sundevil82 Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 tonight when i was leaving a friends house i turned on the head lights and the passenger side head light would only go half way up anyone know what could cause this? after a few times of turning them off and on it went all the way up and then when i got home and turned them off and then turned them back on it would only go half way up again. my car is a 99 vette any info or suggestions would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3,503 lbs of trouble Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 tonight when i was leaving a friends house i turned on the head lights and the passenger side head light would only go half way up anyone know what could cause this? I always hear C5's have headlight issues. I don't know for sure, but I think the majority of them are related to some plastic gears GM used. They would like you to spend big $$ to replace the entire motor, but I think replacing the factory plastic gears inside with after market metal gears solves the common issue. Does this sound familiar to any C5 owners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie44 Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I agree with Dan, you've got a gear that stripped in the headlight motor. They aren't difficult to replace if you're even a little mechanically inclined. I've done both of mine and mine's an 02. Below is the site where you can purchase brass replacement gears. GM uses plastic and they stripe out. Your 99 must be low mileage or I bet it's had them done before. http://www.rodneydickman.com/retail.htmlYou can also find them on ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundevil82 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 thanks for the info, i never would have thought of a gear going bad like that in the newer vettes seems like they would use better quailty gears. thanks for the site also, i will buy the gear sometime this afternoon when i get off work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Try putting a Viagra in the gas tank and see if it goes up all the way. Seriously, if you do the repair yourself, I'd like to watch/help. I'm sure as many miles as I put on my '04, sooner or later I'll need to replace mine too.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3,503 lbs of trouble Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 thanks for the info, i never would have thought of a gear going bad like that in the newer vettes seems like they would use better quailty gears. If they did that then how would they get you to cough up the $800.00 I hear it costs to replace the whole thing. I think Eddie was the one who told me that headlamp motor was originally used in the Fiero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I think Eddie was the one who told me that headlamp motor was originally used in the Fiero. OUCH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Togo Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Try putting a Viagra in the gas tank and see if it goes up all the way. Seriously, if you do the repair yourself, I'd like to watch/help. I'm sure as many miles as I put on my '04, sooner or later I'll need to replace mine too.Steve ME THREE!in fact, if it's as easy as Eddie says, perhaps if you are going to order them, you could order me a set for both of my headlights and we could make a day out of it and do anyone else who is wanting it done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundevil82 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 i will probably order them tomorrow when i do do you want me to get you a set Togo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie44 Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I think Eddie was the one who told me that headlamp motor was originally used in the Fiero. My son had an 85 Fiero and they are exactly the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I've been doing a little checking around and some people think the plastic gear was designed by GM to strip out purposely if there's a problem somewhere else that keeps the headlight from coming up. I'm not sure what that problem might be, but the plastic gear is a lot cheaper than the motor or a burned wire from an over-current situation. rodneydickman.com wants $83 a pair shipped for the brass gears. I found the plastic gears at www.rockauto.com for $8.95 a piece, plus shipping. The Motormite Help! Part Number is 42400. For that price I'm going to order a spare just in case. If anyone else wants the plastic gears, let me know and I'll order a bunch of them all at once. Maybe shipping will be cheaper.A CF member says: Replacing the gear is a 10 minute deal.Raise the headlamps.Remove the screws that hold the plastic bezel around the headlamp.Remove (3) 10mm bolts holding the motor to the headlamp assy. (one is a bolt with a nut on the end, the other two are just bolts)Unplug the wiring to the motor.Remove (3) 7mm bolts holding the cover for the gear.Replace gear, reinstall. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundevil82 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 that would be great if you could order some extra just let me know if you do and how much i owe you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 that would be great if you could order some extra just let me know if you do and how much i owe you. Ok. How many do you want?Togo, are you interested in the plastic ones too, or are you going with brass? If you get the brass one's you'll have to order them yourself.If anyone else wants plastic, then speak up now. I'll order them tomorrow and sell them for cost and split the shipping. You can pick them up at an event. I think I'll get one spare myself.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundevil82 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 ill take 2 sets so that would be 4 gears just for back ups i will stick with plastic for now just to save money if the vette didnt cost so much on insuance for a young drive i would have to problem spending the $80 but i get screwed on insuance for being 23 years old driving a vette sux to be me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 ill take 2 sets so that would be 4 gears just for back ups i will stick with plastic for now just to save money if the vette didnt cost so much on insuance for a young drive i would have to problem spending the $80 but i get screwed on insuance for being 23 years old driving a vette sux to be me. Ok, you got it. That'll cost you about as much as one brass gear. I'm going to get regular shipping. If you want them sooner I can overnight them or whatever, but that might be spendy. If you want them sooner than ground and want to pick up the difference, let me know. I won't antagonize you by telling you full coverage 300/100/50 with glass coverage and $500 deductible costs me $552 a year for my '04 Z06. Sometimes it pays to be an old phart. