Headlights no go down.............Now they do

carl

carl

True Classic
They come up, they go on. Turn them off and the lights go out but both pods do not retract. Can I assume since this affects both lights that they are not getting the voltage to make the motor function? Is there a good post here on diagnosing this?

They will go down by manually cranking them down.
 
Probably related to the diodes in the pod circuitry, I don't think there is a separate relay for up vs down.

I'd start by looking at the wiring diagram in the electronic diagnostic, not the main wiring diagram that is impossible to read
 
Yep, quality time spent staring at diagrams. That's why I asked not long ago if there was a nice tutorial on headlight problems. And while everyone agreed this was an excellent idea, no one has actually done it.

One reason I like my red X is it has no headlights, everything gutted with just a sheet metal plate riveted over the opening. Thought I had the last laugh on headlight issues! I don't drive at night and try to avoid rain so technically it's not a big deal but if you leave the lights stock then they should work properly. At least they go up and on.
 
Here are a couple of threads discussing headlight issues. See if any of it helps:

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

*#$%^ PO headlight issues

yup. here we go again. headlight issues. I am going to start with what i want as the end result. this is NOT a show car. I dont need the OE headlight switch to work. what I do need is a way to switch on the running lights and the headlights. can be separate, can be at the same time. ok, now...
xwebforums.com

 
OK guys. After I get done filling in the bumper delete holes and the dealer installed side strip rivet holes I'll make that my next heated garage project.
 
Carl, what are you doing to fill the holes? The bumpers on my car were deleted by the PO and I have considered just using plastic plugs painted to match the car. A more industrial rather than elegant looking solution.
 
If I was a TV program on Motor Trend TV, I would make proper sized discs, TIG weld them in the holes and have the body shop make it all nice and smooth. I'm not on TV and my welding skills are scary. I put fiberglass mesh on the back side of the hole to provide a support for bondo on the front side. BrownX is morphing into flat black X as I do bodywork

For the side bumper strips, the rivet holes were odd. I drilled the heads off and the shanks stayed in place so I just bondoed over them to smooth things out.

You guys aren't cringing, are you?

This works fine if paint is not an issue. For those of you who have great paint and don't want to compromise it then I guess plugs are a viable solution but at least try to paint them to match.

And I just did what I hate to see on the forum....a topic change so that anyone really interesting in hiding bumper mount holes won't see this.
 
Thanks Carl, sounds like a clean and relatively easy solution.

I'll take the blame for drifting the thread, I should've asked in a new thread
 
You may have goosed me into reposting my response as a separate topic so all is good.
 
carl said:
I found the little fuse and gave it a twirl in it's fuse holder and now they go down. Guess I need to get a brass wire wheel for the dremel and polish up all the fuse holder and fuse ends.
Click to expand...
Great! I had so much problems with my headlight. Now I know that if they BOTH don't want to raise or lower, it's a fuse. If it's just one side, chances are it is the diode.
 
carl said:
I found the little fuse and gave it a twirl in it's fuse holder and now they go down. Guess I need to get a brass wire wheel for the dremel and polish up all the fuse holder and fuse ends.
Click to expand...
I've been through the fuse twirling thing a few times. DeoxIT D5 works well for cleaning and protecting the fuse ends and the fuse box clips.
 
carl said:
I found the little fuse and gave it a twirl in it's fuse holder and now they go down. Guess I need to get a brass wire wheel for the dremel and polish up all the fuse holder and fuse ends.
Click to expand...
In which section the line fuse is in the harness. In the pocket pod light , inside the car in the fuse box ?
 
Yves said:
In which section the line fuse is in the harness. In the pocket pod light , inside the car in the fuse box ?
Click to expand...
Yves, I don't think Carl was referring to an inline-fuse. The headlight motor fuses are in the fuse box under the glove box. These are the 2 short ones at the end of the row. One for up, one for down.
 
Depends on the year of X, but the ones with "torpedo" fuses look like this:
fuse.jpg
 
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