headlight motor
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Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2002
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From: United Kingdom
headlight motor
Evening
I had the headlamps cycle down the wrong way twice - it seemed that the arm cycled counter clockwise rather than clockwise and wound the arm back and down into the condenser rather than forward and down as it should.
First time didn't hole the condenser - second time a couple of months later did - D'oh!
Problem I have now is that the motor puts the lights up Ok but when coming down appears to have a rough spot in it that you can hear shortly before the fuse blows - when you use the **** you can feel the rough spot and then it spins down nice and smooth. When up, the motor is not trying to run continuously, neither is it when fully down.
I think it may have damaged the winding when it was straining to punch a hole in the condenser!
Any ideas before I strip out the motor and any pointers for pulling out the motor - do I have to have the inner wheel arch out or can it be done from bonnet side? I have read the posts about motor adjustment and the C / E clips but they do not seem to match the problem I have.
All help appreciated before I dive in!
Thanks.............Andy
87 S4 Euro
I had the headlamps cycle down the wrong way twice - it seemed that the arm cycled counter clockwise rather than clockwise and wound the arm back and down into the condenser rather than forward and down as it should.
First time didn't hole the condenser - second time a couple of months later did - D'oh!
Problem I have now is that the motor puts the lights up Ok but when coming down appears to have a rough spot in it that you can hear shortly before the fuse blows - when you use the **** you can feel the rough spot and then it spins down nice and smooth. When up, the motor is not trying to run continuously, neither is it when fully down.
I think it may have damaged the winding when it was straining to punch a hole in the condenser!
Any ideas before I strip out the motor and any pointers for pulling out the motor - do I have to have the inner wheel arch out or can it be done from bonnet side? I have read the posts about motor adjustment and the C / E clips but they do not seem to match the problem I have.
All help appreciated before I dive in!
Thanks.............Andy
87 S4 Euro
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,447
Likes: 0
Andy -
Just did the headlight motor replacement on my GT. Had a problem similar to yours. Going up the motor was smooth as silk, going down it was very
jarring/jerking........didn't look or sound right. After checking all the linkages for binding, etc.......I found nothing that would have caused the
symptom. So I pretty much narrowed it down to being the motor.
Snagged a new motor off ebay......for around $100, if you can't find one there, the big 3 would have been my next choice.
Replacement of the motor is not hard, but there are a few tricks to getting the headlights set right again and making sure it all works correctly. It is not documented well in the manuals.....if at all.
First before replacing the motor, physically mark the location of the current motors install position. Since you are just replacing the motor, you can leave all the other headlight adjustments (there are a ton of them) alone for now. Take note of the position of the arm that attaches to the motor
shaft, both in the down and up positions. When up, I believe it should be straight up, 12 o'clock.
After *exactly* marking the position of the old motor's triangular mounting plate and 3 bolts, and noting the motors arm position, remove motor arm from the extension bar, and then from the motor. Unbolt the motor and with a bit of wiggling it will come out from under the hood. Disconnect electrical connection. Replace with the new motor. Before connecting any linkage, cycle the motor so that it is in the right position for reconnection to the linkage. I cycled my replacement motor to the "up" position and then connected the motors arm exactly to the straight up position as it was before. Then connect the rest of the linkage holding the lights in the up position via the main light bar.......be careful, it is heavier then it looks, and
will be a tight fit........there should not be much if any "slack" in the whole
linkage.
Once all is securely connected, making sure both C-clips are there and seated correctly, it's time to fine tune. As stated earlier, there should not be any slack in the linkage or the lights will shake while driving. When up, the motor should firmly plant the lights against their stops that are located on the inner side of the light bucket fender cutout. The stops are adjustable, but again, if all you are replacing is the motor, you don't want to get caught up in all the other head light mechanical adjustments. Simply adjusting the motor up or down slightly will get you where you want to be......shake free lights with silky smooth operation.
After the above I took apart the old motor to see of what might have been happening. Couldn't find any hard evidence, but did find the motor bearings very dry and loose. You might be able to rebuild these things, but didn't seem worth it to me.
One tip, when reassembling the linkages, use a bit of white grease on it all, makes it that much easier on the motor and smooths the actions out even more.
Next visit this web site to do a proper aiming of the lights......found one of mine was pretty much off all along........
http://www.autooptiks.com/aiming.html
Just did the headlight motor replacement on my GT. Had a problem similar to yours. Going up the motor was smooth as silk, going down it was very
jarring/jerking........didn't look or sound right. After checking all the linkages for binding, etc.......I found nothing that would have caused the
symptom. So I pretty much narrowed it down to being the motor.
Snagged a new motor off ebay......for around $100, if you can't find one there, the big 3 would have been my next choice.
Replacement of the motor is not hard, but there are a few tricks to getting the headlights set right again and making sure it all works correctly. It is not documented well in the manuals.....if at all.
First before replacing the motor, physically mark the location of the current motors install position. Since you are just replacing the motor, you can leave all the other headlight adjustments (there are a ton of them) alone for now. Take note of the position of the arm that attaches to the motor
shaft, both in the down and up positions. When up, I believe it should be straight up, 12 o'clock.
After *exactly* marking the position of the old motor's triangular mounting plate and 3 bolts, and noting the motors arm position, remove motor arm from the extension bar, and then from the motor. Unbolt the motor and with a bit of wiggling it will come out from under the hood. Disconnect electrical connection. Replace with the new motor. Before connecting any linkage, cycle the motor so that it is in the right position for reconnection to the linkage. I cycled my replacement motor to the "up" position and then connected the motors arm exactly to the straight up position as it was before. Then connect the rest of the linkage holding the lights in the up position via the main light bar.......be careful, it is heavier then it looks, and
will be a tight fit........there should not be much if any "slack" in the whole
linkage.
Once all is securely connected, making sure both C-clips are there and seated correctly, it's time to fine tune. As stated earlier, there should not be any slack in the linkage or the lights will shake while driving. When up, the motor should firmly plant the lights against their stops that are located on the inner side of the light bucket fender cutout. The stops are adjustable, but again, if all you are replacing is the motor, you don't want to get caught up in all the other head light mechanical adjustments. Simply adjusting the motor up or down slightly will get you where you want to be......shake free lights with silky smooth operation.
After the above I took apart the old motor to see of what might have been happening. Couldn't find any hard evidence, but did find the motor bearings very dry and loose. You might be able to rebuild these things, but didn't seem worth it to me.
One tip, when reassembling the linkages, use a bit of white grease on it all, makes it that much easier on the motor and smooths the actions out even more.
Next visit this web site to do a proper aiming of the lights......found one of mine was pretty much off all along........
http://www.autooptiks.com/aiming.html
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Joined: May 2003
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From: Frankenmuth, Michigan