355 left headlight not popping up. Possible cause?

That's good to hear, Mike. I'm happy to see that you followed Ian's instructions in post #21 to get it working. I remember having a similar problem with the 308 GTB I once owned. In those days, FerrariChat was a message board and Magoo, also one of the original members, walked me through those same exact steps using the knob.

Barry

 

And I'm happy to see it was a simple fix, Mike.

I know I'm reminiscing a bit, but those early days of FerrariChat were amazing! Magoo went out to his 308 GTB in his garage along with his cellphone. I did the same and we fixed my headlight pod over the phone. We couldn't post pictures on the original board so emails and cellphones were the only ways we had to get things fixed.

 

Great!

But that's now how that knob works.

You cleared some corrosion on the cycle.

 

I picked my car up yesterday and the dealer fixed this exact problem.
The LH light would go up and then stay in that position.
They fixed it by cleaning all the contacts and increasing the tension on the connectors. Works as good as new.
Obviously there was a cost but it was a lot less than a new headlight motor.

 

Indeed it is a do-it-yourself job, but it is a knuckle scratcher. be prepared. nice if you have a lift.

Boaf

 

(Reviving this old thread)

On my way home from work tonight my right headlight wouldn't pop up. In the year I've owned the car I've always noticed that the right pod would always pop up after the left. Didn't seem to struggle to lift, so I never thought there was a problem. The right would start to pop as the left was finishing, so it seemed like it was designed that way. Thank you to @Qavion for all the suggestions in this thread...I will start by cleaning connections and go from there...

 

I had a couple of mins to look into this tonight and found the RH headlight motor 7.5 amp fuse was blown. I replaced it and swapped the two motor relays and so far the only problem is the blown fuse. I tested the RH relay and it is fine. But fuses don't blow for no reason. I can detect a slight difference in the sound and speed between the left and right motors. The RH is slightly louder and more anemic than LH. But it's not much. Could be nothing.

Not sure what to do now. On the one hand I don't feel like tearing into the RH motor since it's a pain in the ass of a job. On the other I don't like the idea that the next time I need my headlights, which in reality could be months from now, the right one may not work. Is there a way to test the headlight motors in the car?

 

What do you mean by test? You could run the motor and headlight pod indefinitely by jumping their respective relays (B or C) until something breaks or overheats (no light switch input required).

Image Unavailable, Please Login

But do you really want to do this? Even if you get a failure at some point in the future, you would still have one functioning headlight to get you home.

If you wanted to only check the motor, you would have to mechanically disconnect the linkage at the same time as shorting out the relay. I can't recall how accessible the linkages are though.

(EDIT) Do you have an ammeter? I suppose you could compare the current draw of the headlight motors.

 

Sorry, I was using imprecise terminology -- should have said diagnose rather than test. I think comparing current draw of the two motors would show whether the RH motor has a problem. I have a digital multimeter, what do you recommend here, run a couple of wires off the relay to put the multimeter in series with the motor?

Edit: I realize my first post doesn't make clear that the RH motor has not blown the new fuse I installed. It blew a fuse on the ride home tonight. That ride was in the rain. It was a sub-10 min, low speed drive, and the rain was very light, but it's not inconceivable that a couple of lucky raindrops fell on the electrical connector which is naturally sitting right below the panel gap of the headlight pod and hood (good job, Ferrari). I will try to pull that connector next and clean it off.

 

It would depend on the amp rating of the multimeter. I have an "amp clamp" type which can handle 400 amps.

In theory, you could put the ammeter across the relay sockets (as above). This should allow the operation of the motor (keep fingers clear of the headlight pod). The startup current may be quite high, so I would make sure your ammeter has a good margin above the 7.5 amp fuse rating.

Here's a post showing some current values:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/138636354/

Note that jumping the relay with a wire or with a multimeter will activate headlight with or without the ignition on.