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Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:45 pm
by phil480
Hello,
Does anybody know if a pop up headlight motor from another car fits the 480? I know there's a Ferrari one but obviously will be more expensive to get.
The Mazda MX-5 looks very similar. Just wondering if anyone has tried to source an alternative when the 480 one are hard to find.

My nearside motor has stopped working, it has always been a bit iffy. Usually to get it working I would just manually wind it up and it would work fine as long as I remembered to use the motor every couple of days. It's not working at all now. I just asked someone on eBay who is breaking one, they want £220 for the motor! No thanks. :rofl:

I have tried bridging the connections in the relay socket, that didn't work so I'm pretty certain it is the motor itself at fault. If I can't find a replacement at a sensible price, I'll have a go at opening the motor up and see if can be repaired.

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:03 pm
by jifflemon
Nope.....

MX5/MR2/All the Japanese popups all use the same motor, that rarely goes wrong.

Sadly the mounting PCD is different, as well as the motor dimensions are different. It's on my list to look at making modified headlamp mounting brackets to take the Japanese motor, but its a very, very long list....

Our motor is shared with another vehicle - sadly, Ferrari S/H pricing makes your eBay price look cheap! :lol:

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:28 pm
by brinkie
My experience is that bridging the relay contacts and then let the motor run continuously for 10-15 minutes will revive 9 out of 10 popup motors. Only if the internal nylon cog has been worn out of the motor itself is seized you're SOL.

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 3:31 pm
by phil480
brinkie wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:28 pm
My experience is that bridging the relay contacts and then let the motor run continuously for 10-15 minutes will revive 9 out of 10 popup motors. Only if the internal nylon cog has been worn out of the motor itself is seized you're SOL.
Hi Brinkie,
The manual screw still works for me so I'd say the cog is all good, and the issue is an electrical contact. When I bridge the relay there is no sign of any life from the motor.

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 4:46 pm
by dcwalker
Phil

If the motor itself is still moving freely then, as Brinkie says, the actual motor is probably not your problem.

If the problem were the relay I would expect you could make each motor work bridging the contacts, so the relay is probably ok.

Do you by any chance have a spare light switch you could try? On at least one occasion during 480 ownership I have had just the problem you describe and found changing the switch cured it.

Another possibility - and a problem I fixed at the weekend with Pud when one of her lights stopped operating - is that something is fouling the light unit preventing it popping up. In my case the cover I had re-affixed to the frame underneath it had come loose at the front - when I investigated it was causing a jam.

Let us know how you get on. If you need a motor I have a couple of spares although I'd need to check if they are actually working ones.

Good luck!

David

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 5:32 pm
by phil480
Hi David,
Interesting about the light switch. I don't have a spare, but would that cause only one headlight not to work? The right side works as it should.
If you do have a spare motor that would be helpful. First, I should probably get a multimeter on the connections to confirm the wiring to the motor is okay.

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:30 pm
by dcwalker
Hi Phil

Yes - bizarrely a dodgy switch can cause one light not to work...

I'm sending you a PM...

David

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:43 pm
by brinkie
Are you sure you have connected the relay contacts the right way? Here is how:

Image

And don't forget to fool the microswitch inside the bonnet lock. You should hear it click (and now I think of it, the relay is what blocks the motors from turning when the bonnet is open, the motors should start spinning anyway with the above trick)

If both motors don't spin and there is 12V at pin 87, that would be a very rare case of two seized motors and/or wiring to the motors cut.
It is a 480 so I'll not be surprised if it could happen, but the chances are exceptionally low.

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:07 am
by brinkie
dcwalker wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:30 pm
Yes - bizarrely a dodgy switch can cause one light not to work...
Hi David,

I'm very curious how a dodgy switch can cause one light not to work. If I'm looking at the wiring diagram, I can see only one wire controlling both motors.

Image

You can see a R-Br (red/brown) wire going from pin 1 (switch in position headlights on) to both motor inputs, subsequently energising the motor relay.

There is another wire from the off/sidelights positions which command the popups to go down. Is that maybe what you mean, that both up and down are activated? This would cause the popus to keep flipping.

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:23 am
by dcwalker
Hi Robert

Yes, I agree with you on the theory having been down that road myself.

But in the instance I am referring to I checked everything through in the way you would expect, and eliminated everything. But still only one pop up would work.

In desperation I swapped the switch for another known good one and hey presto, problem solved.

I don't understand why it should have solved it but it did.

I just put it down to bizarre 480 electrics and accepted what factual experience was apparently telling me! My approach has always been never to try to reason everything through with a 480 because you'll never succeed!! :lol:

Best

David

Re: Pop up headlight motor alternatives?

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 8:34 am
by brinkie
Probably a combination of a dodgy switch and dodgy wiring or relay, in such a way that the combined voltage drop in the switch and the rest of the circuit of one side caused one half of the relay not to energise. Either way, it has fixed your problem so happy times! :D