dbs1vette

Man am I getting tired of various items going south on this 04 Z!!!

Today was the first time I'm driven it after it has been sitting at the shop for a few months. When turning the lights off they both went down and then the drivers side came back up about 3/4 of the way. I've tried it a few more times and it is officially sticking that way.

It goes down all the way when turned off and back up 3/4 of the way and stays there. So what's the fix on this one???


(why I don't like hideaway headlamps-you always see this kind of deal and it looks light dookie!!!)

As I went out and watched as it went up and down...the passenger side goes up and down nice and level. The drivers side wobbles (like someone doing the worm) as it goes up and down. Did I say I like a lot of things about this car, but these damn headlights are NOT one of them. STUPID design IMO. And all the other little $200-$300 items are also pissing me off. Oh wait, it's a vette, make that $2000-$3000 like the bushings in the frikken driveshaft area.....urrrrrrr

SaxyVette

I feel yer pain, both my headlamps are busted too, just blew $50 on a bronze gear to fix the pass side on my '99..did not fix..(bad motor) still just flops up and down.. now the other driverside headlamp is stuck down solid..

I tried raising it manually and the black twisty **** just snapped off in my hand...Grrrr..time for 2 new motors I guess. Maybe you got the same prob too.. just bad motors. What a crappy set-up on an otherwise beautiful car.

No nighttime cruising for me for awhile.

vette48

Hi; I f the motors are in good working order you can just rotate your nylon gear about 180 degrees ... then your lights will work again... and it costs nothing to rotate the gears... worked for me, and not too hard to do, just got to remove some screws etc. good luck

LoneStarFRC

He has no "screws" to remove. He's got an '04 with the crappy motor design.

dbs1vette

"the crappy motor design"...which means what to me in regards to fixing this dang thing?

LoneStarFRC

GM made a design change in mid-2000 and cheaped-out on the design. You have to crack open the gear case with a knife/putty knife/screwdriver, etc, replace gear, glue the cover back on, let it dry overnight and hope it holds when you re-install it.

You have three choices:
1. Try to repair yours.
2. Send motor to a repair service.
3. Replace motor.

I would advise #3. Shop around, lots of sources.

Btw, what ever you do, lubricate the hinge locations of the headlights on both sides. Do NOT squirt WD40 in, and call it good. Use spray lithium grease or motor oil. I have a cheapie oiler loaded with common motor oil. Use a rag to clean up any drips. My headlight motors are 15 years old and I still have the OE nylon gears in them. I just lube the hinges periodically.

HTH

dbs1vette

Another C5 owner alerted me to a local place that will rebuild/replace the motor if I take out the headlight assemble and get it to them. I guess it will be a good time to try and figure out how to repair the broken adjuster while I'm at it.

SaxyVette

Please keep us posted how it works out for you, I'm very interested in your thread. GOOD LUCK..!!

byronhunter

Read this.
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http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...t-problem.html

dbgoodwin

Not sure how to go about treating a stuck up headlight, but I solve the problem of stuck up BMW drivers by showing them my tail lights.
On topic though, if lubing the hinges wil help keep my headlights functioning, count me in.

CaliforniaJack

My 2000 had the same problem. First, see if you can use the **** on the top of the motor to screw the headlight down. OEM motors used a 15 cent plastic gear that strips at the point where the worm gear makes minimal contact with the big gear. If the big gear has a worn spot, order a brass gear replacement kit (about $50) and spend a couple of hours replacing the cheap gear that GM saved 5 cents on. I will keep my C5, but I bought a 911 instead of a C7 because of GM's habit of using the lowest cost ( and quality) vendors.

runamuk

Check your headlight assembly, their are two "hinge" bolts that the headlight pivots up and down on, are they still there?

The easiest way to check quickly is to grab your headlight assembly and try to wiggle it side to side, if one is missing the headlight will be loose.

Next, manually lower your headlight, is it hitting the stops?

There is a nylon block that makes contact at the lower travel limit, if the headlight does not hit this the motor will continue to run and the headlight will pop back up before the motor shuts off.

Ask me how I know, one of my hinge bolts came out and I found out when my drivers side headlight lowered and then popped right back up.

Pchild

Both of mine died with in a month of eachother (plastic gears stripped out). I replaced both with a bronze gear.

It's fairly easy, just takes some patience re-aligning your headlight covers if you have to take them off. I'm pretty picky, so I wasted an hour messing with alignment.

dbs1vette

UPDATE-

Runamuk gave me some good info, at least what to look for. He was correct, in that the bracketry that is supposed to hit the stops (they have white rubber slide over boots on them) was missing the stop. I was not missing any bolts, but they just were sliding by the side of those stops and chingering up the rubber ends.

I took the assembly apart, starting with the black trim ring, then the painted cover on top of the light, then the plastic piece that sits on top of the light held on by 4 torx screws. Then there are 2 pivot points with screws and nuts that must be removed along with the wiring clip.

After that there should just be the long travel arm with a solid pin through it and the headlight assembly and a keeper washer on the end of it that needs removed to slide the silver pin out.

Then I removed one 10mm nut that held on that long arm assemble and used a hammer to persuade the tab that hits the stops to bend in toward the engine compartment about 1/4". When test fitting it before reassembling I discovered it was slightly rubbing on the hex flange of one of the nuts that bolts up the headlight motor. I removed about 1/8" with a sawzall and it didn't hit.

During this I had to manually move the light up and down with the adjuster **** to access what I needed to.

I knew from prior outings in changing bulbs that this driver assembly was completely broke and had to wire and glue some of it in place. I discovered that the top plastic piece on top of the headlight which has attachement points for the painted cover had one of the attachement points broke. I had already found the black bezel piece had an attachment point broke and was able to glue the clip in place on that. Not so here. Called the dealer and he tried to sell me the whole headlight assemble at $850. For right now I have opted to just buy a new plastic piece with the attachement points for $128 (wholesale).

And by the way, there are more options then listed as to repairing these stupid *** things...Besides being prone to failure, hard to service and change bulbs and completely inadequate for driving at night...they are damn expensive to replace. So, I ordered the radio flyer setup. Goodbye stuck headlights! Goodbye expensive repairs and going to hell cussing just changing bulbs. Hello, fixed headlights that look good and actually light up the road. And at $1500, though not cheap, buying 2 oem assemblies at retail and paying someone to install you'll be closer to $2000. Not even a hard decision there.

Of course...I'm going to have to see just how long this works now...

fisher auto

[Plastic tabs stops are worn out!

dbs1vette

The plastic tabs were not worn out. They simply slip over a metal piece and the plastic is there to cushion and quiet that process. The metal arm that hits the stop (tabs) was basically missing it altogether. Not sure why, unless the shaft that the arm attaches to goes into the motor and it now has excess play allowing the arm to miss the stop.

Hence why I needed to massage the arm in further so it would contact the stop.