I've recently purchased/ installed some pop-up headlights for my FD and removed my sleek headlights. While they go up/ function fine, I cannot get them to go down.

For ease, I'll list as much of the info I have that have been brought up as possible solutions on other threads/forums:

• The headlight switch turns off and on fine (so not broken)
• Hazard/HVAC has been connected/disconnected to test (Doesn't change anything).
• JDM 1992 (So I have no wire diagram for my car).
• Retra relay solder appears fine (Also purchased a second known working relay which changes nothing).
• Previous owner had sleeks (Concept 7).
• I know the headlight motors are good as they were shown working prior to purchase (They also go up fine).
• I appear to have different wires to the only headlight diagram I can find (detailed below).

Headlight diagram
Now, since I have a 1992 JDM FD, the wire diagram I've been using seems to be different. For example, I cannot see the retra relay diagram anywhere since the wire pattern is different. I also have muddled wires in the headlight switch. Is this due to my car being an efini or am I just reading the diagram wrong (hopefully the latter).

Some annotations on what I can currently see on my headlight wiring

Testing with a multimeter:
Headlight switch:

• The Brown (or what should be Red), provides constant power.
• The Red/Blue and Red/Yellow (what should be Brown) alternate providing power depending on the position of the switch.

Retra relay:

• The White/Green does not provide power.
• The Brown provides power constant and the Red/Blue sends it to the headlight motors (from what I can guess).
• The ground is good.

Headlight motors:

• The Black/White provides power constant.
• At the moment, the Red/Blue also provides constant power (This does not cut out after the headlight switch is pressed).
• They can however be retracted down manually when the headlight button is in the down position.
• Ground is good.

Hopefully I'm being an idiot and have missed something super obvious and can't find the specific forum with this issue as honestly I'm thinking my only option is pulling the entire dash and cutting open the wiring loom to make my own since at least that way I'll know where everything is.

Any help will be greatly appreaciated as I want to get my car back on the road asap!

Thanks in advance!

 

If you don't turn on the headlights but just press the pop up/pop down button on the dash what happens?

Dale

 

The switch functions correctly at first; the pop-ups go up without any hesitation without the lights being on in either low/high beams.
However, when pressed again to go down, nothing happens and the pop-ups stay up.

 

IF the lights have been sitting for a long period of time, there is a good chance that the contact plate in the motors has oxidized.

To test out this theory, then the lights on so they go up, then turn them off. Start turning the manual **** on the headlight motor and it should take over and close itself after you have turned it a bit.

Fixing it is easy, there are a few screws on the large round part and it is a large copper plate. I used a fiberglass sanding pen and then coated it with dielectric grease.

Vince

 

Sadly I don't think this is the case, as before purchasing these pop ups, I was given a video of them moving both up and down with ease.

I can manually wind the motors down with both the switch pressed in for up and out for down.
For up, I begin winding and they pop right back up. When the switch is in the down position, the motors do not take over and thus, the headlights can be retracted all the way down by hand.

Not sure if that helps? Thanks for the suggestions so far though

 

OK, I'm looking at the wiring diagram here.

First you have a 4-wire connector to the motors.

B/W - that's 12v power to run the motor itself.
B - ground
R/L - send 12v down this wire, headlight goes up.
R/Y - send 12v down this wire, headlight goes down.

R/L and R/Y also go back to the headlight relay. Most likely the R/Y wire somewhere is going to be your problem.

I'd use a multimeter in continuity mode and start tracing that circuit.

I would also look around and see if the wiring under the dash was hacked into in the past. One popular mod was the Pivot RHU-M "sleepy eye" controller that could make the headlights only open part ways. Yes it's stupid, but there you go. Anyhow, to install someone would have to cut that wire to splice into the RHU-M and it's possible the wires are still disconnected - they could have removed that controller when they put the sleek headlights in.

Dale

 

Install sheet for RHU-M, it's for an FC but it's the same install. Note they say to cut into the R/Y wire in the FC-specific instructions:

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...7/#post9312050

Dale

 

Thanks for this! I'll its pitch black here in the UK so I'll read up and get back to work first thing tomorrow to test and continuity (and if so, then voltage) on that wire and see hopefully find if a controller was placed in line in the past.

Thanks for your help, I'll report back asap!

 

So, update on the pop-up situation, after browsing round the dash, attempting to jump what (according the to FC wire diagram) should be the right wires, and checking for any loose wires etc. I cannot find any evidence of where a pivot controller would have been placed.

However, what I did find around the motors is an entire Bellof HID system wedged behind the oil coolers that apparently wasn't wired into anything but power and ground. It seems to be from a while ago since its all in Japanese.

They're a lot heavier than they look.

After removing the HID system (incase it was T'ed into a wire for the pop ups, I pushed the switch in and the left (passenger) headlight went down before going back up after the switch was pressed again. Sadly they didn't go down on their own again (even after helping them to start off).

I'll be continuity testing the wires tomorrow now I'm sure only the motors are connected to them.

 

i have had similar issues with a bad "relay-retra". Its easy to open up and sometimes the damage is obvious
its in the driver's side foot well

 

I thought that at first and brought a new retra relay (with videos of the pop-ups working on the other car) as a first point of call, from an mx5 albeit, but they are interchangeable.
Sadly it did not work.
Both the solder and capacitors on the inside of both boards looked good as well with no side of leakage - if I remember I'll get a pic tomorrow of one of the relay insides incase my soldering knowledge isn't up to scratch. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

Update: they're working again!! 🎉
So, what was wrong - well firstly there was no continuity in the R/Y wire from motor to switch or relay on any of the randomly coloured wires. There was also no continuity from the R/Y that attached to the switch to any of these wires.

First Fix: I ran a wire from both the headlight motors R/Y to the switch R/Y to actually connect them and they go down on the switch!

Next problem was the retra relay with the combination switch. They didn't seem to go up or down when using the switch with the fresh R/Y wire attached. (symptom of a bad relay) so I unplugged the relay, had a look, all looked good, and plugged it back in - thats when it popped up since I had my lights turned on!

Second fix: While the Retra Relay was good, the connection on the wires plugging into it was not. Temporarily placed some electrical tape round it to keep the connection in tight and seems to do the trick!

Thanks for your suggestions and help, I'm glad to hand them sorted now and to experience the joy of headlight lids flying off at 70mph down the motorway. Thanks guys! 💜

 

Sounds like you just have a few bits to work on to make them 100% reliable but you found the root of the problem. Good job!

Dale