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Guest cooljoe57

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Guest cooljoe57

My passenger side headlight doesn't seem to want to come up, its starts to then stops about half way, and my driver side comes up right away....

Does this sound like bad vacuum lines or possible the actuator or something else even?

-Joe

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Desertdawg

When you lift it the rest of the way up does it move smoothly, or does it hang on anything???

Could be hanging on something as it opens...

If not then I would say it's vacuum, and it's probably the seals on the actuators, they have a repair kit that you can get to fix this.

Chad was our resident C3 vacuum guru, hopefully he see's this...

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Phill's Vette

Dawg is right about the actuators seals; it;s a fairly simple fix IF there is no rusted parts, such as the actuator shaft. I did a complete rebuild of my headlight Mechanisms (PITA!) - springs, seals, pins etc. and had a rusted on actuator shaft end which I broke trying to get it off. I did manage to "Bubba" it until I could get a new actuator. Do a complete vacuum system check, make sure there are no leaks from cracked or disconnected lines. If your lines are in rough shape, replace all when you can.

Check this link: www.corvette-101.com/

Really good info on the c3 vacuum system.

Good Luck!

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I've been through this myself. The first thing to look at is the rubber seal which goes around the actuator shaft. Pull back the dust boot on the slow actuator and check the condition. An actuator that only goes up halfway is a sure sign of a torn or ripped seal. These are only a couple of bucks each. They usually split up the side, but they can also tear at the base. The actuators themselves rarely go bad unless they've sat unused for a long time.

The other (less likely) possibility is a leaking headlight relay or actuator. You can check these for leaks by checking the vacuum at the intake manifold and compare it to the vacuum coming into and out of the relays. You should not have more than 2-3 inches Hg drop from the manifold vacuum reading anywhere on your system. More than that means something is leaking into the vacuum system.

If you need a vacuum gauge, Checker has them for about $20 or you could borrow mine.

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