this past winter my car slid off the road (due to ice) and the passenger front fender took some damage from a tree. the headlight motor quit functioning. so i used the manual crank and have just left it up. i finally got a parts car and have begun to replace various body parts, etc. i put the new head light motor in yesterday. no issues with installing... i had the motor unplugged obviously... no matter what position i manually set the light to, when i plug it in, it will adjust itself to the middle. the drivers light works properly. when i set the lights to be down, and manually set the passenger to the down position, and then plug it in, it always goes back to the middle. i get the same results when trying the same, but in the up position. after the light positions, and i tell it to either go up or down, i can hear something in the motor area make a click sound. it's just a single click. i've consulted my haynes manual, and found nothing. i've also searched the other threads on this site and haven't found anything either. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

After not running the car for a long time, I'm actually working on getting it back in shape, and I still have this same issue exactly as described above. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Ok, maybe if I add some more detail somebody may have a better idea of what's going on and I can get this resolved.

When the passenger side headlight is manually set to the down position and you plug the power cable to the motor it goes up about 1/2 way. When the motor is manually set to the up position and power is plugged in the motor goes all the way down properly and then up about 1/2 way.

If I need to make a video or something and post to youtube for a link, let me know. I've got the fenders and front bumper removed at the moment for other repairs, and it's really convenient access to the headlight motor and the inner workings.

 

a couple Ideas.
are you sure the Motor is for the correct side of the car?
is the retractor Motor Adjuster facing Directly DOWNWARDS?(that is correct position)
did you ever remove the Pivot arm On the Motor?.is it 'clocked the right way?.IF not the Lights will not Go UP all the way and Strain when Closed.
by the Way.,.check the LINKAGE on the Motors to the Lights.they have bushings.If the bushings are Shot then the lights will not react to the motor going up and down correctly.

 

easiest way to fix that?

Turn your headlights up. There's a 13 or 14mm nut that holds the main headlight retractor arm in. Loosen that up all the way for your problem side, I think it was the passenger side.. Turn your headlights down, then up, after you've loosened that nut. Now, hold the passenger side headlight up with one hand in the fully up position and reattach the nut to the retractor arm. You should have headlights that are in sync.

The retractor arm works in a circle. Some number of rotations will bring the headlights up, the same number of rotations in the same direction will bring them back down. This explains why, if your starting position is halfway up, the lights can go down, then back up. You just need to adjust your starting position.

 

Yes, motor is for the correct side of the car.

If by motor adjuster you're referring to the **** at the bottom for manual positioning, yes it is completely down.

There isn't any kind of straining. The movement is very free flowing; it moves with ease as it's supposed to, jut not in the positions that it's supposed to.

the bushings seem fine.

I'm about to post a video to youtube of what the problem is, so that all may see first hand.

 

Here are the videos of the problem. Sorry they are split into 3 parts, but that's because of my cell phone... The links are to youtube.

Part 1 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY6l1Iw-NCo

Part 2 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBSf9suBuNA

Part 3 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wuIAIy1BT0

 

Roen, if you are ever in the Arkansas or Kentucky area you'd better let me know! Because I'm buy you dinner! lol I've had this question posted since 2007 and nobody has been able to help, not a Haynes manual, Mazda manuals I've downloaded or anything!

This needs to be added to the 2nd Gen. F.A.Q. !!!

 

Having never had to replace a headlight motor on either of my cars, I found this very interesting. I'm printing this short thread out and adding it to my file of "tech articles" in case I ever need it.

The question I have for overyander is, what did you do with the car for the past two years? Have you been manually cranking up that light every time you drove it at night?

 

Mostly just leaving it ****-eyed or both up, depending on my mood. I've had that motor unplugged for so long now, after I fixed it I just stood there for a minute playing with the up/down toggle switch! LOL It'd been so long since I've seen them operate properly.

 

Funny. I had a minor fender-bender in my old '90 GTU that jammed the bumper support behind the FTP lens into the headlight mechanism requiring me to drive with only one light up at night for about a week while the insurance adjuster took care of some paperwork. It just about drove me nuts, so I'm impressed that you were able to put up with it for all this time!

 

Bookmarked.

 

This will probably make me the biggest dork on the board, but I have used the lights to literally wink at hot girls. (the driver side would only go down when i used the toggle switch.)

 

Nothing wrong with making the best of a bad situation. Did any of them notice?

 

I found out when it happened to me in Toronto, just after dark, as a snowstorm was starting. I sorta had to figure it out pretty fast, especially with the -10 degree weather acting as encouragement.

Glad I could help.

 

Pretty surprised nobody got this. I believe all you have to do is disconnect the battery and then manually adjust them level. Then reconnect battery and it should work fine. Do I get a cookie?

 

So you're saying the headlight motors reset their starting position based on the position of the headlight every time the battery is disconnected, then reconnected?

 

No cookie for you until you PROVE it. I'd like to know for sure, though.

 

I am almost positive that it did work in my 90 GTU. The OP needs to test it and see if my memory hasn't failed me.

 

I had the exact same problem. So I figured the starting positions were messed, what I did was I had the connector and wiring from another motor. I temorarily connected it and then fed power to it from a battery. Theres 3 wires can't remember the colors but one is white and green.
White and green with 1 makes it go all the way up and the other one makes it go all the way down. I put them all them all the way up hooked everything up like that.