Headlight up down problem
 

Cold weather has set in here in England and the retractable headlights on my 944 have started to have some problems.

I first noticed the problem when I'd been out for a drive pulled up outside my house switched the car and headlights off. The light from the headlights had switched off but not retracted, I came out to check them an hour of so later and they'd gone down by themselves.

The problem became worse when the same thing happened a day later, this time they didn't retract at all and were still up in the morning. I now had a flat battery too as I didn't realise that the rear lights don't switch off until the front ones go down.

My problem is now that the headlights will not raise or go down.

So I degreased all the linkages with penetrating oil and then regreased them with a multi-purpose grease. This didn't improve things.

The funny thing is you can see the knob on the top of the motor spinning and mechanism begins to move yet it just seems to lack power.

I then decided to take the motor off and check the brushes on the gear wheel as per clarks garage tutorial, the brushes looked fine and the contact plate only had a tiny amount of corrosion which I wire wooled off and then smeared with switch grease.

I then reset and then remounted the motor and got the headlights to raise and lower once, albeit pretty slowly, now I'm back to square one where the motor wants to turn but just seems to lack power.

Has anyone got any ideas?

What is the status of your relay? My lights were sluggish to retract but a good wiggle/re-seat of the relay and it has worked fine ever since. Worth a try.

Best of luck.

Nah don't think it's the relay as I've plugged and unplugged it loads aswell as trying another one.

The motor seems to work fine when it's not connected to the linkage though it doesn't seem to have much power.

sounds like the linkage may be binding


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/...1e7a742f_b.jpg

once loose from the motor, should move easily. If not, it's binding somewhere

Have checked the relay using this procedure

YouTube - Auto Repair & Mechanics : How to Test a Car Relay

and everything checks out ok, so it is definitely NOT the relay.

I then took a second look at the linkage and noticed a bit of binding which was being caused by the one of the headlight plastic cases where it wasn't clipped together properly just brushing the bodywork internally. I fixed this and also sprayed GT85 into the pivots underneath the badge panel and top right & left corner of each light, aswell as cleaning and then re-greasing all the pivot points. The linkage is now definitely smoother and headlights practically flop down on their own when the motor is not attached.

I then reinstalled the motor and flicked the headlight switch and the lights came up first time, then when I turned it off they went down as they should, I did this a once or twice more and left them up whilst I cleared away some tools. I then went to switch them off and they wouldn't go down. I am now back to square one where they neither go up nor down, they raise ever so slightly but the motor simply doesn't seem to have the power.

Any ideas? (The above was all done with the engine running so not a battery problem)

Your battery probably died that time because the motor keeps trying to go until it gets where its going. So the motor is likely what killed it. I don't think there is any reason the rear lights should stay on just because the fronts didn't retract. I would say it is possible that your motor might just be getting weak. I would recommend trying a different motor if you are sure the linkage is moving easily and the motor still can't do it. It is possible that you overheated the motor and its even weaker now.

How do you put one of these complete units together. I took
mine apart after while being stored the spring popped out.
I could do it just need a pic. or 2 of the complete assembly.
Think I can get a pic say of one side I have diagrams from a manual
I pulled from pet though they give a rough idea of spring install. I
dont need a special jig do I.

Any help is appreiciated. Maybe Ill set a post up instead of hi-jacking a thread...
please continue.

I don't really understand what you are talking about. What assembly do you mean? That is probably why you didn't get a response to your question.

The headlight assembly, the linkage and all.

Hey, just to let you all know I got the headlight problem solved and posted a massive write up http://944foot2thefloor.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-troubleshoot-porsche-944.html for anyones future reference.

massive: A VERY good write down, thank you. It reminds me to lubricate some more places in the linkage during spring time overhaul of my 944/84.
___________________________________________
Lapponia

Cheers fella, always happy to help

Nice write up.

On the 83 wiring diagram after checking both fuse panels for burnt fuses. Check the red wire coming from the light switch to connector D pin 3. Often when this condition occurs the side marker lamps will also be inoperative.