1984 308 QV Headlight Lifting Issue

Hello,
I removed both headlight housings to have them re-sprayed. At the same time I changed the headlights from the original sealed beam type to the newer HID type.
After re-instalaltion, the same way as I removed them, the issue started.
The Right Headlight (passenger side) raises higher than the Left Headlight (drivers side). When raised the headlight is approximately 1" above the front body line.
My son and I, we both work on cars, spent hours adjusting and re-adjusting all of the attachment bolts, the control arm on the drive gear and anything else that anyone recommended.
What we didn't check is the motor itself relating to the diodes on the motor.
Attached are 2 photos. One photo is of the Left Headlight, looks good. The other photo is of the Right Headlight, raised aboty 1" above the body line.
Any input will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
PD
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I don’t have any experience with this car, but I would expect there would be an adjusting screw that acts as a stop for the headlight housing in the up position.

 

The motor maxs out ,,
At the Top-Correct position.


Seems like you might have a wiring issue,, motor ( sensor) spinning the wrong way. ??
kinda weird.

 

There are two ,,, resting ,,, rubber bumpers at max open. but,,
You seem to have a , “lazy eye.”

hope I’m helping.
good luck.

 

If it's like the 400, motor rotates in a single direction: half a turn is up, an additional half turn is down. If the track in the motor disc is dirty, maybe that is does not properly sense the up position.

From memory the arm that is attached to the motor axle has a spline-line that allows to adjust the positioning.

 

Not sure about the proper english, but the output shaft "spline" allows to adjust the rotating arm position.

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Yes, I checked this. I disconnected the ground line, increased the stop position so the housing hits it sooner. When re-energized the housing lifts, hits the stop but the motor continues to run. I had to put the stop back into the original position. I then checked the diodes using a VOM meter, diode setting. Per instructions the diodes checked out ok. Thank you

 

I'm checking that next, thank you.

 

I've tried adjusting that but there seems to be somethin else going on. I'll continue my torubleshooting. Thank you

 

Next step is to open the motor and clean the tracks on the back of the crown gear (brownish disc in the photo). The old grease makes the tracks non conductive. On the gear cover you will see some fingers that slide over the track. These are the "position sensors". Attached to these fingers are the diodes that reportedly go bad (next to the green grey cables).

That's an easy job, the only issue is to remove the rubber boot (if your motor still has it, mine is on the left of the photo)
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If the headlight goes up to far it must also not come down enough. The mechanism work like the image below. Then raised the arm is fully extended. It can't get any higher. When lowered it is fully retracted. It can't get any lower. The difference between raised and lowered is fixed. Check to see if the position of the arm on the motor and linkage to the head light are as pictured below. It's impossible for the headlight to be in the correct position when down and too far up at the same time if everything is installed correctly.

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Slight correction to the figure above.

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Here is what the linkage should look like when the headlight is down. The arm on the motor should be inline with the linkage to the headlight. Both pointing in the same direction.

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When the headlight is up it should look like this. Again, both in a straight line (or very close to it).

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The only way for the headlight to be too high is if the adjustment linkage it too long, even if the motor didn't stop at the correct "up" position. This would also result in the headlight being above the fender level when retracted. Additionally, if the motor didn't stop in the correct "up" position then the adjustment to the adjustable link to make it right would always be too long for the headlight to match the fender level when down, no matter where the motor stopped when lights are down.

Now, if the motor doesn't stop at the correct "down" position it would require shortening the adjustment link to be at the proper fender level. This would cause the headlight to be too low when up, no matter where the motor stopped with lights up.

 

Hello, that's the thing. The linkage seems to be in-line on both the up and down positions. But in the up position the headlight is about an inch above the body line.
Attached are photos showing the linkage in both the up and down positions and photos showing the lights in both positions. As I said, things seem to be aligned. I'm not sure what is going on. Thank you
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It looks to me like there is a few degrees of angle difference between the linkage here, it should be 0°, that would be enough to cause it to raise too high. If you shorten the linkage until they're perfectly aligned, that should cure your problem.
Alden
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I shortened the linkage as much as possible. Yes, I will readjust the angle and keep trying. Thank you.

 

I had the same problem put the headlights down loosen the 2 locknuts and turn the long hexagon nut till the light are flush with the body the long hexagon nut has a left and right thread when flush tighten the 2 locknuts

 

Good morning. Thank you for the reply. I finally did that but in a way that was necessary to align everything. For some reason this headlight arrangement had the heagon nut/turnbuckle already in the the "shortest" position. After measuring and thinking a bit, I unthreaded one of the turnbuckle ends and cut off approximatley 1/2" of thread. I "cleaned up" the turnbuckle end and re-inserted into the turnbuckle. That did it. Up and down, left and right now aligned.

 

As all my cars have pop up headlights, this was an interesting thread.

Anyone have a good idea how to fix the "diode issue"? My Testarossa winks at me with one eye every time I turn the lights on and I have never found a good write up explaining how this can be fixed. I even have a spare new diode somewhere. Electrical issues are not my thing, which can be a problem with 40 year old Italian cars.

 

For me it never was the diode (on the 400 there are some additinal relays, so the diode are only sustaining a "sensing" current). But the pop-up would either wink or work at different speeds until both units were dismantled and packed with new grease.

On the top of the motor, there is a "scroll wheel". When your motor is stuck if a half turn of said wheel allows the motor to finalize the rotation to the desired position, then you know the diodes are good.

In any case, once the motors are out and the casing is removed, diodes are super easy to replace (for peace of mind). Mine were removed, tested and put back-in (first motor only).

My electrical connectors had seen better days, but on my car they are in the engine bay...

It's a 1.5 hour job, and as said removing the rubber boot requires lots of persuasion (and some brute force), the rest is straightforward. Maybe that new soft rubber boots could make this a pleasant job.

 

Not sure about yours but on my car there are three relays controlling the headlight lifting one for the left, one one for the right one and one for "pop-up control," when I've had trouble with my lights lifting, I've replaced one or all and it solved the problem, especially the winking problem!
Alden
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