ok guys heres one for you, i got a friend, has an '89 bird, he put in a new headlight module, now headlights will go up, but not down, any ideas??

 

Mine just did the same thing. I need to know where the headlamp door module is located.

 

Here is a picture of the headlight module, it is located on the firewall to the left of the fuel pump relay as you face the front of the car looking at the firewall.

 

Cool, that's what I was looking at, but I'd rather be sure than start unnecessary surgery. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the module acts as the relay, doesn't it?

 

On your model, yes it does. It took the place of the three relays that were used in earlier models up through 1986.

 

wasup Trickster? Well I finally got around to dissassembling that module last night Figured i would clean the contacts as was done by someone else in another thread. I hooked it up with the black covers off and watched the relay snap back and forth. Noticed some green corrosion on one of the contacts..sanded it all off good..THOUGHT I HAD IT FIXED>....put it back together and nothin...lol

 

hey trickster, can that module cause headlights not to come up at all? I have a problem where my lights are on, but they don't phsyically move up... then I run over some bumps and they usually pop up... no matter what, they ALWAYS retract... I've never had a problem with that...

if it were the motors they'd have problems moving, and they feel fine, its just that whatever tells them to move isn't doing it's job.

is it common that this module requires internal maintenance?

thanks,

Steven

 

Sounds like your bushings to me

 

Sounds like your bushings to me

 

I agree. I wonder where you can get a headlight repair kit to solve the problem?



Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

the thing is that the headlights move great when I move the **** by itself, and simply banging on the headlights/motors does nothing... both headlights ALWAYS pop up at the same time... its like I go over a bump and some contact somewhere snaps into place, and the lights come up...

if the contact in that module was dirty, can it cause the headlamp motors to not get any voltage? I think I will go out and use a voltmeter on the actual hl motors and see if they get voltage when its not working...

I should see a a burst of 12v activity right when I hit the headlight switch, right? then when the lights hit the upper extreme and stop, or at least they think they did, all the sudden the power will stop, right? they don't constantly have 12v, right?

 

Correct, they are load-sensing. When they hit either the upper or lower stop they sense the current spike and shut off.

Lon

 

so if both lamps lights light up, and BOTH stay down, it's not a bushing, right? its something that activates the light motors? like that module Trickster posted?

every once in a while, the lights will actually pop up while I'm moving them manually... ouch that hurts my fingers, but that almost never happens and I can't seem to find a correlation...

I think I'll try wiring a 12v source to the motors to see if I can control them at will by bypassing the headlamp switch... I think miatas have this ability

 

Have you taken the headlight actuation units apart to KNOW that is isn't the bushings? The OEM bushings are made of a hard gel that breaks down. 90% of the time that is the problem. Take a look at my instructions to see how to disassemble them correctly. Ignore the part in the instructions about marking the nylon gear, that step is unecessary and will be deleted when I revise the instructions.

Lon

 

thanks for the instructions, think I'll take a look, but I'll know for sure when I try and feed the motors with 12v...

its a good idea to rebuild those motors anyways.

 

I'm getting ready to rebuild mine. It's got a case of the "lazy eye" in the morining.

 

I have the same problem mine always go up but never down.

 

I really think its that damned module... I just need to go out and apply power directly to the motors themselves... its just hard to find the time to do these things.. if you have time, try that dan... in your case, once they go up, see if you can make them go down by applying power to the motors.