J Berk

I have replaced one of the headlight units on my '84 NA, and I am not sure what's wrong....when I got the car it had been in a minor accident which bent the unit that I replaced...now, when I plug the headlight motor back in the lights will either do one of the following:
A) close, with the one I just installed remaining opened about 3"

or

B) Cycle up and down several times ( seems like a set number of times) before just stopping

What's wrong? Any help is much appreciated!

Joe

BentOn944

If you look at the mechanics of the system, you'll quickly notice there is an aluminum rod with arms welded on each end, which is rotated by the motor. Could it be that the rod was damaged or twisted and the arms are not exactly lined up on a circular axis any more? This would cause the lights to be mis-aligned with each other. Another possibility is that the spring that tensions the headlight assembly to the metal fork that pushes the unit up and down, may be broken/missing/mis-installed. To better understand what I mean, if you grab the "good" light housing with both hands, with the headlights down, you can (with some effort) make the unit rotate up (open) a few inches against the spring pressure. This spring can be seen on the inner side pivot point, under the nose-piece. If both the lights are not fully open or closed when the motor stops, the mechanism may be out of adjustment and must be adjusted by removing the nut from the motor shaft and adjusting the control arm position on the shaft. To keep all your digits healthy, I strongly recommend you pull the motor fuse or disconnect the battery before attempting this adjustment!!!

Regarding the cycling of the lights, there are stop switches riding on a cam built into the motor assembly that control the cycling of the motor. As a test, if you leave the ignition and headlight switch off and rotate the manual **** on top of the motor counter-clockwise about 60 degrees (you have to take the rubber boot off to expose the ****), the motor should engage (watch your fingers!!!) and go through one complete cycle from headlights closed, to open and closed again. If you do the test with the headlights on and up, the motor should still do one complete cycle from open to closed, and then open again. If the motor doesn't cycle as described, I would suspect the stop switches. If operation is more erratic than that, it may be the motor stop switches or the headlight switch. The headlight switch provides power to one stop switch for "on and up" and to another switch for "off and closed." Hope this helps.

J Berk

The headlight unit I put in came with a spring ...when I put it in, it did not seem right...like it was in tension in the wrong direction...Instead I used the spring from the old unit, but it may be bent or sprung...I am assuming there is a right and a left spring?

I'll also check the rod....I hadn't thought of it being bent, but it's a good possibility!

I'll keep you posted! Thank you!