headlights won't go down...motor HOT!!!

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

i drove home from work today, put the lights on, they go on as normal. get into the garage, turn the car off, shut the lights off and they won't recess. i said F this, i'm hungry, ate dinner and decided to tackle this problem later. when i got to it, the lights still wouldn't go down, so i turned the manual knob on the motor to make them go down manually. then i tried turning the lights on again. they went on and they lifted automatically as they should. but they wouldn't go back down when i turned them off. so i went to manually lower them again. after i did this, i noticed that the motor was getting very hot. so i disconnected the plug. i checked the fuse... it was fine. now i'm waiting for the motor to cool before trying anything again.
any ideas????

ps - i disconnected the wires from my rear defroster hours earlier (see the "calling all electrical wizards" thread for the reason), but i can't believe that has anything to do with it. that has to just be a coincidence.

any help or ideas would be VERY much appreciated.

-John

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

just an update... after the motor cooled for a couple hours, i plugged it back in and the lights immediatly recessed automatically... so the motor still works. then i turned the lights back on, and they raised (so far so good). then i shut the lights off again and they wouldn't recess and the motor got very hot again. so now it is once again unplugged.
any ideas or theories would be helpful... thanks.

Grandad#3 · 11-17-2009, 11:38 PM

Sounds as if the relay on the motor is toast. You have nothing to lose so unplug it and give it a few good wacks, put it back on and try it again. If it now works order a new relay as it will stop again. No need to burn the motor up.

Cheers,
Larry

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

thanks for the reply. i'll try that. i was also planning on removing the motor and cleaning the electrical contact wheel inside the unit per the write-up on Clarks Garage. Do you think that could possibly be the problem? I guess it wouldn't hurt to clean that up regardless.

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

this sucks.
i took out the motor, cleaned up the electrical contact wheel and put it back in the car. tested it out and it now works great. I go back inside, and I see the little ball bearing that is supposed to go in the center of the wheel. I forgot to replace that. &*&*&(^*&(*(&*&(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was a PITA to get that stupid rubber boot off and back on again. Since its working properly now, what does this ball bearing actually do? I know I have to do the entire job again, but I don't want to. Convince me to do it, or this may be a job that get put off to "later."

Grandad#3 · 11-18-2009, 09:36 AM

WEEELLLL, you could put it off and buy a NEW MOTOR now and wait for it to seize up. At least you would have the new motor to replace it. All in all it's up to you which you prefer to do. I would take the motor back apart and replace the ball bearing, But I'm kind of cheap.

Cheers,
Larry

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

yeah. i know.

i will. thanks.

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

well, i went back in and did it... replaced that bearing that i left out the first time.

The good news... it took me only 1/3 the time... gotta love that learning curve.
The bad news... it's back to not working again. The lights go up, but not back down. UGH!!! It's never easy. That's what I get for doing it the right way.

So maybe it is the relay. i hate to spend 20-30 on a new relay just to test that theory, though.
ugh.

msc247 · msc247's Garage

check the linkage to make sure that nothing is obstructing the rotation, these headlight motors rotate one way. if it getting hot its because there is power to it and it is stuck on something.

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

i think i figured out the problem. weak battery. i speculated my battery was on its way out a little while ago. i had a replacement, swapped it in, and now the lights are working fine up and down. so maybe it was as simple as that.

massive · 08-03-2014, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwiert

i think i figured out the problem. weak battery. i speculated my battery was on its way out a little while ago. i had a replacement, swapped it in, and now the lights are working fine up and down. so maybe it was as simple as that.

Did you get any further headlight problems?