24,776
From: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
MO Events Coordinator
St. Jude Co-Organizer
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '25
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
Moved to C5 Tech.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 24,160
Likes: 78
Has anyone used an aftermarket headlight motor rather than replacing just the gear in their OEM motor? If so, do they hold up?
I have to do my driver's side and I'm looking at ~$50 for a gear kit or ~$60-80 for an entire aftermarket motor. I'm completely fine spending $20 extra to make it a quicker job since I have PLENTY of more important projects backed up that I'd rather get to. Just curious if they have any quirks or just don't last. My car sees a few thousand miles a year with maybe 40% of those being at night, I don't think I'll be wearing out even a cheap motor anytime soon. I just want to make sure it's not going to need to be replaced sooner than later haha. I'd be annoyed if I replaced a $50 gear in a 20 year old motor and the motor crapped out soon anyway.
I have to do my driver's side and I'm looking at ~$50 for a gear kit or ~$60-80 for an entire aftermarket motor. I'm completely fine spending $20 extra to make it a quicker job since I have PLENTY of more important projects backed up that I'd rather get to. Just curious if they have any quirks or just don't last. My car sees a few thousand miles a year with maybe 40% of those being at night, I don't think I'll be wearing out even a cheap motor anytime soon. I just want to make sure it's not going to need to be replaced sooner than later haha. I'd be annoyed if I replaced a $50 gear in a 20 year old motor and the motor crapped out soon anyway.
I rebuilt them with a brass gear kit just for peace of mind and because I wanted to see how they were put together.
Last edited by wcsinx; Oct 4, 2019 at 11:05 AM.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
Firebird motors for ~$50 have been working great with a bit of re-wiring. See here:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tax-pics.html
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tax-pics.html
To my knowledge, none of those motor assemblies will come with brass gears. That's strictly an aftermarket modification. But on the other hand, my stock nylon gears lasted 16 years before the driver's side stopped reliably opening sooooo .... I rebuilt them with a brass gear kit just for peace of mind and because I wanted to see how they were put together.
I rebuilt them with a brass gear kit just for peace of mind and because I wanted to see how they were put together.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
Firebird motors for ~$50 have been working great with a bit of re-wiring. See here:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tax-pics.html
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-tax-pics.html
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 24,160
Likes: 78
Those motors are incredibly robust. I wouldn't be concerned about the vintage of the motor itself. It's the gears that give up. You can find brass gear kits on ebay for both sides in the $50-$60 range.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,470
Likes: 460
From: East Windsor NJ
I bought on ebay from an outfit Atlantic Corvette - I learned too late - note the positions of everything when you're tearing it apart 
https://www.ebay.com/str/atlanticcorvetteparts
One of the motors had excessive end play and they exchanged it no questions....
https://www.ebay.com/str/atlanticcorvetteparts
One of the motors had excessive end play and they exchanged it no questions....
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
Just ended up buying a new aftermarket one from eBay for $55. With so many backed up projects right now, it's worth a few extra bucks to not have to bust them both open to swap out the shaft and connectors haha. Fingers crossed I won't be swapping the OEM motor back into it with a new metal gear sooner than later
Racer
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 477
Likes: 48
For what it's worth, I contemplated on buying another motor or gear set when my drivers side started failing and found it to be much easier to just take the arm off of the spindle and rotate the gear 180 degrees by turning the adjustment ****. I also flipped over the two bump stops and now it works like new. I figure I'm good for another 12-15 years or so. Cost of repair---$0.00.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
For what it's worth, I contemplated on buying another motor or gear set when my drivers side started failing and found it to be much easier to just take the arm off of the spindle and rotate the gear 180 degrees by turning the adjustment ****. I also flipped over the two bump stops and now it works like new. I figure I'm good for another 12-15 years or so. Cost of repair---$0.00.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
Update for future info seekers:
I removed the OEM motor last night, rotated the shaft 180 degrees to try the other side of the gear as mentioned above, and unfortunately it just went from spinning/grinding after the lights finished going down to spinning/grinding after the light finished going all the way up. I think if maybe I would have caught it earlier like lonerider2002, it may have worked. Luckily, I had the replacement motor ready and just swapped it out. eBay aftermarket motor is working like a champ so far
I removed the OEM motor last night, rotated the shaft 180 degrees to try the other side of the gear as mentioned above, and unfortunately it just went from spinning/grinding after the lights finished going down to spinning/grinding after the light finished going all the way up. I think if maybe I would have caught it earlier like lonerider2002, it may have worked. Luckily, I had the replacement motor ready and just swapped it out. eBay aftermarket motor is working like a champ so far
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,515
Likes: 441
From: Arizona
Probably depends how many teeth are damaged as well. I don’t think rotating the motor would work for too many people. I tried that on both my motors that went bad recently (almost at the same time which is wild) and it didn’t work for either.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 747
That's probably exactly right. The good thing is, if you have a replacement motor or gear handy, it's worth taking another 10 minutes to at least give it a shot. If it works, return the replacement motor or hold on to it just in case 
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 3,275
Likes: 739
From: Miami FL
Plastic and rubber degrade with age and heat. As already mentioned, some people have had success by just rotating the motor's gearbox output shaft 180° to use the undamaged section of the plastic gear, but it's important to understand that YMMV... don't expect another 20 years 
Last edited by GCG; Oct 13, 2019 at 11:28 AM.
