Headlight woes

[auto_cran]

Still having an issue with one headlight - it doesn't want to go down on it's own.

Both raise fine, but when I turn them off, the passenger side stays up.

With extra caution, I examined things. With battery unplugged, I cleaned the ground. Didn't help.

Couple things I did notice (with battery connected and the headlight switch off):
- the 5-wire cylinder shape connector is really warm.
- if I carefully turn the manual knob 1/2 turn, the motor catches and the light lowers just fine.

My SEARCHes don't come up with anything on a situation like this - and being really careful due to the danger of the mechanism, I'm a little hesitant to just dive in.

Any suggestions?

Chris

[FI Spyder]

Don't clean grounds but clean all wire connectors in the light circuit. Use electrical cleaner and small round brush of some sort. Flush out and put some dielectric grease in there so they don't quickly recorrode.

If there is resistance in the connector due to corrosion you will get heat which is making the connector warm. Not to mention with increased resistance you will get a voltage drop so the headlight or motor will not be getting the full amount of juice.



- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[auto_cran]

Thanks Spyder. Will clean all the wire connections with CNC Cleaner...

Cleaning grounds have been helpful so far - half the lights on the car were not working due to bad, dirty ground connections. This headlight issue is my only light issue left on the car - hope to get it resolved!

Will report back my results.

Chris

[nick]

Each pod has a limit switch. These cause the pods to stop and start at the up and down positions. Your problem could be that one of those is not making contact. I have a diagram of how these work. But it's on a Word document and I can't seem to paste it here. I'll send it in a PM.

Opps. That doesn't work either. If you email me I can send it to you.

[img][IMG]http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/nickmi/TR7%201975/Yellow.jpg[/img]
nick
'79 TR7 DHC
'76 TR7 FHC

[auto_cran]

Nick, PM sent.

Chris

[A fuller]

Hi,
I have the same problem with one headlamp not returning when the light switch is turned off. I have checked the earth and cleaned it up. I have switched the run/stop relays and that did not resolve it. I am about to get a new headlamp flash relay and see if that cures it. The connector to the headlamp activator is a 3 pin type and the connections did not look past it but they were far from their original condition. Does anyone have any advice on this?

[Ianftr8]

Hi A Fuller?

First step have a go with the search facility on this site you will find that the headlight issue is a regular on here!

You should find that making sure that the earth points behind the headlights under the bonnet will make a good difference, as will cleaning up the "Red" connectors in the same location.

The next step after that look up cleaning the master headlight switch.

Cheers

Ian

Ian Freeman
1979 TR8 DHC KDU 315V Poseidon Green
Triumph Courier
Triumph owner for 32 years

[A fuller]

Thanks,
I have gone through what has been posted but not found that anyone has had the same issue. I will clean the connections in the red connector and if that doesn't sort it then I will change the headlamp flasher unit.

In the meantime if anyone can remember anything on this I would be grateful for a steer in the right direction.

Andy

[moestr7v8]

Hi Andy
Check the diodes in the lift motor, I had the same problem.checked everything out all the usual wiring/connectors etc eventually took out the whole headlamp unit and checked the wiring in the lift motor and found that both diodes had blown,luckily I had a spare motor to replace it with and everything is now fine and lights working perfectly, all I need to do now is to find out what diodes I need to repair the original motor.
I hope this helps.
Cheers
Moe

[auto_cran]

Andy,

Like you, doing a SEARCH on this topic came up with no one having the same issue - most seemd to be where the headlight(s) wouldn't rise.

When the headlight is stuck raised (and switch is in OFF position), if you give the knob a little turn, does the motor get moving again? That's what mine is doing. It's like it's stuck and needs a shove - and once I start turning the knob, the motor takes over and nicely closes.

Chris

[FI Spyder]

Just a thought, you might want to go through the up stop adjustment sequence. Might be too tight. I had one the opposite. It would flutter when raised and going down the road at night. The upstop adjustment was way out (not in contact at all). Don't know how it could have got that far out of adjustment unless it always was that way.



- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[A fuller]

Auto-cran,
Yes I tried what you suggested but it did not work and return to its down position. I have now had the motor out and tested on the bench. It operates under a 12 v direct feed . I am now really running out of ideas but will keep going to find the solution which I will post in due course - I hope!!

[A fuller]

FI spider, forgot to ask, if the motor operates under 12 v on the bench does this confirm that the diodes are working correctly?

[scarface031]

Try lubing all the pivot points, I had the same problem and that fixed it for me. Just spray some wd-40 on them and let it sit!

[FI Spyder]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by A fuller</i>

FI spider, forgot to ask, if the motor operates under 12 v on the bench does this confirm that the diodes are working correctly?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If it works on the bench on direct connection to battery I would think you are not getting 12V when in the car. Somewhere in the circuit there is a connection (or broken wire(s)) that is robbing you of the voltage (or amperage) for the motor to work at full power.



- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT