Drivers side headlight motor..

[Blk50thVette]

Man.. I have seriously about had it with this headlight. Only thing holding me back from kicking the headlight off the car now that it is stuck open is the fact that I don't want to pay to buy a new one . Only the drivers side seems to have the problem. First, it chewed up the nylon gear that used to be in there. Fair enough, knew it would happen. I put in the new brass gears.. but I guess there is something else going on that caused it to chew up the old gear. For some reason, the headlights will work fine for a while.. but no matter what glue I use it eventually breaks the seal. I guess the brass gears are too strong to just chew the teeth off of, so it pushes the gear outward until it breaks the glue again. Depending on the glue.. it can last anywhere from a few days, to over a month with this last test using JB Weld. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could go about fixing it? Seriously considering fixing it one more time and just selling it to buy a C6 so I don't have to deal with these stupid pop up headlights anymore. Great concept, but if it doesn't work it's useless to me.

[mikec4c5]

Very common problem that can be solved with $0.30 worth of washers. It sounds like you need to offset your motor with washers to "bring in" the armature that contacts the nylon bumpers :





You are correct that this is a drivers side only problem. Here is a picture that shows no washer offsets. This is what causes the armature to chew up the tips of the nylon tabs. Compare this to the picture below, and you can see how the tips of the nylon tabs will get eaten alive without the washer offset. There is a GM bulletin regarding this problem, and directs the tchnician to fix with washers.



Notice how the motor's drive shaft is shifted more to the left due to the offset washers, which brings the headlamp rotating arm shaft in more direct contact with the nylon tabs, and more importantly, the metal tabs under the nylon covers.



Finally, for fun, this what my driver headlight was doing when the nylon stoppers where chewed up to the point where the armature went past the stops :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ierse...e=channel_page

[mikec4c5]

For the problematic motor cover, you need to buy an aftermarket "T" brace to hold that sucker on. You can get at Ecklers or any major corvette aftermarket suppliers. This is one of GM's shit designs !!!!



or you can use my wrap-tie method :

[Blk50thVette]

Mike,

Thank you very much for the response. I wish I would have known about Eckler's repair kit prior to purchasing mine last year. That T-Brace and Gasket look like they're exactly what I need to fix my motor assembly. I'll give their kit a shot and see if it gets me back up to speed.

Thanks again,

[Blk50thVette]

Or hey, I'm definatly down for some make shift repairs. I'll try the zip tie method first!

Thanks sir!

[mikec4c5]

Originally Posted by Blk50thVette

Mike,

Thank you very much for the response. I wish I would have known about Eckler's repair kit prior to purchasing mine last year. That T-Brace and Gasket look like they're exactly what I need to fix my motor assembly. I'll give their kit a shot and see if it gets me back up to speed.

Thanks again,

No problem. Don't forget to use the washers to help align the armature and those stupid little nylon tabs...

Good luck...hollar if you need more help.