Weird headlight happenings

[ian65]

Sometimes when I've turned my headlights on and they raise, when I switch them off again they take a while to go down..... sometimes 10 seconds, sometimes it's a hour later after I've locked the car and left it.
Any ideas what could be causing this and how to fix it?

[KiwiDave]

Sometimes when I've turned my headlights on and they raise, when I switch them off they take a while to go down..... sometimes it's a hour later Any ideas what could be causing this?

Viagra?

[ian65]

Sometimes when I've turned my headlights on and they raise, when I switch them off they take a while to go down..... sometimes it's a hour later Any ideas what could be causing this?

Viagra?

You mean to take my mind off my headlights?

[KYPREO]

Separate power wires trigger the "up" and "down" functions of the headlight. A delay in the headlight retractor suggests a poor connection in the circuit triggering the down signal. When the car is warm, resistance increases resulting in poorer quality signal/lower current/voltage. As the car cools, the signal is restored enough to excite the "down" trigger on the relays (which are attached to the side of the headlight motors).

There is a common power circuit for both headlights, but it splits in a brass connector located in the wiring harness down near the RH strut tower. This brass connector commonly corrodes over time and is the source of lots of headlight gremlins. When you open up the loom you usually find a bunch of green buildup and that's the culprit.

The fact that your problem affects both sides suggests a problem further upstream - so it's not this connector or the headlight motors or relays.

I would be looking at the headlight switch (it is common for the headlight component of the combination switch to carbon up over time) or the fusible link for the headlights. These are the most likely candidates so start there.

[ian65]

Separate power wires trigger the "up" and "down" functions of the headlight. A delay in the headlight retractor suggests a poor connection in the circuit triggering the down signal. When the car is warm, resistance increases resulting in poorer quality signal/lower current/voltage. As the car cools, the signal is restored enough to excite the "down" trigger on the relays (which are attached to the side of the headlight motors).

There is a common power circuit for both headlights, but it splits in a brass connector located in the wiring harness down near the RH strut tower. This brass connector commonly corrodes over time and is the source of lots of headlight gremlins. When you open up the loom you usually find a bunch of green buildup and that's the culprit.

The fact that your problem affects both sides suggests a problem further upstream - so it's not this connector or the headlight motors or relays.

I would be looking at the headlight switch (it is common for the headlight component of the combination switch to carbon up over time) or the fusible link for the headlights. These are the most likely candidates so start there.

thanks for the comprehensive reply.... that's given me plenty to check out.... cheers

[codge]

Gus does the same thing.....only it's after a few seconds rather than minutes so I haven't bothered unduly.
It's always worse after long periods of inactivity......it starts to show up on first uses as the nights draw in.

[ian65]

Same here, if I use it frequently it seems ok

[Threesevens]

Yeah, use it or you lose it!