headlight question

[87blackroxi]

My passenger side headlight is stuck up. I read in old posts about the manual operation to put the headlight down. I did that today and it worked. the light is now down. So I guess this indicates the gears are in proper operating condition.
So where do I go from here? I looked on eckler's and they wanted $569 for a kit. and mid america motorworks wants $599 but these look like upgrade kits. Is It an upgrade kit I need or is it possible to just buy the motor or a rebuild kit?
any help
shane

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Being naturally curious and inherently cheap as a basic nature, I always take things apart to figure out what is wrong before I buy replacement parts. Your motor could be bad, but it might just be a poor connection at the connector. The assembly is an expensive piece to buy if it's just a broken wire, burnt connector or something simple like that.

You could put a meter on the connector to see if it has power to the motor first, then proceed further into the assembly if the power is there.
Motors can be disassembled by prying up the tabs on the motor housing and pulling the end caps off to see if the brushes are worn out, or just dirty.

 

[NevadaJim]

It sounds like you are looking at the upgrade kit for that price. For our year model it is often the gears. You can by the set (one white, one black) for $39.99 a set from Ecklers, I believe MAM (MAD) and Corvette Central carrier them as well for around the same price.

I had a similar problem on my driver's side and replaced the gears and it's been working great ever since. Takes about 2 - 3 hours if you take your time (took me about 1 1/2). Make sure you have some white grease to grease all moving parts (gears, shafts, worm gear) and some clear or black RTV to seal the moter/actuater halfs when your put it back together. The RTV will help keep water/moisture out and help prevent other problems.

As far as the upgrade, from the threads I've read, they have as many if not more problems then we do due to the 3 gaskets the upgrade uses (which our's doesn't have).

This is a good and fairly easy afternoon project ~ good luck

 

[*89x2*]

I think it was about 300 bucks to replace mine at a dealership - took an hour to swap motors.

 

[87blackroxi]

wishuwerehere, I like your idea. I am curious to see how it all works too. Good idea on the connections. didn't think of that. As far as the gears, I think they are working according to old posts that say if you can manually move the light, that the gears are ok. If the connections looks good. then what? Is there just a motor i can buy?

 

[NevadaJim]

I can tell you I could manually move mine and was led to believe the same thing. However I decided to take it apart before buying a new motor; and when I did I found several teeth on the white gear were hosed. I also found some moisture had gotten into the motor and a lot of rust had built up. Cleaned everything up and replaced the gears and it works great again.

If you're looking at replacing the motor anyway, it might not hurt to take it apart first just to see if you can save a couple hundred dollars.

 

[JonM]

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

 

[87blackroxi]

looks like it's worthwhile to pull it apart and take a looksee. hopefully tomorrow. good link by the way.

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Here's another tech article to help you.

http://corvettefever.com/howto/33098/
Good luck and happy reading.

 

[87blackroxi]

Get this, last night coming home from work, I stopped at a convenience store and got gas. I popped the hood and fiddled with light for no apparent reason. Well, When I got home the driver side went down and the passenger side stayed up like usual. When I came out this morning to go to work I expected the corvette wink like every morning, but both lights were down . So there is hope of not replacing the motor. Now I just need some time to pull it apart. hopefully just a bad connection. if not now I know to change the gears and bushings.

thanks all

 

[Blue89]

Hope someone can help me out with this. Got my headlight assy out and replaced the bushings, in the process of putting it back together I don't remember where the two washers/spacers go on the motor shaft....before or after the wing looking doo jiggy??

 

[tyrel]

That happened to me too, I just looked at the motor on the other headlight and figured it out that way. If you don't put the washers in the right place, the headlights won't work properly.

 

[Blue89]

Thanks for the response. I got lucky!! Put it back the way l thought it should be put back and it works great.