Headlight question
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
From: MA
Headlight question My lights started to make the grind noise when closed a couple days ago so I tried the free fix by flipping the shaft. It fixed it but now they grind when going up and they don't completely open.
After the fix we noticed that about halfway through the up or down motion the headlight to motor shaft connector arm seems to pop and not continue the motion smoothly like it did before. This is most noticeable when raising it manually. You'll be about halfway up and the arm will kind of pop, stopping the up motion and then eventually going.
Now when you raise them with the switch in the car it will do the same thing but won't have the power to get the light all the way up on its own meaning you have to hit the switch and help the light on its way up. If you don't it will raise about 3/4's of the way and still grinding.
Now I'll tell you the shaft to light arm took some work getting off, trying with a screwdriver, a chain, brute force, and eventually by a pry bar. My thought it that the arm might be the problem but it does not look much different than the passenger side that works fine.
But, since it still grinds on the way up I'm thinking I need the metal gears anyways. But, is it a common problem for bad gears to cause what I'm seeing to happen? Hopefully it's just a bad spot in the gear causing this pop I'm describing.
What do you think?
Thanks.
After the fix we noticed that about halfway through the up or down motion the headlight to motor shaft connector arm seems to pop and not continue the motion smoothly like it did before. This is most noticeable when raising it manually. You'll be about halfway up and the arm will kind of pop, stopping the up motion and then eventually going.
Now when you raise them with the switch in the car it will do the same thing but won't have the power to get the light all the way up on its own meaning you have to hit the switch and help the light on its way up. If you don't it will raise about 3/4's of the way and still grinding.
Now I'll tell you the shaft to light arm took some work getting off, trying with a screwdriver, a chain, brute force, and eventually by a pry bar. My thought it that the arm might be the problem but it does not look much different than the passenger side that works fine.
But, since it still grinds on the way up I'm thinking I need the metal gears anyways. But, is it a common problem for bad gears to cause what I'm seeing to happen? Hopefully it's just a bad spot in the gear causing this pop I'm describing.
What do you think?
Thanks.
The gear flip doesn't always work. You definitely need new gears. BTW - The metal ones strip also. IMO - they are a waste of money when you can get new plastics for a few bucks.
It sounds like when you did the flip, the door arm didn't go back on properly. You can compare it to the other side and also make sure the arm is presses all the way on to the motor shaft.
It sounds like when you did the flip, the door arm didn't go back on properly. You can compare it to the other side and also make sure the arm is presses all the way on to the motor shaft.
