Headlight mechanism problem

[OPELFIEND]

Recently hit a deer with the GT. The lights were up at the time, and the driver's side cover was damaged a bit. Passenger side was untouched. Had the body work done, now the UNDAMAGED side wont lock into place in the down position. No problem in the up position, they lock into place and the dash indicator goes off. But, the handle is a real bear to push and pull. It was that way before, but now it's worse. I can manually push the light down on the passenger side but it wont completely lock. If I mess with it enough the dash indicator will go off, but that's about it. Any thoughts? Lube? Broken bolts?

[Dennis Texas]

Originally Posted by OPELFIEND Recently hit a deer with the GT. The lights were up at the time, and the driver's side cover was damaged a bit. Passenger side was untouched. Had the body work done, now the UNDAMAGED side wont lock into place in the down position. No problem in the up position, they lock into place and the dash indicator goes off. But, the handle is a real bear to push and pull. It was that way before, but now it's worse. I can manually push the light down on the passenger side but it wont completely lock. If I mess with it enough the dash indicator will go off, but that's about it. Any thoughts? Lube? Broken bolts?

the headlights have to be adjusted together it is trial and error apparently when they fixed the damage they only made sure the damage was corrected. There are several adjustment to get the lights working correctly assuming they were working before and have no bad parts. Your problem can probably be solved by adjusting the throw on the linkage (this will be up by where the cable ends under the front slope). It sounds like it is not making enough travel but you just have to work with it. If the linkage does not offer enough correction you can adjust the pivot by the bolts holding the hardware for the light mechanism it has three bolts you will have to pull the inspection plate inside of fender off to get to two of them.
While your down there a shot of lube would be good also.

[GTJIM]

First you must ensure that all bolts and clamps are tight and unbroken - particularly the three 5mm hex-head bolts that mount the bucket to the turning mechanism (they are a standard Metric thread so can be replaced with M5 X 0.8mm pitch Allen head capscrews if required. The cap screws are both tougher and stronger than the originals and can be done up tighter IMHO).

Make sure that each bucket is correctly located in the guards - even gap all around both up and down and level with the opening in the guards. If not the adjust each bucket both at the forward pivot point and the rear bracket.

This is easier if you disconnect the cable from the tie bar and undo the clamp bolt that holds the two parts of the tie bar together (see illustrations from FMS below)

Manually lock both head lights up.

Re-clamp the tie bars together and adjust the nuts that anchor the cable to the body sheet metal above the radiator till the end slips on to the tie bar pin.

You should be pretty close to right by now - though a bit more too and froing on adjustment may be needed to get the correct positioning and locking both up and down.

PS: It only took 3 people 3 days to get mine back in and correctly adjusted after removal for painting! So it is not a quick job ....

[newman27]

Also check out this article...

HTH

Matt

[OPELFIEND]

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated. Newman27, thanks for that link.

[OPELFIEND]

Here's the update: I had to get a good used rotating mechanism from Gil from the driver's side, the old one was bent. The problem is now this: After numerous adjustments to both the cable and the bolts, the lever on the mechanism does not travel far enough to hit the microswitch to turn the dash indicator off in the down position. The lights will work fine in the up position, the lock and the dash indicator light goes off, but it wont in the down position. The actuator arm doesn't appear to be bent, but it almost has to be the reason for this. Does this sound correct? I'm not actually doing the work, but the guy doing it has been in business for years and he has done everything he can think of. Kind of at a loss here. Would replacing the actuary arm be possible? Is there something we're missing? Please help!

[dcm013]

Originally Posted by OPELFIEND Here's the update: I had to get a good used rotating mechanism from Gil from the driver's side, the old one was bent. The problem is now this: After numerous adjustments to both the cable and the bolts, the lever on the mechanism does not travel far enough to hit the microswitch to turn the dash indicator off in the down position. The lights will work fine in the up position, the lock and the dash indicator light goes off, but it wont in the down position. The actuator arm doesn't appear to be bent, but it almost has to be the reason for this. Does this sound correct? I'm not actually doing the work, but the guy doing it has been in business for years and he has done everything he can think of. Kind of at a loss here. Would replacing the actuary arm be possible? Is there something we're missing? Please help!

You can always do like I did - pull the bulb out of the white indicator light in the dash

Don

[namba209]

According to my DESTEC schematic, the microswitch in the driver's side bucket that has the Red/Black and Brown/Black wires is the one that turns on the indicator light at all positions other than down and locked. You can bend the microswitch actuating arm to insure the indicator light does indeed go off when the headlights are closed and locked. HTH