vegas2125

Just purchased a beautiful 1999 FRC C5. The car, which was purchased from the original owner, only had 1275 original miles on it. Shortly after picking the car up, the six year old factory installed battery went dead. During attempts to get the car started both of the headlight doors popped up. We jump started the car drove it the Chevorlet Dealer and purchased an orginal equipment battery. After installing the battery the car started up immediately and although the headlights worked, the headlight doors would not go back down. We manually closed the doors and turned the headlights on to see if they would pop up. No such luck, at this point I have to manually open the doors to use the head lights.

One other problem was found after the battery failed. None of the dash lights or the lights on the arm rest will work when the headlights are turned on. However, when you pull the key is pulled out of the ignition, all of the lights come on.

Since both of these problems occurred at the exactly time, I suspect the two are related. I have already checked the fuses, but wonder if we burned up a relay when we were trying to get the car started or installing the new battery. Any suggestions on what to look for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Tiger Shark

I have a similar problem. I'm positive it's not a physical problem with the headlight motors. Approximately 1 month ago, this problem started appearing on my Vette. The headlights (both) will not raise when I first turn the switch on. They usually come up on the 2nd or 3rd attempt. My parking lights and fog lights always activate on the first try. It's not the actual switch on the stalk, because the same problem occurs with Twilight Sentinel activating the headlights. Is there a relay or circuit somewhere I should check or have replaced?

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help!

Tiger Shark

ttt

Tiger Shark

ttt

Dave1998

on my 98, the headlights only pop up on the second try, everytime. I posted this a while back and consensus here was to live with it.

Tiger Shark

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully someone will chime in with some possible causes/solutions.

Tiger Shark

ttt

StuandJoy

Double check your battery connections. Mine were barely loose and my headlights only came up on the 2nd or 3rd try.

Or it could be a corroded chassis ground.

Tiger Shark

When your headlights didn't raise, did your DRLs still turn off and your running lights/fog lights turn on?

StuandJoy

Yep. Everything still worked, I could even see my headlights shining into my bumper.

I could turn the switch all the way back to off then back to fully on real fast and they would pop up but not if I paused in the parking light position.

Black 79

Hope someone has a solution. David.

Devil Dog

When my 99 was running around one-eyed, the problem was the nylon gear in the motor had stripped and could not engage to raise the headlamp door, you can buy the gear separately and replace it your self, it is not a hard job.

There is also a brass replacement gear available.
http://www.rodneydickman.com/corvette.html

Stand outside the car, and without your engine running turn on your lights and listen for the sound of the headlamp motors running, and if you don't hear them you have a electrical problem, and if you do hear them the problem is mechanical. (see above fix)

DeeGee

I was doing some headlamp work a while ago and managed to blow a fuze. It was an obscure one on the panel in the passenger footwell and not obviously related to the headlights. Wish I could remember the number but I can't. I ended up doing a check of all the fuzes and eventually found a blown one. Wish I could be more specific.

jhong321

i am having the problem with mine it take a few tries before they go up
but most of the time they are fine.

0Jeff @ TPE

Do you live in Vegas??
If So, Swing it by my dealership and I'll take a look at it for you.
Dont worry it wont cost you anything.
Hit me up with a PM if this works

Jeff

Tiger Shark

Thanks StuandJoy! It was a bad connection with the wiring, either at the battery or at the wiring going to the headlights. After just physically inspecting the connections/wiring, my headlights started to work like normal again -- first time. Thanks again!

Tiger Shark

Thanks StuandJoy! It was a bad connection with the wiring, either at the battery or at the wiring going to the headlights. After just physically inspecting the connections/wiring, my headlights started to work like normal again -- first time. Thanks again!

C5-BRUCE

Interesting. I asked this question in a threat titled, Pop-Up Headlights that DON'T on 10/25/05 with no responses. Glad I ran into this thread as I think I have some information. What I wrote was:

I get in the car, start the engine, turn on the lights but they don't pop-up and I haven't noticed if the lights are actually on? If I turn off the engine then turn the lights on they open normally - restart and drive off. There is no gear grinding noises, nor does one open without the other. Turning them off, with or without the engine running, functions normally. The battery is a two year old Optima Red with voltage readings (DIC) within normal limits.

I did discover the lights were on but the doors didn't open. I also found that if I turned the lights off then quickly turned them back on, the doors opened and all functioned normally. Because of this description the problem was quickly determined to be the multi-function switch on the steering column - lights, cruise,etc.

GMPartsDirect lists the part as follows (2000 Corvette) but I haven't verified it with the dealer yet.

GM PART # 26075870
CATEGORY: All
PACK QTY: 1 CORE CHARGE: $0.00
GM LIST: $232.66
OUR PRICE: $116.33
DESCRIPTION: SWITCH

Good luck to all of us...

Black 79

My right one has been slow since I got the car, but only recently have they given me trouble comin' up. I tried some WD-40 in the stalk and twisted and sprayed (and wiped up) a few times, and it is at least temporarily better. I like to run the fog lights before I lift the frog eyes. The problem first started when I had the fogs on for a while before switching to the headlights. If I flipped the switch back and forth a few times, they would usually flip up. Now for a couple of days they have been working normally.