924Board.org

[sbarc]

Well I got my car across the border and safely home in my driveway. Before I can register it and get it on the road, it has to be inspected and to pass inspection, I'm going to have to deal with some issues relating to the headlights.

I noticed my headlights were at half mast.......about 70% up.


So I had a look and discovered the wiring harness for the headlight motor is disconnected and missing the male part of the connector.


I also saw duct tape on the wiring harness leading up to the missing connector for the headlight motor.....which I figured wasn't Porsche factory duct tape and after I removed the duct tape I saw the wires had burned away their insulation.


Question what is the best way to sort out this problem........is there some connection down stream from this area in the wiring harness that I can simply unplug and buy a new bit for the headlight? I doubt there is but I figured I would ask.
Can I buy the male connector from Porsche? And maybe replace the damaged wiring myself?
How would you fix this? I'm keen to do this correctly so it would look like factory original and not give me any further problems.

I also see that the 931 has a way to manually crank the headlights.......so I proceeded to do that to amuse myself. When I tried to crank the headlights back down.......the pasenger side headlight went down but the drivers side headlight wouldn't go down all the way.


Closer inspectioin showed there was a conflict in the engine compartment behind the headlight preventing the headlight from fully retracting. Can someone show me a photo of this area in their car with their headlights fully retracted so I can see what the clearance should look like.


Thanks for your help........it is good to get the car home and other than the headlights everything else looks like it will pass inspection......well except for the power windows not working.....but I'll focus my attention on getting the headlights sorted first.
The car is in surprisingly good shape.

Thanks again for any help you can offer.
_________________
1981 931 (Canadian car)
1981 931 (US car)
1990 928GT (ROW car)
1991 Toyota MR2
1989 Toyota MR2 Super Charged
1985 Toyota Supra
1973 Triumph GT6
1971 Opel GT

[Grenadiers]

Duh. I go bak to skool. Will return, though, with an update on the wiring he actually needs!
_________________
'83 944 Track car.
'88 924S Track car.
'89 944 Turbo
2004 Winnebago Vectra monster RV
2012 Jeep Wrangler
2014 Kia Soul
2001 Ford F350 powerstroke

[sbarc]

The wire I have contains 4 wires and I'm pretty sure it connects to the headlight motor......to raise and lower the headlights.
Here's some better photos......well at least more specific.






I figure the best solution is to cut away until the damaged wire is gone.....then source out a replacement part of the wiring harness from a parts car. If I splice it properly with brass connectors......shrinkwrap each of the 4 wires individually......shrink wrap the bundle of 4 wires as well and stager the splicing so all tyhe splicing isn't at the same spot in the bundle of 4 wires......then it should be fine.

Now I just need to find a parts car with this part of the wiring loom....
I actually did find a headlight motor on e-bay with the wiring loom attached....and considering how scratched and possibly damaged the female connector on my headlight motor is......maybe that would be a good route to go.

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Here's a couple of photos from an e-bay auction that seems to show the headlight motor and the 4 wire connector and wiring loom...it doesn't appear to the be the exact same motor....but the idea is the same...




_________________
1981 931 (Canadian car)
1981 931 (US car)
1990 928GT (ROW car)
1991 Toyota MR2
1989 Toyota MR2 Super Charged
1985 Toyota Supra
1973 Triumph GT6
1971 Opel GT

[sbarc]

Ok...I took out the left Headlight pod and found plenty of issues that seem to indicate this headlight pod received impact damage while in the up position that I suspect has twisted the frame of the pod causing it to fit poorly and not fully retract. So I'll source out a used replacement headlight pod.

As for the wiring issue.......I stripped off the shrink wrap on the headlight motor bundle of 4 wires. It looks like one wire was the cause of all the damage by a PO trying to use a non-OEM connector for the headlight motor. Thankfully that one shorted out wire only melted/burned down to the junction where this bundle of 4 wires joins up with the rest of the wiring harness. It will be a simple job to source out the needed wiring from a parts car and splice it into the wiring harness.

I'll also replace the headlight motor as the one in my car has been damaged in the connecter area thanks to the PO and his thrifty ways.

Thanks for your help Grenadiers.....much appreciated.

I must say.....although I'm very new to 931 ownership and I've only owned my 928 GT for 5 years..........I do find the 931 to be a beautifully designed car and very much worthy of the Porsche badge on the hood. It is a quality product and this is obvious in all the little things about the car.
I'm starting to prefer it in many ways to my 928GT......I'm eager to get it sorted and on the road.
_________________
1981 931 (Canadian car)
1981 931 (US car)
1990 928GT (ROW car)
1991 Toyota MR2
1989 Toyota MR2 Super Charged
1985 Toyota Supra
1973 Triumph GT6
1971 Opel GT

[ideola]

I took a look at my S2, and the headlight stop bracket in your photo is apparently bent toward the fender side...it should clear the heat sink to which the ignition module is mounted by a couple of mm.

I have several headlight bucket assemblies in my parts bin, so once you sort out what you need, let me know if I can help you source the bits.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[sbarc]