Headlight stuck up

[wooly350i]

Just found one headlight went up real slow then now its stuck up, what have I got to start with please? Just started driving it again as well. Gonna look a right cock driving around now, don't say it!

[TVRIK]

You could disconnect the battery and manually wind it down for the time being?
If yer not using it at night of coarse!

[wooly350i]

Yes could do, suppose I could try swapping relays if there is one each for light motor, that would tell me something.

[TVRIK]

Yeah good idea.. I have a problem with mine, it wobbles half way up.
It's the gear inside has shed Teeth
One of the guys Marcus on PH helped me out with that, still need to fit the bugger!

[wooly350i]

They're only modified window wiper motors arn't they?

[TVRIK]

Yeah pretty much, don't know what the mod is mind.
It may just need a good greasing?

[wooly350i]

It sounded sick as it came up, now no life at all, probably electrical of some kind.

[adam quantrill]

If it is really stuck up, give it an armagnac and enrol it for Eton!

Or else twiddle the knob underneath (no that's not a euphamism...)

[wooly350i]

adam quantrill said:

If it is really stuck up, give it an armagnac and enrol it for Eton!

Or else twiddle the knob underneath (no that's not a euphamism...)

Armagnacwhat, you've lost me now, I know twiddle though!

[marcus1875]

Yeah, check the obvious, relays, connections, diodes. You might be lucky, once you twiddle the knob it might kick it back into reset (if you do it with battery on), i've done that a couple of times.

[Danny Hoffman]

Sounds very familiar, you may just have a partially seized bottom motor bearing.

See my earlier thread for a quick fix

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=121...

[B@man]

The limit switches the stop the motor are also st, a bit of bent metal and some brass rivets had no end of bother with mine, found that 50 MPH over railway lines used to wake them up. Not any more though !

[gog440]

B@man said:

The limit switches the stop the motor are also st, a bit of bent metal and some brass rivets had no end of bother with mine, found that 50 MPH over railway lines used to wake them up. Not any more though !

Is this why I winked at the car in front on my way home today, had the lights on, hit a bug bump in the motorway and my RH headlight went down and then back up again!

[wild rover]

Remember there is a fuse for each side.it may be blown due to the stiff bearing. A couple of fuses later may help as a temp measure.

[wooly350i]

Well, I went through the relays and swapped the o/s one for the n/s one and no difference,up to the fuse board and yep 'wild rover' found the motor lift fuse had blown. So put a new 15amp fuse in and it popped straight away, I unplugged the motor connectors down the front end retried the fuse and it was ok, suggests an electrical short in the motor.
Two of us unbolted the motor bracket up inside the housing (one on the nylocs and me on the screw heads inside the engine bay) then undid the nut holding the lift arm and the 3 small bolts holding motor to the bracket, out dropped the motor through the hole. Reverse operation then to refit another motor obtained a little while ago and after a bit of Mexican waving its now sorted, actually they are more in time with each other than they've ever been so a result, cheers for the replies lads.
Oh another question, any one know of somewhere that would refurb the old motor?

[Wedg1e]

Come on Wooly, you could overhaul it yourself

It's likely that the main gear bearing has seized, so the motor's being stalled which makes it take loads of current and blows the fuse. If the motor has the manual wind-up knob on the bottom, can you move the armature that way? If not it's seized. If you can, it could be the armature windings are short-circuit in which case you may as well throw it in the bin (but keep the switchbox and nylon gear for spares).
If you can't be arsed, post it up to me and I'll see what I can do with it, I have a few spares

[wooly350i]

Nah,manual winding is as fwee as a bird . Was gonna dismantle it and look inside but k nose what im fooking for with motor windings etc,loads a copper for me scrap

[ElvisWedgely]

Just like any other electric motor I would start at the very beginning. I would run a power lead direct from the battery to the headlight motor. If it works, you know the motor is fine and start searching elsewhere, like relays, wires and fuses. If it doesn't, then it's the motor itself or its gearing mechanism, which means, dismantle, grease, fix or replace.

Tony. TCB.

[Rockettvr]

Danny Hoffman said:

Sounds very familiar, you may just have a partially seized bottom motor bearing.

See my earlier thread for a quick fix

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=121...

Danny what type of oil did you use is it std 15w40 or something special?

[Danny Hoffman]

I just used old engine oil. Once it was nicely freed up I packed the rubber dust cover with grease.

I have a pdf detailing how to test/repair a Lucas wiper motor if anyone is intereted