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey! I just noticed... I got promoted to "Driver's License." Does that mean I'm not a newbee anymore? Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundevil82 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 regular shiping will be fine. 552 a year i wish i had that i pay a little over 300 a month for the car but its worth it in two more years it will drop a lot says the insuance agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest racingchester Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 If the C5 lites are like the C4s it might be that the plastic bushings are bad. Replaced mine to the tune of about 10 bucks for both of them. Mid America or Ecklers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Togo Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 so we decided on getting plastic ones and just throw them in there?i'm OK with that, unless mine already have the brass ones in there - i really have to find out what has been done to this car.heck, order me a set of plastic ones then, if i don't need them because i have metal ones already, i'm sure someone will eventually.Chuck - i still want assistance with those on my C4 also - i just got it back from the shop today, i have to replace the bulbs too, so i may do the bulbs sometime this week(end) and catch up with the guys doing the C5 lights when they do them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anmracing2 Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey! I just noticed... I got promoted to "Driver's License." Does that mean I'm not a newbee anymore? Steve Congrats, Non-newbie.... I was a newbie up to 150 posts, I was just trying to hold on for as long as I could...... When is the big day to instal these and where?????Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 so we decided on getting plastic ones and just throw them in there?i'm OK with that, unless mine already have the brass ones in there - i really have to find out what has been done to this car.heck, order me a set of plastic ones then, if i don't need them because i have metal ones already, i'm sure someone will eventually.Racingchester says it could be the bushings too. I'm not sure what those are but I'll do a search and see if I can find out.Steve Ok, I'll order you a set, but if yours aren't worn out you may want to just hang onto them until/if one goes. Or you could go ahead and swap them out and hang onto the old ones for emergencies. Up to you. I'll probably order an extra set just in case anyone hasn't seen this and wants an extra or two.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksedan87 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 10 minutes to do this job - someone is smoking crack! You've gotta be kidding. I have a cut on the back of my right hand that is finally healing over and I did this job the week between Christmas and New Years. Also - you get what you pay for on the gears. You want to do this again or do you want to do this once? I also did some research on this and even though I used Rodney Dickman's gears - I wouldn't use them again. There is something better.Here's what they look like taken apart...Here's what they look like assembled with the nylon gear...Here's Rodney's gear....Here's Brent's gear.....Notice that rodney's gear still uses the rubber bumper in the gear and that the part that took the greatest beating in the first pic is the rubber bumper. Brent's gear doesn't utilize the rubber bumper.Another issue is what if the bumper is toast and you bought just the gear? When I took mine apart, the gear itself didn't look too bad, but the rubber was in pieces.All I can say is have fun, but you might want to take a look at these web sites....http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/index.htmhttp://www.rodneydickman.com/corvette.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Togo Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 well crapsicles - i looked at the website - read thisNOTE: On 1/24/6 I ran out of my current stock of gears! I have additional gears on order from my CNC shop but they have not completed the CNCing of the gears and don't expect to be complete until the last week in February! ARRGHH!!! They might be able to complete a smaller batch for me during the 2nd week in February but no guarantees on that. So, we have a couple options... you can either email me and asked to be notified of when they show up so you can place your order then OR you can place your order now and I will get everything ready to go to immediately send your order once I receive the gears keeping in mind it that I may not have them in stock until the end of February. Very sorry about this... I normally time my re-orders pretty good but really got off on this one! Oh well... I'll do better next time Please email me if you have any questions!i'm skeptical to order plastic ones - but metal ones are pricey - however, i hate to do this if it's already been done on my '99 i think ordering the metal ones would be best, and heck, if i already have them installed, i can just sell them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVETTYA Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 i'm skeptical to order plastic ones - but metal ones are pricey - however, i hate to do this if it's already been done on my '99 i think ordering the metal ones would be best, and heck, if i already have them installed, i can just sell them! Well, make up your mind. I'm going to place an order for plastic ones for Travis and myself. If anyone else wants some, speak now. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie44 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 10 minutes to do this job - someone is smoking crack! You've gotta be kidding. I have a cut on the back of my right hand that is finally healing over and I did this job the week between Christmas and New Years. I'm with Randy on this one. They are in no way a 10min job. I made the mistake of taking the entire headlight bucket out and then didn't pay attention to the linkage. I have one that's screwing up again but I just haven't gotten the desire up to tear into it again. Maybe after the seat project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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