I let my '86 N/A sit for about a week after driving it in some rain. Went to go take it for a refresher drive and when I put my headlights up, the left one went up about 75% and stuck.
--Left Blinker, blinks twice as fast.
--Right Headlight and blinker works fine.


After my drive, car sat for a day and 2 nights. Key in and the only thing that my car has power for is the "door ajar" ding. And it sounds sick.

--Key @ ACC, no radio lights, just door ding, (i kept door open)
--Key @ IGN, no idiot lights, just door ding.
--Key @ START, no nothing, ding fades away.

The battery shows a voltage of 5.4v.


I tried to get some pictures of under the headlight hoping that someone can see something that I can't. Or possibly point out a wire that I should test out with the Multimeter.




Could rain have gotten on a wire or in the blinker lense?
Possibly causing corrosion?
My electrons are finding a way to ground and I need to stop them!!!

 

can you manually twist the headlight back down? If you can't then the motor is likely to be siezed. if you can return it easily than it is likely to be an electrical problem.

 

How do you "twist" the headlight down?

 

99% of the time I have found the joints on the lifter arms need lubed. I use chain lube available at any dirt bike or street bike shop. Spray the joints all good and try and open close the lights. Or twist the white **** on the bottom to manually crank them.

The blinker, one of your bulbs is blown. The relay works off of resistance when a bulb blows it will blink twice as fast.

 

there is a lil rubber thing underneath your car. like a rubber cap, take it off and twist the thing there. its really easy, if you cant find it look in the haynes manuel, super easy to do...

also the cheap way to do the sleepy headlights

 

Shhhhhhhhh!!!!!

lol

 

^ Ricers.... and with a full charge in the battery i dont think you'd have a problem poping them up.

 

I think you guys might have missed the big thing here. MY CAR BATTERY WAS DRAINED OF ALL BUT 5.4VOLTS!!! My car has never been below 12.33V. And then coincidentally all this stuff happens after one drive? It just seems way too obvious that there has to be a short somewhere. Right?

iceblue
As for the blinker bulb, the bulb is not blown. Thats the weird thing. It's very dim though. I'm super suspicious that the driver's side of the car was in an accident. Check out this picture and notice that there are paint chips everywhere on the Quarter Panel and not on the hood or bumper or headlight. (can't see the hood, but take my word.)

 

Where is the lifter arm located? Is that the thing coming off the motor? Where do you spray the lube.

 

^ The black rod in his pics is the lifter arm. Sray all of the joints with lube. You can try wd40 to brake it lose but you need to get a lube on it.

 

It happened to me. Your battery is dead because the headlight motor stays on until the headlight is all the way up or down. Even after you pull the key. Even if the lights are off.

I went through the trouble of buying a used headlight motor but when I pulled on the headlight by hand I found that the headlight motor wasn't quite strong enough by itself to move the headlight, the pivot points needed lube.

I sprayed it with lithium grease and all was good. Now I have an extra headlight motor.

ed

 

My dad had the same thing with his first generation, if he tryed to turn the switch off it would drain his battery because his lights didn't go down, he opened the switch up and rebuilt it and all was well...

 

Thanks for the info. On mine the metal that flares out on the fender was catching the light making it more difficult to go down. I bent back the metal and sprayed the joints with a little chain lube. Runs smooth as silk now.

 

So if the headlight is stuck halfway, It's draining electricity when you turn the switch off, because it knows it's not down yet. Does the same apply to when you turn it on? I noticed that when I had turned it on and it was trying to come up all the way, that my sunroof sounded like it didn't have enough power to open and close.

 

Yes, the headlight might even look like it is closed but it might still be trying to open or close (depending on what you did last). It will drain the battery overnight.

ed

 

Pull your retractor fuse in the engine bay, recharge your battery, replace the bad motor (this is what happened to me), and then press on with life.

 

I appreciate all the good advice here guys. Here's the lastest question. I got under the car and manually turned both headlights up and down several times. The Bad Headlight in question though, when I went to turn it initially there was a point in both directions, where I could not turn it by hand. It was with the electric motor arm parallel with the ground. About 10-20 degrees up from parallel, and about 10-20 degrees down from parallel. So I went to try on the other headlight. And it was very easy.

I took out a 18mm socket and fit it around the bad headlight manual screw, and put an extension on it, and used a ratchet to gain a little leverage. The screw (or whatever was giving me a tough time) went around very easy then. I then took the rachet off and used the extension and twisted it with my fingers.

The motor arm traveled 360 degrees, and then I went backward 360 degrees. Upon visually inspecting the motor are joint, it did not look rusted or corroded or anything. Now I'm just waiting for a jump to do some more tests.

--How does the motor know it's at BDC and TDC? (since the arm/motor travels in one direction in a circle), So that it knows to stop current?

--What direction is the motor supposed to turn?

 

i got the battery all charged up and took her for a spin. The headlights seem to work fine now. But I still have a major short somewhere I think in the left blinker circuit. Also, whenever I use an excessive amount of Amperage, my radio powers off, (its aftermarket, and power is hooked up through accesory). Like when I open My sunroof all the way, and then try to open it some more...my radio powers off. Powering off, of the radio is not limited to that though. Also, my voltmeter in the dash holds about 13-14V while driving, but comeing to a stop, engine idle, it snaps to 12V, as if the alternator isn't working at idle. After the drive I checked my battery's Voltage with an external voltmeter and voltage was down to about 10.5V, and Im sure it's dead by now.

 

Should the motor arm be straight up and down (vertical) when the lights are up?

 

the Flashing Faster on One side of the Turn signals,means that you have a bad light on that Particular Side(the fast blinking side).
#2.I'd be Pulling the retractor fuse as it is Suckin juice at all time until you Replace the headlight motor,Lube the linkage and make sure that it is not Kinked,and the joints are ok.
Sunroof?..Lubricate the crap out of it with silicone lubricant on the sliders.They get finicky and sometime you have to Give them a "love tap" to get open and closed.Some people have actual Working Trouble free sunroofs(I am envious!).
I'd also check the alternators Output,Maybe take it off and get it Bench tested..same with the battery..After **** likes this happens over a period of time,.with constant Draw and drain,either the alternator or battery have a tendency to just say "Fugg it" and start to give up..Better now than later..
anyways,Good luck,.STYX.

 

Do this for me.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ....... pull the headlight fuse, no need to loose a finger to a 7.

When i got my 2nd en I had the same problem. The root cause of the problem was that the linkage the moves the "light cover" popped off and got in a position where it jammed into the linkage that lifts the actual light.

 

Back from the dead, just to have some closure on this issue. Nothing was wrong with the headlight motors. I just had a terrible alternator/battery. I wrote up my fix here: https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...all-s4-480242/

 

Just to correct something here since this thread is Up again and active.
***If the Motors are Stuck,pull the RETRACTOR fuse...not the Headlight fuse!.
..IF you someone were to pull just the Headlight fuse the MOTORS would still have power.So If you try to free them up you are risking getting your fingers "snapped off" by the motors.They still have power!!!
Retractor Motor fuse is for the Headlight motors.Pull that,no Flippy up and Downey!
Headlight fuse is for the Headlights.