After manually open/close my headlights...
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 125
Likes: 12
From: Richmond, VA
After manually open/close my headlights...
...the drivers side, upon lowering all the way, just grinds the gear for 5 seconds, then stops. They still work great, except for that. I realize gears fail, but could I have not turned the manual **** enough or too much ?
Thanks !
Thanks !
Safety Car
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
The gear is stripped. You can take it apart and flip it over to the good side, replace with bronze or aluminum gears from a number of different vendors, or just replace the whole motor. I opted to replace the whole unit on my passenger side for $53 instead of fuss with the gears and it's been fine. Everyone says the plastic gears will strip again, and that may be true, but in my mind, if the originals were good for 20 years, what more could you ask for of plastic?
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2004
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The gear is stripped. You can take it apart and flip it over to the good side, replace with bronze or aluminum gears from a number of different vendors, or just replace the whole motor. I opted to replace the whole unit on my passenger side for $53 instead of fuss with the gears and it's been fine. Everyone says the plastic gears will strip again, and that may be true, but in my mind, if the originals were good for 20 years, what more could you ask for of plastic?
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Yep, exactly the same principle.
Replacing the motor took me about 30 minutes. No taking it apart, putting it back together, waiting for it to dry... I did it after work one night and still took the car out to dinner. Can't complain.
OP - be aware that 97-2000 cars have a different motor style than 01-04s so if you go that route, just buy the right ones.
Replacing the motor took me about 30 minutes. No taking it apart, putting it back together, waiting for it to dry... I did it after work one night and still took the car out to dinner. Can't complain.
OP - be aware that 97-2000 cars have a different motor style than 01-04s so if you go that route, just buy the right ones.
Race Director
Joined: May 2003
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From: Iowa
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
I've never understood flipping the gear. Yes, you will now have some good teeth but the plastic is still 20 years old. I would think the newly exposed teeth would be more likely to strip again as the plastic is very old. I've done the gear swap on my old 98's headlights. I didn't think it was that difficult. I used Rodney's kit http://rodneydickman.com/index.php?c...c0aa1f3fc70efb
Safety Car
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Yeah I don't understand doing the same amount of work as the metal gears either. But some people are like that - save all the money you can and ignore opportunity costs.
Le Mans Master
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I replaced both of my motors. I have an '04 and the replacement motors are cheap. If I had an older car, I might have opted for the metal gear swap as the older motors don't have to be glued back together. However, for me the replacement motor was cheap enough that it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to glue the housing back together.
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Make sure to take pictures during removal. The lifting arm has a pivot joint that is possible to install incorrectly. The pivot point should point to the back of the car. You’ll find little dents worn into the stop pads, so make sure the lower arms contacts those pads the same way going back in.