456 popup headlight problem

I've seen a few threads on headlight issues and now I have one. When I turn the stalk, the right one goes up and the left does not. When I open the hood, remove the rubber cap on the left headlight motor, then turn the nylon dial, the motor works fine. Somehow, the stalk is not communicating with the light motor. I've tried to switch the relays and the problem is still the same. I hesitate to install another motor since this one appears to work fine. Does the headlight motor have some intelligence to recognize a signal from the stalk? If so, I need a new headlight motor most likely.

 

I'm confused. When you turn the nylon dial, is the motor now functioning, or are you just manually raising the headlight assembly?

The reason I ask, is that with my 355, the dial just turns the motor manually. I would check the fuses. In my case, I had a blown fuse. It occured on a very cold winter day, and right after starting the car after sitting for a week or two. I think the cold headlight motor (and mechanism) caused a lot of current draw, and the resultant blown fuse. I replaced the fuse and have had no recurrance.

 

Check to make sure the arm that attaches to the headlight motor to the head light door itself, is nice and tight and obviously check all you connections and relays.

If all checks out, more then likely you need a new motor. But make sure you get the right one, there were I believe 3 different ones through out the production run of the car.

 

Actually, if I turn the nylon dial a few turns, the motor kicks in (quickly and will bite the fingers). It's almost as if I have to "prime" the motor a bit before it pops up the headlight. Very strange indeed. I'll recheck that fuse.

 

That sounds as though you have a bad diode on the motor. They're $0.07 each on-line.

Click here: http://www.the348.com/tech/348.html#lightsPopUp and then scroll down to "Diagnosing Pop-Up Headlight Systems" for more...