My car (Honda Civic) has a 4 position dial to tune the headlight aim. One has become detrimental and either sticks or "hunts" intermittently.
To get inside would mean removing the bumper so I am not too keen - I would like to get an idea of how the mechanism operates. Not sure if the fault is likely to be something like a dirty commutator - or a seized mechanism.
Slapping the wing gets it to move a bit - have used contact cleaner on the plug.
Any ideas?
Last winter I slid into a fallen tree at about 2mph. No actual damage but my nearside headlamp then pointed up into the trees. This is a Volvo V70. I was able to remove the headlamp and spotted that a small polythene ball had popped out of a slotted forked piece. I popped it back and all was fine. While I was in there I 'clarted' everything first in WD40 to clean it then Vaselene to protect it. So basically what I'm saying is spray WD40 all over any exposed parts while hitting the wing and/or activating the thumb switched that activate the headlamp.
Chris.
Thanks - the trouble is that everthing is inside the plastic shell. I don't want to try and remove it without a clue of what I might be up against. Any idea how the notors know when to stop? There are 4 positions.
john laid this down on his screen :
My own guess would be....
A small motor driving a screw thread which sets the beam. A potentiometer which provides feedback of the position of motor to the controller. The switch provides 4 resistor values and the controller compares the voltage from these against the feedback voltage, driving the one way or the other until the two voltages are a close match. There has to be an acceptable 'close match' (hystrerisis), otherwise the motor would be constantly hunting to find a none acheivable perfect match.
Your description of the problem suggests it could be (in most likely order)...
Can you get a Haynes manual from a public library?
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