I recently purchased a 1995 Coupe and it has a noisy headlight motor. When you extend or retract the headlights the right (passenger side) headlight makes a "ratcheting" sound for approximately 5 seconds. It than stops and everything stays quiet and all is normal. Can anyone help me out on the possibilities? This is all new to me as a new Corvette owner.

Hey Carl,

My 1995 has the same problem, I hope some one can help, Thanks

The gearbox that rotates the headlamp assembly needs to be rebuilt.  There are three small Delrin bushings between the output shaft and the driven gear that over the years turn to dust.  You can buy the rebuild kits for about $20 from many of the Corvette parts suppliers.  It takes less than an hour per side to pull the headlamp assembly, disassemble and replace the gears and get it all put back together.  It isn't hard to do at all.  Takes a few basic tools.  

Check out this video on the rebuild of headlamp system.......

Having done this, I highly recommend you spend the extra money for the bronze gears.

|UPDATED|3/15/2012 12:19:44 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

My passenger-side headlight just started acting up the other day -- sometimes it'll fail to close, and when it does close, something (one corner of the bezel?) is hitting something on the way by, so it'll either close or hang about 2/3 of the way open.  I took a close look at it from all angles today -- naturally, with the hood open, it kept opening and closing reliably without incident, although sometimes with a clunk -- and I really can't see much difference between how it's sitting and the light on the driver's side.

One possible wrinkle -- the cornering lamp housing is slightly broken (one of many dings to the exterior of this car, caused by the fact that it was my Mom's car, and she drove it 'til she was old and rickety, so she'd catch the edge of the garage going in and out), so it's not quite flush the way it's supposed to be.  With the hood closed, it's hard to see exactly what's going on in there, but there's a thick bundle of wires right there -- doesn't look like something that would cause what I'm seeing, but I'm not sure.

When you have a light that doesn't want to close (or open), is there some particular part that tends to get out of whack and start binding on something?  Here are a few snapshots with the hood up -- probably not too helpful, but there you have it....








|UPDATED|8/23/2012 1:39:26 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

sounds like the gears need to be redone as stated and also the bushings on the shaft.
 urbie4---this might sound strange but on my 90 the same thing was happening. drove me crazy until i accidentally found what my problem was.

the coolant lines that run on the frame to the overflow tank were not sitting on the frame correctly and with the hood down the door would get caught on the line. secured the lines to sit against the frame and it solved the problem. it was one of those PITA problems.

Thanks, Eddie -- that's what it was!

Here's a shot of the coolant line, with telltale dab of red paint from the headlight cowl grazing it!

I just gave it a slight bend, to get it maybe 1/8-1/4" out of the way, and now the light opens and closes normally.  Thanks for the help!

Urb