Two headlight issues

[UKPhilTR7]

Today, I did one of them jobs, that has been on my list for a long time. Not a particularly hard job, just never got around to doing it before now.

I put the net washers on my headlight rubber surrounds and then put both of them on my girl. All was going good until I tested the lights. The one issues I have had for a long time, just think it would be a good time to sort it out now. The other issue is new, after putting the rubber surrounds on:

<b>Issue 1:</b>
The motors are out of sync, but the passenger light comes up all the time. The drivers side only comes up now and then. If I pray to the TR7 headlight god or a black cat walks in front of my car, the drivers side light will come up and go down. I was thinking a bad earth, but would that result in the light not coming on too? The light does come on even if the pod does or does not go up. Any suggestions guys on how to get the pod to always come up?

<b>Issues 2:</b>
Now with the rubber surrounds on the passenger side (the one that goes up and down all the time), now when it goes down the top of the rubber catches on the front panel when down. As a result, when it goes up it also catches on the metal panel. It looks like it is of only a few mm, but enough to catch the black headlight rubber surround at the top.
I have tightened everything and all is tight. I was thinking that it may be the metal plate that the rubber surround screws into, that may need tightening. I went inside the bay and tightened the headlight bracket bolts, they are all tight.
Any ides on how I can get the right space would be great guys. When the lights are both down, it looks like the drivers side (the one going up and down OK) has twice the amount of space around the pod and the front panel, than the passengers side does, (the one that catches).

[dursleyman]

Issue 1. Always start on those connections on the chassis rail each side, clean and check the earths and the wiring connectors. It solves most headlight problems. One of mine is always a bit slower to rise than the other but nothing to worry about.

Issue 2. If the rubbers are on correctly fitted they will be tight to the metal housing. Has someone had trouble with the captive washers making the rubber stick out more?


Russ

1980 TR7 Sprint DHC, 1981 TR7 Sprint DHC
Dursley
UK

http://tr7russ.blogspot.co.uk/

[img]http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b410/dursleyman/TR7%20web%20picture/IMG_0479-Optimized.jpg[img]

[sonscar]

There is inside the headlight pod 4 off bolts that secure it to the lifting mechanism.These can be adjusted to move the pod around in its hole,but can only be accessed by removing the headlight mounting plate which can bring it,s own problems.the light in my car fitted perfectly until I removed them,failed to take notice of their fitment/mark their positions and generally made p poor job of their removal which made their refitting a labourious task.The lamp works independently of whether the pod lifts.One of mine defied all the earth cleaning, connector cleaning,praying to the TR7 lamp god, but was traced to a connector near the lamp motor to the short wiring loom to the multi plug being corroded.Good luck.Steve..

[UKPhilTR7]

I will be looking at the earth connection on the drivers side with the wire wool and the wd 40. Hopefully that will sort it out.

I have looked at the rimmer brothers web site and there does not look like there is much room in the pod to move it about. In saying that though it is only a matter of a milometer or two, so if there tohere is a little play in the holes I will be OK. I will have to take it all out though to get to the nuts. Looks like it may have to be a job for the weekend though.

[Ianftr8]

Phil

The four nuts with the two metal plates in the engine bay will give you a fair amount of up and down and sideways movement. Then you can get some more movement from the four bolts that hold the pod down onto the lift mechanism.

As ever dis-connect the battery when you are doing anything with the headlights.

Cheers
Ian

Ian Freeman
1979 TR8 DHC KDU 315V Poseidon Greens USA car that never crossed the pond.
Triumph Courier
Triumph owner for 32 years

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

[url="http://www.jclay.me/jclay/Head_Light_Surround.html"]Head Light Surround[/url]

[dursleyman]

Really neat idea Clay, next time I have a problem with one I shall try that.

Russ

1980 TR7 Sprint DHC, 1981 TR7 Sprint DHC
Dursley
UK

http://tr7russ.blogspot.co.uk/

[UKPhilTR7]

Today I got around to getting down to the garage to have a look at trying to fix these issues.

For the <b>second issues</b>, I managed to get the rubber cover and the metal plate off. I loosened the nuts and found that there was more play in the pod, that I had thought there was. So I moved the pod back a bit. I spent a bit of time just playing with it to get the correct fit and space. Now when the pod goes down the rubber looks nice and flush against the panel. It looks tight, but at the end of the day that is what you want to make it all look good and prevent water getting in.

As for the <b>1st issue</b>, I cleaned the earth connections and put some battery terminal grease on them and put them both back together. Pretty much the same as it was before. The drivers side goes up and down when it wants. No kind of patten to it at all. I am thinking that it may be a new headlight motor that is needed.

So the second issue is solved (well enough for me) and the first issue still the same. Any suggestions as to what I can do next?

Great idea with the drilling of the holes.

[sonscar]

The loom from the red connector to the headlamp motor has a joint inside the loom near the motor.I forget which wires operate the motor up/down but after attacking every one of the "usual suspects"attaching a live and neutral directly to the red connector failed to operate the motor reliably on mine,so I removed the motor and with a dvm wiggled the wires and watched the resistance vary.Stripping back the insulation found these corroded connectors.Got to be worth a try as you are going to remove the lamp anyway.Steve..

[UKPhilTR7]

It has been a bit of time since I was able to work on my tr, but today I got down to the garage and had a look at the drivers side light not going up. I had already cleaned the earth connections in the engine bay and looked at the connectors. This didn't seem to make much difference.

Looking on the net, there was a post about the same issue that I had and someone suggested the relays, in the fuse box. I had not thought of these. So today I went down to the garage, took the relays out, cleaned then up and then swopped them over. So now the working one was on the drivers side and guess what, it worked like a dream. There was a little issue where the relays were not where the handbook said they would be, but apart from that, all was good.

So now I cleaned both relay connectors and swapped them over. I am going to buy some new ones, but now it seems like it is working all OK.

[FI Spyder]

I had the relay connector problem but with the starter relay. While more critical with starter, the problem may come back in a year or two, I carry a spray can of electrical cleaner in my little tool bag now. The position of the relays change with year and destination country so the booklet may not match the car exactly.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[UKPhilTR7]

Thanks for that, sure will do. That is the next thing I am going to get at supercheap.

The good thing now is that the pods, for the first time go up and down the same time. They have never done that before, until now. [:D][:D]