Headlight won't close all the way or open all the way but works fine

You need to have a look at the adjustment arm on the side of the head light. The nut holding it to either the headlight bucket, or, the motor may have come loose allowing the arm to "spin" just enough to get it out of wack. You can access it from the bottom of the car. You will need to remove the cover from the bottom of the bumper to the fender well, to get access to the adjustment arm.

 

Ernie has a good idea on checking the motor connections. In Pic #3 below....the nut in the center is what Ernie is saying attaches to the motor. The open ended arm is where it was attached to the bucket.

Another issue could be the contacts in the motor itself. It is a remarkably simply set-up. My L/H headlamp would rise about 75% and stop. If I twisted the knob on the motor It would jump and finish the cycle.

My issue turned out to be the grease inside the gear section had migrated to the electrical contacts and, in turn, hardened. As the motor turned, the hardened grease would lift the contacts from the disk that determined the start stop locations and the cycle would stop part way through. I cleaned everything up, put in new grease, and the motors are fine now.

I bought two used motors from a 1999 parts car with less than 3000 miles on it. Both motors had sever rust on the start / stop disk. I suspect it was a result of washing the car and never using the headlamps. The water got inside the gear section and rusted the disk to the point where the cycle stopped almost immediately. I pulled the disks...sanded the rust off...and all was good.

My point being, just becuase they are lightly used does not mean they wont fail.

You can see the three metal fingers coming down and where they would contact the disk in Pic #1.

In Pic #2 you can see the stop points for the top & bottom of the cycle.

Be careful cutting open the gear section as there are some wires & a diode buried in the packing on the top end of the gear housing.
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Just to repeat something that you have probably read in earlier posts, be very, very careful about operating the headlights, either electrically or manually, while your fingers are anywhere near the headlight doors. That motor is very strong, and if your fingers get trapped they will be badly injured. Best to remove both the fuse and the relay for the appropriate door while working in that area. Be safe!

 

Excellent advice... I pinched my fingers once while 'adjusting' the light.

That's all it took...

Be careful out there.

Mike

 

Be doubly careful if you are underneath troubleshooting. Lots of things moving about in there.

If the headlamp is mid cycle and is interrupted and then reconnects itself, it will finish the cycle it started all by itself. If your fingers are in there when it does that....retreat quickly.

I have tinkered with pop-up headlights a long time and have a few deep bruises on my fingers to prove it

 

Thanks for the update, and I'm glad you got it fixed.

 

I'm having an issue where the motor doesn't appear to be activating. I do not see the top part spinning, so only my right headlight is raising right now. If I manually spin the top part of the motor the headlight doesn't move at all, it just spins freely.

I do hear and audible clicking sound from the left one when I turn the lights on and off, not sure what that is.

Now I have to manually prop up the headlight and tighten that small nut on the arm to hold it in place. Quite embarassing.

Maybe I need a new motor?