JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

Once you've eliminated a mechanical problem then it's probably electrical. Check the connectors for corrosion. If look okay, use a voltmeter and check to see how much voltage is getting to the motor. Damaged or corroded connectors or wire might be dropping the voltage too low for it to operate. Or it might not be getting any voltage at all.

If lack of voltage is your problem then your going to need to trace the wires back to the "Headlight Control Module" next to the fuse boxes.

Does anyone have a a repair book showing the headlight circuit? I can't find mine at the moment.

bstuby

iTrader: (36)

Thanks alot. I will look at it again tom. I just thought it was odd that everytime I unhook the battery I have probs with the lights going up. Just seemed strange to me.

Courage68

Hi guys.

Ive been having this problem for a little while now.

When i click the lights on the lamps dont always pop up. To get them to pop open i have to leave the lights on for about 3 seconds and quickly turn them off and return them to the on position to get them to pop up.

Also they always go down first shot.

This started when i did my retro fit bi-xenon projector hid setup

I'm thinking some where along the line that there not getting enough juice for the initial turn on?


Has anyone had this problem before? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

~tom

Neewochet757

Thanks for the info man. Mine just stripped last week GEAH!!

Pete137

iTrader: (1)

My drivers side light use to be really bipolar, both the motor and low beam would randomly decide if it wanted to work or not. After messing with the wires a bit, I haven't had problems with it in about a year now, never did actually diagnose the problem though, just assumed I had a wire shorting out somewhere.

If you have access to a voltage tester it should be easy to find out if the motor is getting enough power if any at all.

Quoted from the sticky at the top of the page: "Also the harness underneath the headlight tends to develop corrosion over time, check this if you experience a dim light (bad ground), or the headlight occasionally won't go up or down or, no power to the headlight/motor at all."

boosteddakota

drivers side was making noise. the other day id decided not to work anymore so i bought a replacement motor. when i was taking it apart i noticed that it seemed like the linkage had over extended itself. i pushed it over and sure enough the light went up and down again, just with the noise. so i go on to replace the motor and now it dont work. plug the old one in and that one dont work either. its getting power but wont flip. (now i know the old one worked). i cleaned all the connections and still nothing. what could it be? light works just dont open and close

boosteddakota

also, i checked the fuses. they are good.

ws6.baker

I had an electrical issue, put a battery charger on car and heard a pop and small poof of smoke come from behind glove box. anyway, I fried the headlight motors. I replaced both motors and the driver side works and the pass side does nothing. Also when I lock/unlock the car with keyfob or from inside car the driver side headlight pops up and goes back down, looks like the car winks at ya. the lights are not on but something triggers the motor. WTF. I got all the lights working again though. I have no idea what to do next any help is greatly appreciated.

ws6.baker

Headlight motor module: there are four prongs in the harness, are all suppose to be hot? I'm only getting power to the two center prongs. Does anyone know what each one is for?

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

Are we talking about the module next to the fuse box?

There should be a 5 wire connector and then a 4 wire connector.
I think the 5 wire side is input and the 4 wire side is output to the motors.

If you have 2 hot wires then the module only has to connect the other 2 wires to ground to make the motor turn. Then to go the other direction the module will make the 2 hot wires ground and the other 2 wires hot.

crashNburn84

Found a cheap fix for keeping the gear cover in place after replacing/rotating the worn gear. Last month I took the motor assembly to my local hardware store and walked around for a while and came up with this:

3/8"X3" U bolt plate (flat plate for use on a U-bolt) $1.19
3/4" square bumper (rubber feet for lamps 12pack) $2.79

I ran the u-bolt plate from the bottom bolt to the front bolt (over the top of the rotating pin) and used two bumpers, one on either side of the rotating pin, on the side of the plate facing assembly. Tightened nuts back on bolts. Presto.

No need for epoxy. No slippage. Just run a bead of rtv silicone to keep moisture out of gear housing. Cheap and easy, but most important is that it works (so far)

Overlord!

