Sagging headlights

[GOHER007]

dear friends. My headlight pods on the 83 turbo esprit, are sagging, and are not flush , with the skin of the bonnet(hood). i undid the bolt on the side and it appears to a little play in the hole, where it pivots, and causes the headlioght pod to sag enough to look unesprit like. can i use some epoxy, fiberglass work or some metalic soloution to fill the gap. Please advise before i make things worse thx gq

[GOHER007]

came home, undid the headlight( left outer pivot) , 10mm spannar, and molegrips in the inside, was a struggle. sanded down a washer, and the inner side of the headlight pod, around the hole. i used some epoxy and try to adhere the washer as to fill in for the eroded fiber glass. i knew i was off. put the thing back together and now both front margins of the pod are equally deppressed. i am aprehensive of openning, dameging, studying the whole system, without some valuable advise and knowhow. Although the headlight is less wobbly than before, but as lotus is a book, please help me study it thx goher

[molemot]

Sagging pods can usually be cured by adjusting the rods from the pod motors. If you remove the crank from the pod motor, then loosen the locknut on the rod and unscrew it a bit to lengthen it, that will raise the pod. Replace the crank on the motor and give it a try...it's one of those iterative processes, you have to keep adjusting/trying/adjusting until you're happy. Be careful with the motor...it's best to disconnect it, or the battery, as if you move the output shaft it can just crank itself all the way round...mangling your fingers in the process. Also, if you need to raise the pods for any reason, you can do this by turning the knob at the back of the motor... again, with the thing disconnected or the battery off. No need to remove the pods, all the mechanism is accessible from inside the bonnet.

[GOHER007]

i cannot thank you enough for your isight. i will post my findings over the weekend. this will make her cosmetically look alot better, and thank you again. knowledge is power but more so a blessing.

[GOHER007]

Yes yes yes and yeah, came home, casually strolled in to the storage capsule(garage), undid the battery and lifted the hood, and carfully turned the motor 1 half revolution to my right, and the deed was done. thx thx thx, and thanks

summary: The outer pivot holes of the pods are prone to fiberglass erosion after 27 years of service. they will also woble a few mm, but on a stars and moon country lane, you will clearly spot the axial displacement of your light beam, whilst, navigating a gravel stretch.

They can be restored to thier original posture, by adjusting the motor(battery disconnected), ONLY if both front corners are sagging equally.

If both corners are not sagging equally, and one of them is deppressed more than the other(front corners), than you may want to address the erosion factor and plan a simmilar or better remedy to fill the gap(fibergalss work), than you will end up with both front corners allitle up, or a touch down, in refrence to the surrounding skin of the pod holder, and than carefully adjust as i did with rotating the motor.

if it was not a car, than you would have loved your horse, as much.

[Simon350S]

Afraid to say you've only fashioned a temporary fix.

The next time you use your lights they will flop back down to where they were before.

You need to adjust the linkage that attaches the motor to the pod itself.

Do this and your fix will be reasonably permanent. I say 'reasonably' as the pod position relies on the ability of the motor to stop at exactly the same point every time which it sometimes does not...

This was addressed on the later cars by using a reversing motor with a physical stop buffer for the open and closed position.

Edited July 31, 2010 by Simon350S

[matk]

I must admit I have the physical stop system on my Eclat, and bearing in mind it's a 1982 car I was amazed that it wasn't introduced on Esprits of a similiar vintage. Gets rid of headlamp shake to.

[Simon350S]

You'd have thought so Mat.... Lotus hey!

[GOHER007]

Dot on again, i was wrong. i haveto adjust the crank as advised thanks simon, and will report