pop-up light stuck

[dab81]

I have a 83 plus 2 Tasmin, one of the pop-up lights has decided to stop raising. Reading online their is supposed to be an access hole to manually raise the pods. But i haven't one.

Can anyone help?

is there another way to raise the pod?

what are the common causes for them getting stuck. earthing, faulty motor?

Running out of ideas.

[D1 MAD]

Greetings dab81, have you checked the fuse and the relay? If you have pulled the relay out and put it back in check it hasn't pushed a wire off of the rear of the socket.
There should be a four inch hole underneath the pod with a small turning knob on the bottom of the motor. You have to get down on the ground and grovel about to get at it (I should know, I'm always having trouble getting mine up)
Cheers.

[njhucker]

I have just ordered a recon motor from rimmer bros. They are £55, or £200 for a new one. The last recon one I bought only lasted 2 yrs, so they have given me a 20% discount on this one

[niva441]

Snap, another 83 +2 owner. One of my headlamps stopped working last year. The access holes were also missing on mine (is that coincidental both being +2s).

With mine I was able to get some life out of it by playing with the relays and fuses. When it finally popped up I disconnected the battery quick so it couldn't drop back.

Once out I was able to fix it by cleaning the contacts inside the headlamp motor (slightly cheaper) and it hasn't played up since.

[SEvans]

It could be the switch or relays but in my experience it's more often the switch contacts on the side of the motor. If you can move it a small amount sometimes it will move the rest of the way. If you can't then I would look at getting the access holes drilled. It will save you a load of grief in the long run. I wouldn't have thought the front end on a 2+2 was any different to other Wedges of a similar age, so you could look at another car with access holes to drill them in the right place.

[D1 MAD]

What happens with mine is.......

Turn lights on, left comes up, right stays down. Leaving lights on, turn right motor slightly by hand and right comes up then immediately go's back down almost taking my hand off!

So, routine now is turn lights on, left comes up. Pull motor control fuse and wind right up by hand. Lights can now be turned on and off with both pods staying up. When the sun comes up in sympathy, replace fuse, both pods go down.

Some time ago I spotted a wedge coming the other way with lights off but one pod stuck up so I flashed my lights and winked at it with my left pod. Quite a funny moment.

[leorest]

Just for info. As it might help someone diagnose a similar problem one day.
My pop up lights problem (on an X1/9 but same concept) Switch lights on, one pops up, and the other twitches and stops down. Light finger pressure pushing dodgy pod down makes the motor spring into life. If you keep the downward force on, the pod comes all the way up, take you finger off and the motor dies instantly. Took me a while to track it down but found a diode with a fractured leg on the lift part of the circuit. Replaced diode with a generic rectifier diode and problem sorted. The downward push on the pod was enough to bend the motor bracket, which in turn pushed the two fractured halfs of the diode leg together. Very tenuous and I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!
Leo

[dab81]

thanks for all your responses

i have already checked the fuses and relays, but will persist, could be a problem with the holder. The left pod relay doesn't seem to click, wouldn't be surprised if it was a bad connection on the motor.

If no joy i will have to drill a hole. does anyone know the exact position of the access hole?

From niva441's response it could be a +2 issue the lack of an access hole.

[dickymint]

njhucker said:

I have just ordered a recon motor from rimmer bros. They are £55, or £200 for a new one. The last recon one I bought only lasted 2 yrs, so they have given me a 20% discount on this one

Nigel, do you still have the old one? if so they are usually dead easy to fix.
If you can get it over to me i'll do it for you.

[flattyland]

leorest said:

The downward push on the pod was enough to bend the motor bracket, which in turn pushed the two fractured halfs of the diode leg together.

Tch! thats so obvious, as if it could have been anything else...

[mikeb]

Took my motor aapart once on the 350i and it was full of water!

MikeB

[wedg1e]

leorest said:

Just for info. As it might help someone diagnose a similar problem one day. My pop up lights problem (on an X1/9 but same concept) Switch lights on, one pops up, and the other twitches and stops down. Light finger pressure pushing dodgy pod down makes the motor spring into life. If you keep the downward force on, the pod comes all the way up, take you finger off and the motor dies instantly. Took me a while to track it down but found a diode with a fractured leg on the lift part of the circuit. Replaced diode with a generic rectifier diode and problem sorted. The downward push on the pod was enough to bend the motor bracket, which in turn pushed the two fractured halfs of the diode leg together. Very tenuous and I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! Leo

Beat me to it: I was about to suggest duff diode or corroded contacts on the copper strip 'switch' in the motor gearbox. This is borne out by the non-clicking relay (mentioned a couple of posts up)...