Hi all and thanks for the great advice over the years. My '01 is basically a garage queen and doesn't go out at night, but a few months ago my car club went on a run and we ended up coming home in the dark. When I turned on the headlamps for the first time in many, many years they came up okay but when I turned them off they went down and one side kept making a ratcheting noise while down. I had to open and close them a number of times and shut the car off to get that noise to stop. Also, I just got home from being away for almost 2 months and disconnected the battery while I was away. It's always on a tender when I'm at home. When I hooked up the battery the ratcheting noise started again even though the headlamps were down. it would do it for a few seconds then stop. It did it about 3 times then it stopped. Any idea on where I should go first to fix this? Maybe someone had this problem and knows the fix? 01 Convertible,50K miles, garage kept always. Mint condition. 1 owner. Former long time body shop owner so I won't have any problem repairing this, just wanted a clue on where to start from a fellow Vette owner who may have had this problem. Thanks!

 

Most likely the plastic gear is cracked or striped of some of its teeth.

 

Thank you, I'll check that. Funny, don't think the headlamps were raised/lowered much at all since new. Was a light daily driver for my wife the first couple of years, but daytime only and then it went into partial hibernation for the rest of it's life. I imagine the gear is part of the motor assy?

 

Yes part of the motor assembly, gear fails not from frequent use, rather the plastic drys out.

 

Boy, never knew that. Definitely my case then, can't remember last time when headlamps were up, years and years and years ago, really. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!