Headlight issue

[blumsvette]

I am a new member as well as a new corvette owner. I just purchased a 1984 Two-Tone Bronze C4 that was sitting in a friends garage for 5 years (unstarted, un-maintained). Having completed a full tune-up on the engine and adding transmission fluid, the car runs very well.

The problem - after driving the car for more than 15 minutes, the passenger side headlight does not return to the recessed position. If I tap the headlight assembly it will go down. The unusual thing is that if I drive less than 15minutes the headlight works fine.

Any Ideas?

 

[JonM]

Replace the gears inside...click the link below

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2001/december/headlights/head1.asp

 

[paintdaddy]

Yep its a common problem.Youll find that to be true on alot of corvette problems.If something goes wrong with the vette,its prbably happened to many of us.

 

[Eagle85C4]

From the description I would be less inclined to believe it is a gear problem then a connector problem. Check all the connections to the headlight. I would pull the connectors apart the back together again. Chances are you have a bit of corrosion on them which will cause the intermittent operation, a gear problem will prohibit normal operation all the time versus intermittent.
There are also limit switches inside the motor housing itself that tells it that it has travled as far as it can in that direction. If those are not making good connection it will also cause the problem you have. To fix that you need to remove the headlight motor. Be carefull opening the cases, leave the armature in place, if you remove it you will have a bear of a time getting it back in place. You will see 2 sets of contacts, take a piece of sandpaper and clean them off...try not to move them. clean the mating surfaces of the housings and apply a line of RTV around then then reassemble the housing. Reassemble motor back into headlight and you should be good to go.
Also while apart you should look at the gears, if they look visibly worn it would be an opportune time to replace them.