Head lights but won't go down

Sounds like they might be binding. Has the plastic gear been replaced?

I forgot to add that the lights had worked perfectly prior to this. The car did sit for a while when the engine was rebuilt. Could this give the gremlins time to infiltrate the lighting system?

...check the connections where the wires plug onto the Motor; down behind the Radiator, on the Drivers' Side! You'll have to come-in from underneath the car; to get to the Motor, if You don't wish to remove the entire Radiator. The connections collect a lot of corrosion from moisture, there. Your problem could just be the Ground wire is making an intermittant contact! Also check Both the UP and DOWN LIMIT Micro Switches! Good-Luck with it!...

Can you move them using the manual override knob?

Husker,

I'm not at the car right now. Will be later. Where exactly is the manual knob?

74 LQQKR,

It's on the driver's side of the headlight lift bar, where the motor is. There should be a black knob that you have to push in to engage. If I remember correctly, there is little movement with each turn.

Michael

Found the knob, pushed in but cannot turn. After further inspection it looks like the gear on the bar has a few teeth that are some what rounded. When moving up you can see the lights jump when hitting the bad teeth. It looks like the motor can be moved by loosening the 3 bolts and lifting up to make the motor gear engage more in to the bar gear. In worst case can this bar be replaced without pulling off fenders etc?

I saw another post where the geared plate is detatched from the bar. In my case the plate is welded to the bar and cannot be replaced without grinding off the weld. Is this normal? How could you ever replace the gear plate?
Thanks

The 'gear plate' aka the sector gear is factory welded to the shaft. One does not need replace this gear except in case of a severe accident, and to replace the shaft its welded to requires cutting the shaft in three places. The front of the car was literally built around the shaft and its sector gear. I've seen Panteras in which the steel gear was slightly bent so it didn't run true, but it can be straightened without removing it from the shaft. Your problem is elsewhere.

Thanks Boss,

Yesterday I was able to raise and lower the lights with the dash switch. As the lights go up you can tell when the motor gear gets to the gear plate gear teeth that are a bit rounded because the lights slip then eventually catch. The teeth on the gear plate need to be corrected some how. When the lights go down they sometime stop about an inch from closing, so I just pushed them down. The motor gear binds on the gear plate teeth. I will try to raise the motor gear to mesh closer with the gear plate teeth and hopefully this will work. I don't want to mess with the bar stuff, ouch...

Thanks Boss

Pull the headlight motor out and inspect the gear inside - it's the same plastic gear as is used on your window motors, and also prone to breaking teeth. Clean and inspect the motor gear box and replace the gear with a brass gear from one of the vendors.

Thanks Garth,

The motor gear is ok but the gear plate is what's bad. Kind of strange. I may have to live with it for a while until I find out how to restore the teeth on the plate.

thanks

picture?

The plate is just mild steel. The best is to weld material and file it to match the rest of the teeth. Now that fixing the 'effect' side of the equation. Try and see what was the 'cause' of this unusual wear.
Denis

Well I finally had time to revisit the headlight problem. Took out the motor and plate and have some questions on the wiring. How does it work? There are 2 wires and I assume that the current is switched to make the motor spin in two directions. I tested this by runnig direct to the battery with each and the motor went one way then I reversed the wires and the motor also reversed. I assume that this is what the switch does. Then the motor is stopped by the 2 up/down micro switches. Electricity has always baffeled me especially a switch like this. Anyway should I do any thing to the motor since I have it out? Also the gear is a bit worn which does not help my problem of the worn gears. Can I get a new gear. The micro switches are all rusted and I broke off the 2 bolts that held them to the plate. Can I get new switches also. Thanks for helping out a non electrical person.

I can't help with the sector gear, does sound strange that they are worn by a plastic gear but I can help with the limit switches. I replaced one last month. Wilkinson has them, I think about $35-37 ea, with hex head replacement screws and washers.

Good luck,
INDY Dave

As I recall this motor is unique due to the casing being used as conductor which is why it is insulated. Make sure the grommets where the wires go into the motor casing are in good condition as this will short out the wiring. The plastic gear is the same as the gear for the windows. Brass replacements are available. I think I have some SS screws for the micro switches if you're interested. When installing it make sure the microswitches are set to prevent the motor trying to overdrive the buckets either open or shut. This causes wear on the gears. The manual override knob is useful in this case. Use the ignition switch to turn the motor on/off and make the final adjustments using the knob and measuring continuity through the switch with a multimeter or an equivalent. And yes, the switch reverses the polarity of the wires to reverse the motor's rotation. Just might be getting the hang of it!

Thanks Husker,

I promise I'll post some pictures soon on the motor and gear. Since the gear teeth on the plate welded to the bar cannot be changed I'm thinking about another way to open and close the head lights. I'll let you know how if I come up with any ideas. The turning knob does not work either. You can tell someone has been in here before because of the wires.

Thanks

I think I found part of the problem. The gear attached to the motor was broken and I believe that the gear would spin periodically. Notice the broken plastic gear.

I could spin the plastic about the gear with little effort so that must be part of the problem. The next picture shows the gear welded to the bar.

Replaced the main gear and the 2 switches, then rewired and adjusted the motor gear clearance with the plate gear and she works.

I might be doing this same inspection, headlights won't go up or down right now on a car I just purchased, any hints on getting access to the headlights before I dig into the manuals?

Access to the headlights themselves or to the lift mechanism?

You can open the trunk and turn the black knob to raise or lower them, provided the gear isn't broken like mine was. Otherwise I had to losten the 3 screws that hold the motor gear against the plate gear on the bar. Then you can just lift them up and down by hand to trouble shoot the problem. Radiator location could make getting to the front bolt difficult.

FWIW, I recently had this problem in another Pantera. I found the power for the lights and for the raise/lower motor is from two different sources. The raise/lower motor gets its power from a spade-lug on the side of the headlight rocker switch. There are two choices right next to each other...and someone had plugged the power wire onto the wrong lug. Pull the console gauge panel and look to see if the motor wire has fallen off the headlight switch.