Awesome avatar dude. Wouldn't happen to have a larger gif to send me?

Here's some of the HL door stuff;
Underhood fuses via dual orange wires in the harness to the control module in front of the wheelwell, then out the other side in pairs of blue or green wires
back into the harness and out the connector behind the headlight. Only 2 wires going to each motor. Looks like the controller plays games with the polarity.

Overlord!

They sell these plates, dunno how much;


I just put a couple wide thick washers over the posts. When it's bolted back on the brace the washers hold the cover on tight.



-------------------------
This post built with 100% recycled electrons.
No electrons were harmed in the making of this post.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the schematic Overlord, that confirms what I was thinking.

Your correct about the controller swapping polarity to make the motors open and close.

The controller module also senses each motors amperage draw to determine when the headlight is fully open and fully closed. Monitoring amp draw is much cheaper during assembly than installing limit switches, but it can be temperamental and allow the motors to run for too long forcing them to self destruct.

Self destruct meaning:

stripping gears
slipping gears
cover pushing off

In my experience, repairing the motors is only a short term solution lasting from a couple days to maybe a year. It was only after replacing the motor that my problems went away for good.

colinpd137

iTrader: (17)

Had a question if anyone could answer,

I need know what or where to purchase the "rivet/piece" or whatever it may be that hold the headlight arm in place. Anyone know where to get that piece? or what to use as a replacement

Please chime in if you have any info, thanks
-Colin

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

What is it supposed to look like?

Is there a groove cut in the end for an E clip?

If not then it might use a push nut.

chief455

iTrader: (21)

so I bought a car with stripped gears, both motors.
I bought 2 used motors and 2 new gears to rebuild then swap in.
After installing the first motor with new gear, it went up when the other side went down - rotating the wrong way. It ruined my new gear by the time I could watch what was going on and try to get it working.
Plugged back my old motor and it rotated the correct way to open / close.
WTF - somehow that motor is reversed? wires/plugs all untuched.

Anyway - I flipped the gear and re installed my old motor - Wala - one side done.

So on the second motor - I just removed the bolt holding the drive lever, using the manual **** rotated the drive shaft 180 degrees and put the lever back on the shaft.
Wala - no more gear grinding - so, why open the motor and flip the gear?
just detach the drive shaft, rotate the **** onto different teeth and mount the lever back onto the shaft.

One nut, a few spins of the **** and same thing as taking out the entire motor and flipping/replacing the gear.

I'll do that 10 times before I remove another motor to change the gear.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

That's what we tell everyone to do.

Typically it will strip the plastic teeth again in short order and then you'll need to replace the gear with a metal one or else replace the whole motor.

It's common for the motors to turn different directions after they've had power removed from them. You just need to pull the fuse for one side only and then turn the headlights on. Once their both in sync, put the fuse back in. Nothing is damaged by that.

How exactly did your new gear get damaged?

chief455

iTrader: (21)

I did pull the harness off the motor and tried to sync them - and the lever - and rotated it by hand - no matter what it, turned clockwise when it needed to turn counter clockwise. Did not know of a fuse.
these spare motors have been around - one has that 3 point flat plate pictured above - I didn't know what it was until now! and the motor spinning in reverse has had the motor part removed before, can tell by the tabs - perhaps something was assembled wrong by them?

when the headlight door was closing/opening opposite the other side b/c of the spare motor spinning wrong direction, at one try I hear the dreaded 'grrrr' for 5 seconds after it was down. I did not open cover to see the gear, I just used my old motor with flipped gear - at that point I had enough!

just wanted to share the simple temp fix of removing the arm/rotating by hand. I had not seen it posted before. For me that may last awhile - no real daily/night driving.


oh - can you pm that sensored pic in your sig? nice!

t56transam

iTrader: (3)

I just put a new plastic gear in my motor today. It worked great for about 5 times and then began to grind again after goinf down. Is my entire motor shot or should I buy a metal gear instead?