Headlamp not raising/lowering

[ferox]

Hi,
My passenger side headlamp has suddenly stopped raising. I have managed to raise it by turning the shaft at the bottom of the motor (BTW the plastic knob fell off and I found it much easier by using a socket on the end of the shaft). Note that once I got it raised it won't lower either.

Next step I guess (perhaps should have been the first step) is to check the relays which I believe are in the compartment in front of the door post in the passenger's footwell, by swapping left for right to see if the problem changes sides.

I found a row of five relays in this location, a block of three and a block of two seperated by two fuses. My question is, which two relays are the ones for the headlight motors? Is there a drawing or photo somewhere showing all the components in this panel?

[Hawaiis0]

Can you just state your model year.

And is your dim dip module operational? large black box on passenger side wall where you looking

The relays you are looking at are the dim dip ones . You need (i think) to go under dash and look at bank of 7 and second from end. ( be full of water)

[Hawaiis0]

Sorry sport bit of bum steer above.

The retract and retract control relays are the 2 large relays next to the 5 you mentiioned

[Hawaiis0]

[Hawaiis0]

You cant swap left and right as there is only one retract relay.

It is the larger one on the side wall upper most of the 2. They look like old fashioned lucus type

[Hawaiis0]

[AndyC]

I'd suggest a few basic checks.
Is the pod free of standing water? It can happen and if it does it will cause issues.
Having moved the motor by hand, perhaps by a couple of full cycles, does it still not operate electronically (contacts sometimes need a bit of movement to clean them)?
Are you sure whether you have power at the motor (both +12v and earth)? Pop the headlight out of the pod and you can access the connector block perhaps even corrosion in that block could be solved by simply unplugging and reconnecting it.

last time mine played up it was that connector near the pod, but I've had various other faults over the years on various Excels. Always just one pod so never a simple relay swap.

[ferox]

Thanks for all your helpful replies!

I should have said at the beginning, my car is a 1987 SE.

AndyC, the pod is bone dry and cycling the motor a couple of times didn't help. I haven't yet tried reseating the connector (I have removed the headlight unit).

Hawaiis0, your last drawing does show what I have. I had been referring to a blog which presumably was based on a different model with a seperate relay for each pod. In fact there is a black relay marked "retractor relay" positioned as per your sketch and an unmarked blue relay below it. Your circuit diagram sketch is a little bit low res to make out clearly, but it appears that the wiring to both the motors is common to the control relay (which appears to process the motor microswitch connections) and since the driver's side is working I would guess the control relay is OK. Looks like I am going to have to return to the pod with a DMM to check for voltages and continuity next now that I have a better idea of what's going on there.

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[Hawaiis0]

Sorry on low res. My comp with pdf drawings has crashed so was a quick poor camera snap out of manual. I will try to enhance.

[Hawaiis0]

You can break the retract relay contact and make jumpers to swap the left and right feeds. That will help prove relay and wiring condition. ( once i sort the diagram). Stu