[dlearl476]

Hi all, long time, no post. I guess that's a testament to the durability of the cars, as I've had about 15K of trouble free driving, but....

Last night on my way to work I stopped to get a soda at a gas station. Turned off the lights, the light retracted fine but when I restarted the car, only the left headlight would raise, and neither of them would turn on. I just checked all the fuses and they are fine. Headlight motor, HL raise, HL drop, all four bulb fuses.

Played around with electrical connections, but no dice. Put the right HL into "bulb change" position (to take the weight off) and that side just doesn't work. I suspect I have a bad motor, but why aren't the lights coming on.

Any ideas?

Also, I'm having a bit of an issue with my trunk lock mechanism. It unlocks fine, but sometimes won't lock when I close the trunk (92 Cab, btw). Based on Flash's advice in the other headlight thread, I'm going to douse it with some TriFlow. Any other ideas?

TIA

David

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[sstman]

This happened to me, exactly the same thing, drove home on side lights, and front fogs!, it was very intermittent, as I went over a bump in the road, the right hand light came up, and both lights came on. and then all was well for about 2/3 weeks, and then it happend again!.. But this time no joy at all, I had to wind the unit in/out manually! (stopped using the car at night)

Did some electrical checks, all fuses OK, power was at the motor unit, so removed and dismantled the motor, after getting a quote for a replacement motor (not funny) I stripped it down, cleaned it all, oiled the mech etc, upon reassembling the motor unit back into its 'shell' I could see a copper coloured coil winding component on the rear circuit board seemed to be very loose, upon further inspection under a magnifying glass it was in fact making and breaking on its connector !, after I re-soldered the coil back securely to the board, and connecting a 12 volt supply, the motor ran smoothly. It appeared that over the years the joint had weakened to the point of being a bit hit and miss, the vibration of the running car had kept it more or less 'working', but just occasionaly it would fail.

As it says in the manual, reassembly is a reverse operation, all went back together and the light now raise and lower faultlessly .

Hope this helps, I was quoted alot of money for a 'new' motor, and a 'new' headlight relay, when in the end it was a poor solder joint which had given up.

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[dlearl476]

You don't have any pics, do you? I tried to look up the motor on the Pelican site and no love. The motor is $350 or so, IF it's the same one as the 944S >'91. They didn't even have a listing for a 968. I'd hate to think what PCNA would want for one.

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[sstman]

No photo's taken I'm afraid, but it was not a difficult job to remove the motor from the mech, and once the motor was on the bench, it was easy to strip down, the coil that was disconnected inside the motor is on the circuit board that has the motor brushes attached.

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[dlearl476]

Well, I finally got some time to tear into my headlight yesterday. I'd avoided removing the motor for as long as I could, figured I had the same issue as you did. But it turned out a little bit different. Not electrical at all, but mechanical. When I removed the lower heim joint it was STUCK. Thinking I may have found the problem, I operated the lights and both motors worked fine. I cleaned the gunky grease off of it and re-greased, then tried it again. It went up fine, but wouldn't lower. Another thing I noticed was that the adjustment seemed to bind at times.
Anyway, I pulled the motor out and figured, since I couldn't rotate it all all by this time, that it was toast. WTF? I'll pull it apart and see what's up. Lo and behold, when I pulled motor apart, a c-clip had fallen off and had wedged between the winding and the magnets. Put it all back together and it works fine.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the rubber cover back over the motor and put it back in. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

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[dlearl476]

< I\'d hate to think what PCNA would want for one.

BTW, just for laughs, I called the dealer. $1398 + 8 week delivery time.

It\'s nice that Porsche used a quality BOSCH motor with \"user serviceable parts inside\" Tearing it apart and fixing it was pretty straightforward.

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[dlearl476]

Oh, one more thing I almost forgot about: The nut that holds the lever onto the motor shaft had loosened to the point the the splines were badly worn. (When I first saw this, I thought it may have been the whole problem) It certainly explains why I had a rash of "re-adjustments" a few years back. I'd advise everyone to take a look at this. Just takes a second with a 10mm socket with the lights in "maintenance" position.

