allos

Got my 89 about a year ago and the lights have been stuck up, finally had some time to work on it and rebuilt them. They still wouldn't work tracked down the problem to what was likely a bad headlight module, my local junkyard only had a 91 in it.

I took a look at the wiring diagrams for the headlight doors:


This is from a 94, which I am told is the same as the 90 module.


This is from the 88 service manual.

It appears that the module are internally wired the same, even though they operate differently.

These two diagrams from austinthirdgen.org:










Show that the only difference in wiring is the 89 uses the white wire coming off the switch, while the 90 uses the brown wire.

I looked over the diagrams and did not see anything else using the white wire, only the headlight module. The 91 in the junkyard doesn't even have the white wire on the harness.

So I jumpered the brown and white connections at the switch plug, folded over the white pin on the switch so I don't double up anything.

The bottom connection is the white the second to the bottom is the brown on the headlight switch.

Hit the switch and the lights go up and down.... in reverse.

On is down, off is up.

So I cut the connections at the motors, not my harness, and swapped them.

Now the only issue is when I hit the parking lights the headlights come up, but don't turn on.

Which is acceptable enough for now, though if anyone knows how to fix that I would appreciate it.

Long story short, if necessary a 90+ module can be used on a 89 car, without having to cut your harness.