8 cylinder front engine iconic vehicle
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By Tony
#62544
87s4

Chasing an issue with my headlight motor not popping up/working
Fuses checked.
It worked before i took the whole damn car apart to paint it.....although...the relay did rattle a bit when the lights were initially switched on. .

Is there a way to jumper the headlight relay to get them to go up...down. This is just for testing.....I think my relay may be toast and the damn thing aint cheap.
By worf
#62580
Tony wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:53 pm It worked before i took the whole damn car apart to paint it.....although...the relay did rattle a bit when the lights were initially switched on. .
Motor is plugged into the engine bay harness yes? (Had to ask.)

Lights come on? But motor doesn't lift? Or totally dead?

If totally dead then probably relay.
Is there a way to jumper the headlight relay to get them to go up...down. This is just for testing.....I think my relay may be toast and the damn thing aint cheap.
The short answer is no as far as I know. That relay has 'the smarts' to turn off the motor when the lights hit the upper or lower stops. And it reverses polarity depending upon up or down. So, there's no easy and good way to do it at the socket unless you go to some lengths. And I don't want to even attempt to describe what those lengths might be.

However, you can test the head light motor at it's plug. Disconnect the motor from the light bar at the motor spindle so that you don't punch a hole in the condenser. Unplug the motor. Pin 4 is ground. Pins 1 and 5 are power. The spindle will rotate one way or the other depending upon which pin you give power.

Clocking of the spindle is irrelevant when you go to reconnect the lifter bar.
By Tony
#63080
Well..i have pop up lights again :rockon:

Bill came over with another headlight relay and i plugged it in. I got a little bit of movement out of the assembly, but not consistently. Put my relay back in and pretty much the same thing.

I took the motor out and cleaned the copper contacts on the circuit board....it wasn't that dirty to begin with. I had already opened up my relay and cleaned it all.

The thing that seemed to fix everything was the manual knob on the top. I turned it one direction and eventually was met by some resistance from the motor trying to stop me . The motor was powered and pushing against my inputs . I then turned the knob the other direction as far as i could. Eventually the motor came to life and it continued turning in the same direction by it self in what appeared to be a complete revolution. It seemed similar to how the door lock motor works or somehting.


Hopped in the car turned the head light switch and everything was back to normal.

In all honesty i have no idea what was wrong or how i fixed it but turning the manual headlight knob seemed to “reset” things. Perhaps in disassembly the arm on the motor was moved where it was in a position where power
wasnt being properly applied. Dunno. They work now.

The headlight relay is easy to open up and clean.
Image
By worf
#63088
More good news.
By Tony
#63244
winning the battle but the war still wages on!

the rear of the interior can start to go in now that the windows are in....then doors assemblies ...then bumpers.

wondering if it will easier to assemble all the trim and inners of the door (glass..locks..handle etc)while it is off the car laying on a soft blanket here in the loft.???
By worf
#63247
Tony wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:54 pm wondering if it will easier to assemble all the trim and inners of the door (glass..locks..handle etc)while it is off the car laying on a soft blanket here in the loft.???
I doubt it. You can try, but, my expectation is that you'll want the door upright for >50% of the pieces.

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