Saturday, October 24, 2009

MR2 Headlight Motors


Spilled the bike yesterday on the way home from work. Luckily, I was wearing commuter shorts. That saved me from the road rash. Didn't save me from the bruise and pains on my hip. I'm seriously sore today. Enough to not want to get on the bike, or drive to Ruston. Blah. After beaucoup asprin... I decided fix the headlight motor on the MR2. I pulled off the headlight motor, which was not working at times.

I suspected an electrical problem. And after removing the cover, this was what I saw...



Lotsa corrosion. Some brake cleaner and working over with a scrub pad yielded this...



Still a lot of corrosion. The copper plating is gone at the parking spot. But I though why not try. No go.

Hmm... Here's why folks that work on old cars are packrats. I saved a motor that had a bad bearing on the worm gear. Let's see what's inside. First, I have to get out the power tool to get the stripped screw loose...



After some efforts, a small abrasion, I crack it open and find...



It's pristine! Glad I saved it. Now I simply remove the lift arm, and tap out the gear. Be careful here. When you loosen the arm bolt, hold on to so you don't torque against the plastic gear. Sure way to crack it.











Much better condition here...



I just swapped the gears into the good housing, and put it all back together. The result...

It was a good afternoon on a picture perfect fall day. This job took twice as long as it should have, but I'm moving pretty slow today with the soreness. I did a lot of planning to ensure all my tools were within arms reach today!

0 comments: