DeTomaso Mailing List: June 2001, Message #13

In a message dated 6/1/01 8:04:27, DorCm@aol.com writes:

<< My car has been sitting for over a year now, was going to take it for a 
ride 
the other night but the lights won't come up?  there is power to the relay 
switches and through them, tryed to jumper them across the switches and still 
no movement.  they  will move with the manual turn valve.   

>>>If you've confirmed that they will open manually, then the problem isn't 
with the gear (which is what I'd assume first.)  You say you tried to jumper 
them across the switches.  I say, have you tried to actually jumper directly 
to the motor?

The motor basically has two inputs--one for power and one for ground.  
Running power to one wire and ground to the other turns the motor one 
direction; switching power and ground to the opposite wires runs it the other 
direction.

To avoid damaging anything, manually raise the headlights halfway.  Then hook 
one wire to 12v and the other to ground (will have to go through the front 
wheelwell to get to the motor's short power leads) and see what happens.  If 
the motor turns, your problem lies elsewhere.

>Is there 
something else to look for other than the head light motor.  

>>>I can just tell you generally that the failure mode typically lies with 
the switch itself.

>And what all is 

>>>Small hands, minor profanity!  You go through the access panel in the 
wheel well (the small opening which allows hot radiator air to exit into the 
wheel well) and reach around and remove three 10mm bolts which secures the 
mounting plate to the chassis.  The plate contains the motor, gearbox and 
limit switches.  One limit switch (can never remember which one) will have to 
be removed, and then the whole plate can be withdrawn through the opening.  
Then you can remove the motor from the plate and replace it.  And since it's 
out you WILL install a brass gear in place of the plastic one or it WILL 
break immediately upon reinstallation! (Murphy!)

I suppose any motor can be rebuilt with enough patience.  Most people just 
replace them.  The stock motors are perfectly round; the factory replacement 
motors (which are common to the Ferrari 308 BTW) are half-flat.  People who 
are smart on electrical things claim that the design of the stock motors is 
superior but I can't exactly remember what the reasoning is.

Aftermarket motors are available for a fraction of the cost of the stock or 
Ferrari motors, but are larger and apparently require serious malletizing to 
install--I believe Cal went that route....

One option would be to utilize one of your existing (and presumed good) 
window motors in the headlight system (since they're all the same) and then 
replace the window motor with the oversize cheapie, where there is more 
clearance to play with....

Good luck, let us know what you find out! :)

Mike (gonna play with all this stuff at the PCNC electrical tech session 
tomorrow, where among other things, one car will have the entire headlight 
circuit wired up!)

And can you rebuild them?    >>