Headlight motor

[glomonac]

I turned on my headlights and the left one didn't come up. I turned the grey knob and the headlight moved but it reverted to the closed position. Does this eliminate the relay? I disconnected the power and turned the grey knob until the lamp rotated to the full open position. Any ideas?

 

[Edmond]

There are 3 little plastic bushings in the assembly gearing area of the headlight motor that will eventually be ground up and disentigrated. That is usually the cause of the problem.

It's really a PITA, took me 4 hours to change those 3 little bushings. They're inexpensive but save your afternoon for the work.

I'll try to find an article.

 

[Edmond]

Upon a little research, your '87 might not be the bushing setup but check this out:

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

 

[glomonac]

Thanks Edmond. If the gears were shot would I still be able to rotate the headlamp using the grey knob?

 

[jester]

I missed that yours is an '87, so it probably is the gears. The bushings started in '88.

I seriously doubt if it would be the gears. Get some new bushings and follow the instructions in the link Edmond provided. Not a bad job. It took me two hours to do one of mine. That included going to the neighbor's to get my metric sockets back and many trips from basement to garage for more tools. :L (It was extremely hot the day I did mine, so once I got the assembly out of the car, I took it to my basement workshop to do the rebuild.)

Works fine now.

 

[RWDsmoke]

If a gear was stripped the motor would still run and and you would hear it. Also, turning the knob rotates the gears just like the motor does. Sounds like an electrical problem to me.