Light won't raise

I have one light that won't come up. It hasn't for a year or so. Time to fix it.

History: when it worked it was occasionally not working. A couple times I would make like I was turning the manual knob and it would spin and almost take my fingers off. Now that does nothing.

Where to start?

 

I reckon you didn't disconnect the battery at the battery disconnector like the WSM tells you to do.

 

Haha Barry. I was just trying to help it along at that time. Right hand. Hmmm... How's that disability insurance??

 

Bob
Check the relay and clean plugs first.If you need a head light motor ,I have a brand new one left drivers side .Cheap

 

Thank you. Mike. It's the right. Relay is located where?

 

If i remember under the front hood driver's side by the ABS stuff.Remove the cover and it will say on the back side to which one it is.

 

if turning the manual knob does nothing either, i don't think its electrical and more of a mechanical issue......

 

Hi Bob,

So you are saying that at first you would turn the knob and then the motor would come to life. Now, nothing. Certainly sounds motorish to me. Obviously start with relays clean connections. Relays are in the front fuse block, drivers side. Check your manual under the electrical section for exact position. But sound like the motor is on the way out, or already out. Check motor resistance.

 

I manually raised it tonight. Turned on lights , left side comes up , turn off, left side lowers Rt stays up in manually raised position.

Yes , at one time it would respond to a bit of help on the knob when in the on position and spin and raise. No more.

 

There is a thread here on carbon build-up on the motor contacts. You can access from below. You can clean them up. Mine elevated and fired up but would not retract. I actually drove mine vigorously with lights up on a bumpy road and eventually it stated working again. Kind of like an Italian tune-up.

 

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/348-355-sponsored-bradan/393013-355-headlamp-pod-going-strange.html

 

Hey guys. I checked fuses and relays and on initial inspection just going out to the car after it sat all night and day, it felt to me like the right relay was warm to the touch compared to the other three in that row.

I swapped relays with left side and left worked fine. Right side is up from my manual raising last night mind you

I check fuses and Rt side is blown. I put new fuse in and Rt side goes down. Fuse doesn't blow but still won't raise.

So now have good fuse and known working relay that I think is warm when car is off. I put laser temp on it but I had operated both by that time and they were both warm.

Watson you said motor is accessible from below? I take off body shield to get to it?

Thoughts please

 

Dr. Bob, I had an issue and detached the rod to the motor and light assembly . I did the same and replaced both relays that I got from Napa as they are standard relays. I also replaced fuses as mine were blowing . I operated the lights in the up position and could see the motor working. I re attached my rod while the assembly was in the up position and everything seemed to be back in sync.

 

Bob i noticed you have some accesability from underneath when you remove the small cover. Same one to access driving or fog light.

 

I had similar problem a few years ago, and did manual raising too. If I recall correctly after I replaced the fuse and it worked in just one direction I had to manually cycle through the whole up and down cycle and then it worked OK.

I hope I remembered correctly and am not sending you wrong path.

 

Sorry Doc, I was in the Cayman's last week and didn't check in all that much. Back to reality now

Yes, Taz is correct, remove the lower aero panel directly under the light. Look up and all is there.

If you are blowing fuses, something is not right. A fresh fuse / relay may "fix" the problem for awhile, but I would check for binding.

 

Thank you. Fuse is staying patent for now but light not operating. I'll get under there and pull the motor and have a look.

Thank you and hope you had a good trip. I put the snow shovel into its summer spot. Hopeful here!

 

Bob, motor is a pain to get to. I know in the up position there is some room, to get your hands on it from the top, but not for removal. I know I had some issues, same as you right side light.I think there are actually 3 relays, right side, left side and? Can't remember?? My right side Relays was pulled and headlight to motor attachment rod was missing. Once I replaced relays and fuses, the headlight motor seemed to need to cycle once or twice. I put my lights on in the up position killed the battery switch, reconnectEd the attaching rod that I had to make and all was good.

 

Finally had a chance to tackle this issue today.

Right side motor is accessible from below as was said above. Take the battery and brake cooling duct out and it's right there. 3 x 10mm headed bolts hold it in. I'll post more pics later as on phone now and one at a time is a pain.

As per Watsons instructions , I took it apart and what a mess in there. It looks like someone left their old , crusty piece of bread in there. What is that stuff?

I've cleaned it up pretty well and sanded the rust spot on the disk as Watson said there would be.

Putting it back together , it was packed with some kind of lube. What is that? Is it dielectric grease on the disk and contacts? What to use on the worm drive?

Here's a couple pics for now
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Another
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Ha! That looks familiar I suspect almost every 355 headlight motor looks like that.

I used High-Temp Mystick grease in mine. In retrospect, it is too thick. Doing it again, I would use a lighter weight grease....a di-electric grease or Vaseline. Just pack it in there as much as you can.

Nice work Doc. Looking good.

 

Just installed it and it works!!! Thank you Watson for the issue and result.

I used dielectric grease on the disk and white lithium grease on the worm gear.

I think the bread crumb looking stuff was the remains of whatever grease they used on the gear. The thing is not hermetically sealed and obviously gets or had moisture in it and thus the rust.

Not a hard repair. But of a pain to get at but straight forward if anyone else has the issue.

 

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