Headlight fix ideas
Headlight fix ideas This will be the second time i have had to fix my headlights on my car. I already tried the rotating 180* and getting the brass gear which just recently stripped like the plastic gear if not worst. My first question is what makes the motor turn off when it fully up or down? Second is what if we drop the voltage of the motor so that maybe the motor will go up and down slower that way when it does hit the stop there is less stress on the gears?
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
Likes: 346
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
Unfortunately it won't work. The control module shuts off power to the motor when the current draw increases because of the motor reaching the end of its travel. The stripping of the gears isn't caused by the headlight door hitting the end of its travel - it's caused by the motor still trying to turn the gears until the module "sees" the increase in draw. Reducing the voltage to the motors would slow them down but it wouldn't relieve the pressure on the gears between the time they reach the end of their travel and when the module cuts the power.
The problem is the design of the headlight motor. It has only 4 tabs bent around the plastic housing holding in place. They start to rust and allow play between the motor and the gear housing which pushes the metal worm drive away from the gear thus stripping the gear. I fixed mine for good last time I did it and haven't had a problem since.
What I did was spun the gear a little, although this worked even with the gear stripped because it only strips a little off the gear. Then I placed a small thin strip of plastic behind the metal worm drive the same width as the housing that pushes the worm drive forward up against the gear with a liberal amount of grease to make sure there was good lubrication. This eliminated any play between the gear and the drive back and forth. I then put some thin washers on the gears shaft to eliminate play side to side. The last thing I did after this was to bend the tabs tightly against the gear housing and then apply some epoxy to them to help hold things in place.
I was able to reuse my stripped gear after this because the gear was firmly pressed up against the drive and not allowing any play between it. When you take off one of these motors after the gears are stripped or even one that hasn't yet but has some age on it you can easily pivot the motor on the plastic housing back and forth and see how much it moves away from the gear. That's the problem...not so much the gear itself. Once you tighten up the clearances and get rid of the play between them it works much better and gets rid of the problem for good.
That's what worked for me after stripping brass gears, hope this helps you.
What I did was spun the gear a little, although this worked even with the gear stripped because it only strips a little off the gear. Then I placed a small thin strip of plastic behind the metal worm drive the same width as the housing that pushes the worm drive forward up against the gear with a liberal amount of grease to make sure there was good lubrication. This eliminated any play between the gear and the drive back and forth. I then put some thin washers on the gears shaft to eliminate play side to side. The last thing I did after this was to bend the tabs tightly against the gear housing and then apply some epoxy to them to help hold things in place.
I was able to reuse my stripped gear after this because the gear was firmly pressed up against the drive and not allowing any play between it. When you take off one of these motors after the gears are stripped or even one that hasn't yet but has some age on it you can easily pivot the motor on the plastic housing back and forth and see how much it moves away from the gear. That's the problem...not so much the gear itself. Once you tighten up the clearances and get rid of the play between them it works much better and gets rid of the problem for good.
That's what worked for me after stripping brass gears, hope this helps you.
Thanks i will try it your way. You wouldnt by any chance have a picture or something of the plastic peice you used for the worm drive? im going to have to buy a new gear anyways since if i rotate the gears it either grinds in the up prosition or it will grind on the down position.
Even though it grinds now it may not with the tolerances closed up. Mine was stripped but if yours was like mine and you look closely it only strips a small bit off the top of the teeth. Once it is pressed closer to the worm drive it may still work.
As for the plastic piece I didn't take pictures of it. I just cut a piece off of some plastic I had laying around. It was of course hard plastic and it was about 1/8" thick or slightly less. I fit it between the worm drive and the back of the housing for the gear in a way that it pushed the drive forward toward the gear a little...basically making it sit straight instead of being able to tilt away from the gear. I also made it the same width as the housing so that it could not rotate out of place and as high as the housing is back there.
As for the plastic piece I didn't take pictures of it. I just cut a piece off of some plastic I had laying around. It was of course hard plastic and it was about 1/8" thick or slightly less. I fit it between the worm drive and the back of the housing for the gear in a way that it pushed the drive forward toward the gear a little...basically making it sit straight instead of being able to tilt away from the gear. I also made it the same width as the housing so that it could not rotate out of place and as high as the housing is back there.
