Asking for a friend....no really. My 88 year old neighbour has a 95 C4 that is his baby. He asked me to give him a hand as he thought he had a bad motor on the drivers side headlight. He had already ordered the new motor and tinkered a bit, but he was still having issues. As I understand it the original issue was the drivers side headlight was only partially opening.
He told me that he had replaced the drive motor but he realized that the issue was actually created by a slight bend in the bracket that limited travel. He repaired this and the mechanism ran smooth. So he put the old drive motor back in, everything in the identical position it was when he removed it. The problem he has now is that the lights rotate out of sequence, one up one down. If you manually match the light position the bad light (drivers side) does not move when you turn the lights on (the good one does), but immediately moves open when you turn the lights off.
I took a look and he demonstrated. The good headlight is in the closed position, the bad (or out of sequence driver side) has been manually adjusted to match. Turn on the ignition, sequence the lights. The good passenger side rotates to open, the bad drivers side does not move. Sequence the lights again and the bad drivers side immediately rotates open while the good passenger side closes. They remain out of sequence from then on. We manually matched them again but they remain out of sequence (the bad drivers side ignores the first actuation, then moves on the second placing it our of sequence again). We even tried mismatching them to start off knowing the first actuation would be ignored by the bad drivers side. Magically, when out of sequence it works on the first actuation to ensure they stay mismatched
The system is not that complicated so we are dumbfounded as to how two intelligent people cannot devise a solution. No matter what we try the lights are determined to operate out of sequence (one in one out). The drive motor is good, the gears are intact and move smoothly both manually and when driven by the motor. The wiring is factory and intact. We have tried cycling with the bad light unplugged first then plugging it in, no change. All he did was remove the motor and replace it again, no gearing was touched and the headlight remained mounted and in place the entire time.
Youtube has many great videos on the service, repair and replacement of the lights, but I have yet to find anything that mentions this or how to ensure its correct while repairing or replacing.
Any advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated. He is at the point of wanting to take it to a mechanic and I don't want him to spend the money.
Posted originally in the C4 forum, a member suggest I move it here for better response.
Thank you
G
He told me that he had replaced the drive motor but he realized that the issue was actually created by a slight bend in the bracket that limited travel. He repaired this and the mechanism ran smooth. So he put the old drive motor back in, everything in the identical position it was when he removed it. The problem he has now is that the lights rotate out of sequence, one up one down. If you manually match the light position the bad light (drivers side) does not move when you turn the lights on (the good one does), but immediately moves open when you turn the lights off.
I took a look and he demonstrated. The good headlight is in the closed position, the bad (or out of sequence driver side) has been manually adjusted to match. Turn on the ignition, sequence the lights. The good passenger side rotates to open, the bad drivers side does not move. Sequence the lights again and the bad drivers side immediately rotates open while the good passenger side closes. They remain out of sequence from then on. We manually matched them again but they remain out of sequence (the bad drivers side ignores the first actuation, then moves on the second placing it our of sequence again). We even tried mismatching them to start off knowing the first actuation would be ignored by the bad drivers side. Magically, when out of sequence it works on the first actuation to ensure they stay mismatched
The system is not that complicated so we are dumbfounded as to how two intelligent people cannot devise a solution. No matter what we try the lights are determined to operate out of sequence (one in one out). The drive motor is good, the gears are intact and move smoothly both manually and when driven by the motor. The wiring is factory and intact. We have tried cycling with the bad light unplugged first then plugging it in, no change. All he did was remove the motor and replace it again, no gearing was touched and the headlight remained mounted and in place the entire time.
Youtube has many great videos on the service, repair and replacement of the lights, but I have yet to find anything that mentions this or how to ensure its correct while repairing or replacing.
Any advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated. He is at the point of wanting to take it to a mechanic and I don't want him to spend the money.
Posted originally in the C4 forum, a member suggest I move it here for better response.
Thank you
G