Amazing1

Is this normal? When I have been driving around with my parking lights on (without the headlights) only, and I pull into my garage, when I turn the lights off it sounds as if the headlight door motor runs for about 10-15 seconds.

I can't understand why just having the parking lights on would have anything to do with the headlight door motor, but can any of you C4 owners tell me if this is normal. By the way, I have a 95' coupe.

Chris_G

I don't recall hearing this on my 94. Could it possibly be the fuel pump running?

Bradley

I have the same problem on my 94 although it's intermittant. Not sure what this is

onedef92

My '92 does the same thing when the parking lamps are turned on or off, but my motor only runs for about six seconds and it's whisper quiet.

In fact, I discovered it by accident one day when I had the hood up cleaning the headlight buckets.

Now, if you're getting any sort of a noise like thunka-thunka-thunka-thunk after you raise, then retract your headlamps, I'd say it's your bushings going bad. If that's the case, holler back and I'll send you the solution.

jiml94

What you may have here is a door motor gear bushing problem. The motor gear bushings need to be replaced in a rebuild. There are many threads on this fix. See tech tips. The rebuild kit is about $15 from Eckler's/ Mid America. You will need some special tools like a clip retainer removal tool. The job takes about 3-4 hours, removal of the light fixture to disassembly of the motor and replace. Some shops will do it for about $60/ 75 if you bring them the light assembly. The removal of the motor is the hard part. This a a common failure on 90-96 C4's.

The only other noise it could be would be the air pump motor which is right under the left light assembly. That motor though should only run at startup and then turn off. You might check it first before going to the headlights as normally the motors should not run until energized by the headlight switch.

BrianCunningham

I wish I had your problem, my left motor does nothing right now I don't see the manual **** spinning so I think it's the motor.

onedef92

Brian, the things I would try first would be to see if it would open manually to check for binding.

This is in case there's something broken that would physically cause it to not work. If it is binding, there might be some broken pieces of gear, bushing, etc. You can take the motor apart to inspect. If it opens fine, this is not the problem.

Second, I would have a second person turn the lights on while listening for the motor in question to operate. If no sound, then go to the next step. Does the other light work?

Third, I would get a voltmeter (or test light) and probe the 2 pin connector for the headlight motor. This will determine whether the headlight control module is causing the problem. This module is mounted on the driver's side front fender wheel right behind the tire.

If there is no voltage to the headlight motor, then it is possibly the module--or a harness problem. If you do not get any voltage, you can carefully apply 12V to the 2 pins of the headlight motor to drive it open and closed.

This will determine whether the motor is bad or not. A note of caution in doing this. Don't let the positive and negative leads touch or you will have a rude surprise. If the harness end of the motor connector has 12V or -12V, then the module should be fine and the motor is at fault.

If the headlight motor is determined to be the culprit, it is very much worth a shot to take it apart to just see if there is a simple fix such as brush hanging up or a misplaced brush spring, etc. Pull the armature (the piece that has wires wound to it) out the motor. The brushes are located on the plate next to the gear housing.

Note if the brushes are able to come into contact with each other. Also note the length of the brushes. A good set of brushes should be able to come in contact with each other (with springs in place pushing them together) and should be more than 1/4" in length.

Also both brushes should be nearly the same length. If the brushes are worn or broken, go to your local electric tool repair shop and order Bosch electric motor brushes (item number 3604 321509) they come in a package of two.

You will have to file them down slightly with a piece of emery cloth, but they will work just fine.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the repair.

Scoob

As does mine, but it wasn't like that before I replaced my bushings. Now I definitely have to get in there and put in the thicker bushings to see what happens.

BrianCunningham

The door is currently open, on manual AOK.

Can I swap the connections left and right at the module? to see if it will operate the opposite motor?

onedef92

Yes.

BrianCunningham

Thanks!

onedef92

De nada, dude. That's what we're here for.