Headlight motor replacement advisary

[GOLDCYLON]

A couple of weeks before Christmas my Passenger headlight motor stopped working on my 90 Auto Z. It would go about half way and up and stop. Upon investigation a cracked plastic gear was the issue and bits were binding in the mechanism. So I ordered this replacement unit from Corvette Central. After waiting a month it finally showed up. The installation was very straightforward and came with no directions. Basically its four bolts and 2 nuts. Not a hard job. I was a little skeptical as the unit was sporting a made in China label on the box which did not inspire confidence.


https://www.corvettecentral.com/c4-8...2-wire-444342r




After the installation I turned the light on and the Drivers side functioned normally and the newly installed Passenger headlight turned 100% the opposite way. After scratching my head and checking the connector I assumed the manual trimming knob was not set correctly. So I trimmed both the manual headlight knobs to even and tried again. NOPE. Same reaction. So I unplugged the 2 pin connector and incorrectly reversed it. BINGO. The Chinese Polarity Commission had wired the unit backwards. The good news story is this unit uses a clamshell weather packed connecter so opening the connector and then unpinning the pins (If you have unpinning tools) was pretty easy.


As the motor was 28 years old and had been rebuilt a couple of times before and now with a broken gear it was time to look for a replacement that I could take apart to repair correctly as I did not have a handy core replacement to send in.


This is GC reporting. OUT

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

A couple of weeks before Christmas my Passenger headlight motor stopped working on my 90 Auto Z. It would go about half way and up and stop. Upon investigation a cracked plastic gear was the issue and bits were binding in the mechanism. So I ordered this replacement unit from Corvette Central. After waiting a month it finally showed up. The installation was very straightforward and came with no directions. Basically its four bolts and 2 nuts. Not a hard job. I was a little skeptical as the unit was sporting a made in China label on the box which did not inspire confidence.


https://www.corvettecentral.com/c4-8...2-wire-444342r


After the installation I turned the light on and the Drivers side functioned normally and the newly installed Passenger headlight turned 100% the opposite way. After scratching my head and checking the connector I assumed the manual trimming knob was not set correctly. So I trimmed both the manual headlight knobs to even and tried again. NOPE. Same reaction. So I unplugged the 2 pin connector and incorrectly reversed it. BINGO. The Chinese Polarity Commission had wired the unit backwards. The good news story is this unit uses a clamshell weather packed connecter so opening the connector and then unpinning the pins (If you have unpinning tools) was pretty easy.


As the motor was 28 years old and had been rebuilt a couple of times before and now with a broken gear it was time to look for a replacement that I could take apart to repair correctly as I did not have a handy core replacement to send in.


This is GC reporting. OUT

I think it's sort of cool to have left and right headlight bucket rotate in opposite direction.

[GOLDCYLON]

Originally Posted by secondchance

I think it's sort of cool to have left and right headlight bucket rotate in opposite direction.

Well I will admit it was a WTF moment. I thought I had installed the motor the wrong way for about a nano second

[Crusin]

Aaaaaah the joys Goldcylon, very funny ( perhaps not at the time) I have to buy a new right head light door motor as mind gave up the ghost recently, those little suckers don't come cheap, and have to pay extra till they receive your old motor, thinking of no night driving. lol

[GOLDCYLON]

Originally Posted by Crusin

Aaaaaah the joys Goldcylon, very funny ( perhaps not at the time) I have to buy a new right head light door motor as mind gave up the ghost recently, those little suckers don't come cheap, and have to pay extra till they receive your old motor, thinking of no night driving. lol

That’s why I went with the replacement. I had no core and I figured it had already been rebuilt a few times so it was time. Imagine my surprise when Corvette Central did not post up this review on the product they sell. The truth never made it past the web gate keeper

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by Crusin

Aaaaaah the joys Goldcylon, very funny ( perhaps not at the time) I have to buy a new right head light door motor as mind gave up the ghost recently, those little suckers don't come cheap, and have to pay extra till they receive your old motor, thinking of no night driving. lol

Well, ya know the Chinese read backward (right to left unless characters are vertically arranged).

I know Daryl (aka Goldcylon) and I switched to LED headlights ("Larson" type) and they are soooo much brighter, that even ONE headlight would be an improvement over the stock Sealed Beam lights In the interim!

[Crusin]

Hello GoldCylon! Yes I have found Corvette Central does a bad job in posting their products and they don't seem to have as many parts for ZR-1 as Ecklers. When purchasing motor had to send a deposit for core as well which they would return upon arrival of my motor core. Since motors are rebuilt had no idea how many times so purchasing a new one, if I don't sell the car. I noticed you have many mods on yours, I am sure runs good times. I was contemplating doing the same to mine after I bought it but thought it may deter people from buying it later if I sold it. Cheers!