What is the Headlight Door Motor all about?

Your headlight door motor is what operates the raising and lowering of your headlight doors. It’s a single motor that is mounted just behind the center grille, wound with two field windings. The assembly contains internal limit switches and a worm gear drive. In most vehicles, there is a relay circuit breaker assembly immediately to the right of the steering column. In other vehicles, it is mounted on the fuse block.

When you turn on your headlights, the relay becomes energized, and the doors open. A limit switch stops power from going to the motor. When you turn off your headlights, the circuit is completed, the doors close, and another limit switch stops power from going to the motor.

Keep in mind:

• Your headlights are an important safety feature, and should always be visible to oncoming traffic.
• If your vehicle has been sitting for a long time, your headlight doors may open with difficulty, or not at all.
• The problem could come from the relay or the entire motor.

How it's done:

• The vehicles hood is opened and supported manually
• The defective headlight door motor is removed
• The new headlight motor is installed
• The hood manual support is removed
• The repair is verified and the headlight door motor is tested for proper operation

Our recommendation:

Due to the importance of your headlight doors, it’s essential that the headlight door motor works properly. If the vehicle has been sitting, repeatedly activating the switch may loosen the circuit and fix the issue. If that method doesn’t work, have one of our expert mechanics inspect and replace the headlight door motor if necessary.

What common symptoms indicate you may need to replace the Headlight Door Motor?

• Headlight doors stay open
• Headlight doors won’t close
• Grinding noise when you try to open or close the headlight doors

How important is this service?

Headlight doors that won’t open can cause some serious trouble, especially if you are driving at night. Any problem with your headlights requires an immediate attention from one of our expert mechanics. This is a safety issue and one that should be dealt with as quickly as possible.