Adjusting Headlight Up/Down Stops

MammyJammy · 01-18-2020, 04:49 PM

Hi All,

My 951 headlamps are not stopping at the very top and bottom of their travel. When raised, they go to the top and come down slightly, which basically points the lamps at the ground right in front of me. At the bottom of their travel, they go past bottom and up just slightly.

When looking at the arm from the motor to the headlight hardware, there's a bend in it that you can see at it travels past the top and bottom of their travel. It should be straight at either stop. You can see at the linkage in the picture below (where the headlamps are up)...There's an elbow at the joint, showing that the lamp is past the max travel on its way back down.

Does anybody know how to adjust the stops? I manually turned the motor to the top with the battery disconnected thinking the relay would push current for so long, but that didn't do anything. I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to the headlight mechanism and all searches here and elsewhere for headlight adjustments are about adjusting the housing itself, not the stops.

Any help is appreciated!

soxnail · 01-20-2020, 08:06 AM

There is a cam in the motor assembly that cuts off the current to the motor to stop it at full open and close.
If there is no play in your lift arm/joint then you should not be able to move the headlights by hand against the mechanical advantage of the motor.
So if the motor is powered down then you should not be able to move the headlights by hand.
Sox

91cab · 01-20-2020, 11:53 AM

You have to adjust the arm coming from the headlight mechanism so it is parallel with the arm for the motor. Just unbolt it and readjust the arm.

MammyJammy · 01-21-2020, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 91cab

You have to adjust the arm coming from the headlight mechanism so it is parallel with the arm for the motor. Just unbolt it and readjust the arm.

Yep, it was that easy. For some reason I had myself convinced it was more complicated. For anyone else with a similar issue, it was as easy as taking off the nut and washer, then prying the arm off the motor assembly.

Then I adjusted the arm to it was parallel and the bucket was at the bottom of its travel.

This how-to of removing the motor assembly was also helpful:

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Porsche_944_Turbo/32-ELEC-Headlight_Motor_Replacement/32-ELEC-Headlight_Motor_Replacement.htm

Re-attached the arm, tested the travel, and problem solved. I did have to adjust the headlight bucket a little after to get the seams flush with the body work.

There's an optional step in there of dropping the nut onto the batwing where you can't see it and spending 20 minutes with a magnet probe looking for it. Again, that step is optional.