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Drivers side pop up headlight just started not coming up on first try after turning on, but turn off and next try comes up as it should and will continue to pop up each time you turn on until car sits for a day. No noise like gears are stripped, buttons look OK. Electrical connection is clean and looks OK. Think motor is going out? Had car about 6 months and do not drive car at night so not a huge deal but would like to fix. Any suggestion welcomed, thanks.
Next time the car sits for a day or more, try to manually open the driver's headlight using the **** on the motor before trying the switch. Just turn it until the door begins to open, and then go and turn them ON with the switch to see if both go up now.
If manually relieving the pressure allows it to work and the motor works fine closing, while not producing the well known "rat-tat-tat" noise, chances are your motor is OK and it is just the bump stop that limit the closing action what needs to be replaced (even though it might look fine to the naked eye). The ones that limit the opening action are probably fine, but I would replace all 4 (it might be a good idea to do the same to the right side as well).
The way the headlights work is not based on predetermined positions. When the headlight doors open or close and they reach the end of their travel, they press against the corresponding rubber bump stop(s). As a result the current through the headlight motors increases and that is sensed by the Headlight Door Control Module, which in turns cuts power to the motors.
If there are missing or damaged bump stops, or they are scored too deep, the motor might keep working longer than really needed, which could result in over torque. If that happens, the next time the motor is operated it would require more torque to perform the action. That would mean more current than normal and the possible intervention of the Headlight Control Module, shutting again the motor before the door actually moves.
If you need replacements (number 4 in diagram below) you can order them from here.
In addition to that, there is a TSB for the driver's side headlight motor that calls for shimming it (number 2 in diagram below).
Next time the car sits for a day or more, try to manually open the driver's headlight using the **** on the motor before trying the switch. Just turn it until the door begins to open, and then go and turn them ON with the switch to see if both go up now.
If manually relieving the pressure allows it to work and the motor works fine closing, while not producing the well known "rat-tat-tat" noise, chances are your motor is OK and it is just the bump stop that limit the closing action what needs to be replaced (even though it might look fine to the naked eye). The ones that limit the opening action are probably fine, but I would replace all 4 (it might be a good idea to do the same to the right side as well).
The way the headlights work is not based on predetermined positions. When the headlight doors open or close and they reach the end of their travel, they press against the corresponding rubber bump stop(s). As a result the current through the headlight motors increases and that is sensed by the Headlight Door Control Module, which in turns cuts power to the motors.
If there are missing or damaged bump stops, or they are scored too deep, the motor might keep working longer than really needed, which could result in over torque. If that happens, the next time the motor is operated it would require more torque to perform the action. That would mean more current than normal and the possible intervention of the Headlight Control Module, shutting again the motor before the door actually moves.
If you need replacements (number 4 in diagram below) you can order them from here.
In addition to that, there is a TSB for the driver's side headlight motor that calls for shimming it (number 2 in diagram below).
Makes sense, I think I have to pull the black side cover to get to the bumpers and not the top painted cover? Have i got that right. Thanks for responding and your help. Went out this a.m. worked first time, go figure.
Makes sense, I think I have to pull the black side cover to get to the bumpers and not the top painted cover? Have i got that right. Thanks for responding and your help. Went out this a.m. worked first time, go figure.
Yes, just the black plastic bezel. Manually open the headlight doors and remove Fuse 3 for the right motor and Fuse 4 for the left one, in the Underhood Fuse Block, to avoid the possibility of the doors accidentally closing while your hands are there. It's tight, but doable
If there are missing or damaged bump stops, or they are scored too deep, the motor might keep working longer than really needed, which could result in over torque. If that happens, the next time the motor is operated it would require more torque to perform the action. That would mean more current than normal and the possible intervention of the control unit
Can I play devil's advocate on this please? First, out of interest, does power to both doors cut at the same time when the control unit senses current going up? The headlamp control unit is a cool little item when you open it up, I see it cleverly reverses the polarity for the motors via a special relay/contacts that you can see.
I've done quite a lot of work to my headlight doors to get them and the lamp adjusters working well and am just interested in this.
Because there isn't set pre-determined parameters I'm finding the idea of a worn or missing bump stop causing the above difficult to understand. I'd have thought stiffness or dragging on one mechanism would be more likely the problem.
Annoyingly, on mine I still have a noisy motor running on, even after replacing both gears!
Can I play devil's advocate on this please? First, out of interest, does power to both doors cut at the same time when the control unit senses current going up? The headlamp control unit is a cool little item when you open it up, I see it cleverly reverses the polarity for the motors via a special relay/contacts that you can see.
I've done quite a lot of work to my headlight doors to get them and the lamp adjusters working well and am just interested in this.
Because there isn't set pre-determined parameters I'm finding the idea of a worn or missing bump stop causing the above difficult to understand. I'd have thought stiffness or dragging on one mechanism would be more likely the problem.
Annoyingly, on mine I still have a noisy motor running on, even after replacing both gears!
Since there are 2 fuses, 3&4 as explained above, I would think they are powered separately but could be wrong.
Update and need your thoughts. Headlights pop up now on turning parking driving lights on and drivers side makes very noisy sound like gear is stripped when closed. Lights have 3 positions, off, park, and headlight. Just started last evening, when I turned to park light position both headlighs popped up and third position the headlight came on as they should and when they closed drivers side made the annoying noise like the gears were stripped. I know the sound means the gears are stripped and needs replacing but why do they pop up when the park lights position is selected??? Are the two problems related. Thanks
Update and need your thoughts. Headlights pop up now on turning parking driving lights on and drivers side makes very noisy sound like gear is stripped when closed. Lights have 3 positions, off, park, and headlight. Just started last evening, when I turned to park light position both headlighs popped up and third position the headlight came on as they should and when they closed drivers side made the annoying noise like the gears were stripped. I know the sound means the gears are stripped and needs replacing but why do they pop up when the park lights position is selected??? Are the two problems related. Thanks
Don’t know how the related thread system works on the forum but on my mobile device one comes up. Sounds like the noisy motor issue does cause the switch to pop the headlights on Park.
This issue is something I’ve recently had but I wasn’t sure if I had remembered correctly on whether or not it was actually normal for headlights to pop when Park selected. I’m working on my C5 and am yet to drive it much.
So looks like not normal, but I too have a Drrrrrr noisy motor when headlamps retract. I’d just fitted new (plastic..) gears so I don’t know why the noise persists. Anyway I got a new Firebird headlight motor this week to do the necessaries for a swap over as per
To close the loop on this issue. I replaced the entire motor with a new one and it fixed my problems I was having. Later after this post the lights started popping up when park position on stalk was selected and started grinding when closed. New motor seems to have fixed all 3 problem. Thanks
Drivers pop up headlight Erratic
