355 Headlight Question

Try a search, there are a few threads here about this.

Fairly simple thing to work out and fix, I have had mine apart to replace a stripped lift arm. Easy job.

 

Fuses for headlights are located in the left front part of trunk, above the left front tire. The headlight lifting motor fuse is 7.5 amps. If it is blown, try a 10amp. For some reason, as they age, the motor begins to draw more current. Do not go above 10amp. If it blows with a 10amp, you may need to investigate further, or possibly replace the motor itself.

 

Might wanna try the manual lift knob first. My driver's side headlight gets stuck every now and then. A quick twist of the knob, a near loss of fingers, and it's back to normal. Never had to change a fuse...

-R

 

Had the same problem. Lifted it manually, went to a gas station and bought a box of blade fuses. 7.5Amp. problem solved. The way I checked if it was the fuse was to swap in the one from the working lamp. If it worked, it was the fuse, if not, it was something else (like the motor) and if it blew the fuse, something electric. Thank god it was the fuse. A $1.50 fix. Nice.

 

I fixed a friend's car by adjusting the rubber "down" stop as it got harder with age. Not enough that the headlamp rattles but just a little so the stall current is around 6 amps. I figured it out by the fact that fuses would
blow only in the down position. Take a digital volt meter and measure the current by touching the exposed contacts on the back of the fuses. You rotate the black knob on the motor a little bit so the stop contacts are closed and measure the current using peak hold. I read 11.3 amps after the driver side started blowing a 10 amp fuse (7.5 is stock). The motors draw about 5-6 amp while moving and it is only in the down stop position you get a 8-11 peak
current. Anyway, you can just feel a slight wiggle on my 348 and so by adjusting the down stop (loosen the lock nut and screw down or CCW from below) you will get less than 7.5 amps. So this is how you fix the blown fuse if the
10 fuse starts blowing and the normal motor current draw is 5-6 amps. YMMV.

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86tr