Got stupid and lost it in a corner. Both bumpers and quarter panel need work. Neither headlight shows any signs of damage, but right headlight (the side of the car that took the brunt of my stupidity) turns on and off but won't retract. Any ideas other than learn how to drive?

 

Probably bent the rod inside of the retractor motor for the headlight. Same thing happened to me. Might want to take out the fuse for the headlight retractors if you have the headlight switch in the off position. It might keep trying to lower the headlight which will drain your battery. Have you tried to manually lower the headlight?

 

There's a brace in front of the headlight assembly. It's probably blocking the assembly from lowering. I suggest that until you fix it, you should disconnect the motor. The fix is a matter of getting the bumper off and pulling the brace outward.

 

make sure one of the rods didn't pop off the retainers, also...only if you can hear the motor and the assy's not moving...

 

i also recommend you disconnect the battery when you are not driving. i was in the same situation before and my driver sides light couldn't flip up. yea, the bar was bent but it wasn't that that made the light stuck. it was actually the fender that was the probably. when the fender got crunched, it creased and pinned the black side covering of the light assembly. check the clearance between the fender and light assembly, check the support rod, check the rod connecting to the headlight motor.

i went through 2 new diehard golds before i figured it out.

 

loooool i did the same thing but i didnt buy any diehards. Then instead of pulling the retractor fuse i was disconnecting the battery when parked. Get rid of the fuse and chill on it until you get it fixed

 

yea, i had the diehard (new) in there before the whole thing happened. then i took it back and they guy checked it and he was all...wow! and its totally drained...and recharges it. i come back in an hour and he tells me, here's a new one. the old one is bad. took it home, next morning, lol, took it back. he's all, man! we've never had this many bad batteries before, let me go check, and yea, got a new battery again. then i figured it out and i felt sooo stupid afterwards. you gotta love sears.

 

Thanks for all the great insight! There are no signs of physical damage to the headlight mechanism behind the bumper. After removing the fuse and chilling out for at least a couple days, I will proceed with confidence based on your recommendations!