Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

[lostatlantis]

I've searched around and haven't seen anything like this. Basically if it drops below 40F, my right headlight will NOT go down when I turn it off. It will go down half way and get stuck. I would to manually lower them. At first, the light would barely budge as I turn the knob, which gets very tight to turn very fast. There's a loud bang when I turn the knob past a certain point, and the headlight assembly would drop down to only exposing maybe 1 inch of the headlight. Then the knob becomes loose and I can turn and completely lower it.

It's so weird because the 40F temp threshold is pretty consistent, and it's only the right headlight.

Incidentally, last night the right headlight went out. I am heading to autozone later to get a replacement. How much is the average cost, and is there a need to adjust headlight afterwards?

[kristen]

Re: Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

maybe something shifted behind the headlight and its hitting that. try lubing it up

[lostatlantis]

Re: Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

By the way, probably not a good idea to turn the headlight knob when there's resistance? I don't know if it's the 20 degree weather, but the knob is very hard to turn almost right of the bat, up until I go past that point with the loud noise and sudden lowering of the light.

[lostatlantis]

Re: Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

Figured out what happened... the support on the left side of the headlight assembly (opposite of the headlight motor) is broken. I want to say it looks plastic. Anyone have any experience fixing this part before? Or am I SOL unless I get the entire headlight assembly replaced?

[lostatlantis]

Re: Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

This bites... trying various ways (epoxy among other things) to reattach the left side hinge support. No luck at all, plus the little ordeal stripped off the paint from the hood's edge adjacent to the headlight :(

Really pissed. Why couldn't GM use metal instead of plastic?

Sorry if it's been brought up, but I just searched the forum and couldn't find any info on removing & replacing the entire headlight assembly. How difficult is this? Seems a waste since everything works, just need to replace that hinge.

[98StealthBird]

Re: Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

i had a similar thing last winter when i drove my car the drivers side would pop up but the passenger side would stay down and it ended up burning the headlight motor i had to get it replaced luckily i had a warranty even though i got the car used

[lostatlantis]

Re: Headlight halfway stuck but only if below 40F

good for you. Obviously I don't have the luxury of warranty :( Anyone here who actually replaced one before? Of course I"ll need to find the parts first, but that's another story.