Gremlins?

I've mentioned before that the headlights on my '92 don't always go up when I turn the lights on. It's VERY rare, maybe once a month or less and I can raise them by using the button on the dashboard so I haven't worried about it too much until.....

Last night, I drove the car, it's been sitting because of the torn out rear window coupled with the weather reports showing rain for the last week (no rain, but they kept saying it would!)...

When I started out, I turned on the lights but they wouldn't pop up so I used the button and they came up. I turned them off, lowered them and tried the light switch again, no popup so I used the button again and drove home.

When I got home the lights wouldn't go down. Turning them off didn't work, using the button didn't work. Several attempts didn't work so I went to bed.

This AM I looked at the wiring diagram, figured I'd blown a fuse and went out to check..... the lights were down! I turned them on, they didn't pop up, turned them off and used the button and they went up and down as they should. Turned them on and they popped up and went down as they should and all is normal again.

WTF? I don't know where to start. I'd like to check the headlight switch and clean contacts but it's way too much work to remove it.... maybe replace the retractor relay but that isn't likely the problem...

Reply to
XS11E
Loading thread data ...

That sounds like the same gremlin that lived in my '90.

  1. Check the grounds on the headlight motors.
  2. Check the connector between the headlight motor and the wiring harness. It has several little copper "tongues" - my problem was that one of them was broken and would lose connectivity. Then I'd hit a bump and it would work again.

And no, you cannot buy that connector from Mazda - they want to sell you the whole motor assembly.

If you do need that connector, let me know - I've still got a headlight motor from the '90 in the basement with the connector still attached.

Iva & Vixen

2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata
Reply to
Iva

I'm wondering if those wouldn't affect one headlight? Both of mine do the same thing so I've only thought about things that would affect both together.

Reply to
XS11E

Well, it affected both of mine. Granted, one side more than the other, but still it was both.

Iva & Vixen

2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata
Reply to
Iva

Hmmmm, I wonder? Mine always fail together.

Reply to
XS11E

Still check the lightswitch behind the steering wheel. We've had many MX-5s in our club with strange popup behaviour and the culprit was always the amount of running grease within the lightswitch on the switchplate. Clean and re-apply a SMALL amount of grease and you're done...

Jeroen Feelders Technical Commissioner Mazda MX-5 Club of the Netherlands

Reply to
jfeelders

AFAIK there's no easy way to get to it, is there? I don't want to pull the wheel....

Reply to
XS11E

Nope, there isn't. You really need to pull the wheel, not a difficult job though...

Jeroen

Reply to
jfeelders

I figured I'd have to but it's not something I can do, now.

Reply to
XS11E

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.