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[dlearl476]

One more update:

I got it all back together and after two or three noisy but successful lifts and lowers, it stopped working again in the UP position. I had a few ideas so I started in on them. First thing I noticed was that without the headlight attached the motor seemed to work fine. Checked the physical movement of the assembly and nothing was binding, so I assumed the motor was simpy shot and binding under load.

Of course, after I called Oklahoma Foreign and ordered a replacement, I tore into the motor again and realized I'd done a few things wrong. I tore it apart again, completely, and cleaned and re-lubed everything. I also realized I'd replaced the (formerly loose) C-clip in the in the wrong location. I also realized that I'd probably left an adjustment screw that sets the end play for the motor shaft way too loose. (Which I think was the cause of the noise as the shaft hopped off the cogs in the worm gear that operates the lever)

Those of you who are familiar with Murphy and his laws know what happened next: As soon as I ordered the replacement part, five minutes before OF closed, I put the motor back in and it works perfectly.

When this motor comes in I'm going to tear into it, with a camera this time, and post a little "Wiper Motor 101" based on my experience. These motors are really nice and, most importantly for something something so expensive, very user serviceable.

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[rxter]

This will be much appreciated by all. Thanks for taking the time to show us the innerds.

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[EEZATOY]

I am currently having this very problem - drivers side headlight is stuck in the upright position, so at least the lights work...

So to get the motor off is it just the three bolts that connect it to the support tower or is there something I can't see from top..

Thanks Sam

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[dlearl476]

Sorry I haven't been back for a few days. The best method I found was:
1) raise the lights (so they'll stay up)
2) turn off ignition
3) put headlight to "service" position
4) Disconnect heim joints and remove bar (chances are, the gunky lube on these is contributing to, if not causing, your problem.)
5) Remove center bolt that holds the rotating lever arm to the motor.
6) Remove the three bolts that hold the motor to the assembly.
7) Pull the wire keepers out of their holes (I wish there was a way to do this without breaking them. Mine were so old and brittle I had no success at it. I'm still looking for a source to replace them.)
8) Unplug the wire loom and remove the motor through the rear access.


Obviously, replacement is reverse of the above, making sure the lever arm is pointed the same direction it was when you removed it.

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[EEZATOY]

D..476,

Thanks for the reply and description - I might add right now I hate pop up headlights...

I picked up a used motor off ebay (only $40) so I set to replacing the non-working drivers side - a bit of a pain to get at but not to bad - plugged in the new motor to make sure it worked and all was good before disassembly and got it back together and now neither side will retrack - before the passenger side continued to work when the drivers stayed up - so I need a headlight 101 on how they retrack (checked the fuse and it was fine; plugged the old motor back in and still no go for the passenger side) or are released to retack...on top of that it eat my small 10mm socket -fell down in to the front somewhere (I guess through the old snorkle hole) just to add to my frustration.

Thanks Sam

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[rxter]

Problem: Both headlights stuck in up position.



Symptoms and observations:

All lamps work

No motor sounds at all

Linkages under the headlight look really clean - very little gunk.

Pulled relay - looked really clean. Sprayed off with dielectric cleaner stuff anyway.



History:

Right side headlight would not go down all the way. I have a bra on and it was getting a little stuck. No big deal. I'd just cycle it again and it would go down.

Turned on the car today and popped the lights up like I always do backing out of the garage. When I turned them off the ligths stayed up.



Relay?

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[flash]

could be - i'd be more inclined to think it was fuse #37



lube the linkage with TRIFLOW (not WD-40) anyway

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[rxter]

All fuses good. 16 (up) and 37 (down). I changed them with known good fuses to be sure. Triflowed the linkages. Nada. I can hear the bulb (both fog and headlamp) relays pinging when I cycle the switch. Can someone please listen for the relay ping when the motors go up and down? You need a pretty quiet garage to do it.



Thanks



Joe

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[flash]

i'll be down there later this morning and will do that - also, bva will be here later too, and i'll have him activate my headlights while my finger is on the relay to see if it "clicks"

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[rxter]

muchas gracias



playing with the SC?

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[flash]

lol - aren't i always?

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[rxter]

Anyone know how to get these things down manually?

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[rxter]

And now I have the dreaded airbag light on - geez is it a full moon or something? I need the hammer for that right? Looks like at least one more trip to Black Forest.....

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