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Need Help with Headlights

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Old May 6, 2004 | 08:21 PM
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Default Need Help with Headlights

My drivers goes up fine all of a sudden today when it goes down the headlight motor keeps going for a few seconds then stops. Can someone help. I cant figure it out. :banghead:
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Old May 6, 2004 | 11:30 PM
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Default Re: Need Help with Headlights (Paul4137)

My drivers goes up fine all of a sudden today when it goes down the headlight motor keeps going for a few seconds then stops. Can someone help. I cant figure it out. :banghead:
Had the exact same problem. The problem is one of the motors plastic drive gear is going out and it is slipping. The good news is I had my problem for over 6 months before I got it fixed and I never got stuck with a headlight that would not work. The bad news is there are two fixes. The simply one is having the headlamp motor replaced with a new one. The second was posted on here last summer and involved opening the motor and replacing the plastic (nylon) gear with a brass gear that will never wear out. That fix involves cutting the housing open and epoxying it back together. I was too chicken to do that so I had mine replaced under extended warranty when I took the car in for a host of other issues.

Good luck!
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Old May 7, 2004 | 12:42 AM
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Default Re: Need Help with Headlights (Paul4137)

I just fixed this on my vette about 2 months ago. I bought the brass gears from http://www.rodneydickman.com/retail.html. Great service ordered late in the week and had them the following Monday. Took about an hour to pull the headlight, replace the gear, and put it back in. You have to pop a cover off the headlight actuator motor to access the gear. Sounded scary but came off without a hitch. Someone did a great description with lots of pictures. If you are under warranty though, I'd have the dealer do it, and have them give you the old motor. You can then do the fix and have a higher quality replacement ready for when the cheesy plastic gear strips again.
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Old May 7, 2004 | 04:58 AM
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Default Re: Need Help with Headlights (Paul4137)

If you're still under GM warranty have a dealer fix it. If not, I would recommend getting the metal gears and doing it yourself. If you want to fix it for FREE you can just rotate the broken gear 180* and use the good half (only half of the gear is used to raise/lower the headlights). Check out this link to see what I mean.

Also FYI, IMHO the gear teeth have a lot higher chance of breaking off if you open the headlights while driving down the road at high speeds. I disabled my twighlight feature to prevent the lights from popping up while I'm going down the interstate at 80MPH, and I NEVER turn them on if I'm above 35.

:cheers:
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Old May 7, 2004 | 08:45 AM
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Default Re: Need Help with Headlights (JSlyter)

I just fixed this on my vette about 2 months ago. I bought the brass gears from http://www.rodneydickman.com/retail.html. Great service ordered late in the week and had them the following Monday. Took about an hour to pull the headlight, replace the gear, and put it back in. You have to pop a cover off the headlight actuator motor to access the gear. Sounded scary but came off without a hitch. Someone did a great description with lots of pictures. If you are under warranty though, I'd have the dealer do it, and have them give you the old motor. You can then do the fix and have a higher quality replacement ready for when the cheesy plastic gear strips again.
The write up was mine...heres the link http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=711276
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Old May 7, 2004 | 11:26 PM
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Default Re: Need Help with Headlights (markcz)

If you want to fix it for FREE you can just rotate the broken gear 180* and use the good half (only half of the gear is used to raise/lower the headlights). Check out this link to see what I mean.
:cheers:
:iagree: I used Mark's advice above a few months back. This worked great and no issue since. :steering:


[Modified by cortex, 10:28 PM 5/7/2004]
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