head lights question.

Ricardo Borja

Ricardo Borja

el moco
Hi guys,

One of my headlights it didn't pop up, lights is on on both but passenger side it didn't pop up, I replace the switch and reviewed the mechanism and I didn't see nothing wrong also I reviewed grounds, the relay and fuses and apparently all is ok, now after all now "it didn't pop up and pop down"

Any advise to follow before to start to mess up more?..

thanks

Riccardo
 
I second what @JimD said. Here's a couple more links to look at:

Headlamp motor

Hi, To make a long story short, my car is in a heated garage in storage for more than18 years. The headlamp were working 18 years ago but it is no surprise some components could be failing after such a long break. The left hand (driver side) motor on my 1980 X1/9 isn't retracting. The lights...
xwebforums.com

 
It may not be your diodes.

I have changed the diodes and lately have had my left pod not want to go up when the lights are turned on; after moving the hand wheel it came up (watch your fingers!) and then would operate normally.
I had not used my car after dark all summer; no headlights required.

I expect it was reluctant because the switch mechanism (under the diodes) was either dirty or oxidized, and moving it manually cleaned the contacts enough to allow it to operate by itself.

Do your lights come up with a little 'bump' manually?
 
Jefco said:
It may not be your diodes.

I have changed the diodes and lately have had my left pod not want to go up when the lights are turned on; after moving the hand wheel it came up (watch your fingers!) and then would operate normally.
I had not used my car after dark all summer; no headlights required.

I expect it was reluctant because the switch mechanism (under the diodes) was either dirty or oxidized, and moving it manually cleaned the contacts enough to allow it to operate by itself.

Do your lights come up with a little 'bump' manually?
Click to expand...
Good point. And the pivots for the headlight doors may also need some cleaning and lubrication to reduce excessive resistance to movement.
 
Jefco said:
It may not be your diodes.

I have changed the diodes and lately have had my left pod not want to go up when the lights are turned on; after moving the hand wheel it came up (watch your fingers!) and then would operate normally.
I had not used my car after dark all summer; no headlights required.

I expect it was reluctant because the switch mechanism (under the diodes) was either dirty or oxidized, and moving it manually cleaned the contacts enough to allow it to operate by itself.

Do your lights come up with a little 'bump' manually?
Click to expand...
"Do your lights come up with a little 'bump' manually?"

No, I made some test and it looks more than that!

thanks!
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Good point. And the pivots for the headlight doors may also need some cleaning and lubrication to reduce excessive resistance to movement.
Click to expand...
I'll second this. My former '86 X1/9 had the passenger headlight that wouldn't go up or down. I disconnected the headlight from the pivot mechanism and tried to put the headlight down by leaning on it (I'd raised it up via the knob). I couldn't get the thing to budge. Wound up the pivot bar had enough surface rust on it that it refused to move.

When I posted asking about it in the Workshop forum, I was told it *had* to be the diodes. It wasn't. The car was in California its entire life. The driver's side was fine.
 
One of my X's was having trouble with a headlight going up and down. I figured it was a diode so I proceeded to remove things in order to allow doing the work on the bench. Since I'll be painting the car I decided to remove everything. That's when I discovered the pivots were rather corroded (also a Calif car its entire life) and stiff. Turns out the pivot mounting points on the chassis were not quite aligned properly causing binding. It required a bit of tweaking to get things working smoothly. However I also discovered one diode had a broken lead (one of the two solid strands that is part of the actual diode). So I figured that was the problem. Therefore after I removed the other headlight I decided to test those diodes. As soon as I touched one of them the wire snapped. Apparently those solid strand wires get very brittle with age. Therefore if you remove the headlight assemblies to clean and inspect things, I'd suggest going ahead and replacing all of the diodes as preventative maintenance. After all they are only a few cents each and once the assembly is out of the car it is easy to access them.
 
Today I received by mail " the DIODES" just before to disassemble the headlight that I will add to my test.

Right now to raise the front light I do it "by hand" and to lower it I just turn off the switch and the light goes down freely I don't think I have a corrosion problem because when I did my first test I connected the wires to pull down in reverse (in the pull up connection) and the headlight goes up and down, up and down and up and down without stop.

I need time to take out the electric motor to change the diodes, for a while all your comments are appreciated.

Riccardo
 
Ladies & Gentleman I want to:
1st- wish you all of you a very good and happy new year...

and

2nd- Say thanks to all who passed the information to help me to fix this little issue, without your help I was spend A LOT OF TIME and one jar of bilis and madness till find the way to fix it. YES it was the DIODE issue and replace both.

IMG_20221226_182051.jpg


IMG_0198a.jpg


Riccardo
 
Ricardo Borja said:
Ladies & Gentleman I want to:
1st- wish you all of you a very good and happy new year...

and

2nd- Say thanks to all who passed the information to help me to fix this little issue, without your help I was spend A LOT OF TIME and one jar of bilis and madness till find the way to fix it. YES it was the DIODE issue and replace both.

View attachment 69275

View attachment 69276

Riccardo
Click to expand...
Congrats and thanks for following up on what the problem was and its resolution.

Congrats. Car is looking wonderful as always..
 
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