Anybody ever eliminated the headlight module on a Daytona/Lebaron?

[Force Fed Mopar]

The headlight module leaked all it's goo out in my Daytona...again...even though it hasn't had a battery in it for a year... This is the second module to die in this car (had the same problem when I got it), and I am tired of horrible sticky un-cleanable goo on my carpet, wiring, radio etc. Any way to bypass it and use relays for this? How does it tell when the lights are fully up or down?

[cordes]

Why not just remove the potting and be done with it? It's the same module in all the cars until they switched to the body control computer right?

[Khajjathefang]

One reason I could think of would be to use that hole for speakers like (I believe) the shelby lancers did. I know when my last stereo came in the documentation from crutchfield clearly showed speakers there

[Reaper1]

Why not just remove the potting and be done with it? It's the same module in all the cars until they switched to the body control computer right?

Cordes has part of this right. Having a battery in the car or not has nothing to do with the potting breaking down and melting all over the place. Heat and age does that.

There are 2 modules in the '87-'89 cars. One has the delay feature, the other doesn't. Most LeBarons came with the delay feature. What this is, is that when you leave your lights on and turn the ignition off, after a time the module will automatically shut the lights off and retract them. Daytona's with a lot of features got this as well.

The 1990 modules are all the same. Any special lighting features would have been taken care of by the BCM. FWIW my '90 baseline Daytona had the delay feature.

You can NOT interchange the modules, meaning 1990 modules are their own entity. I tried it, and fried the module

One reason I could think of would be to use that hole for speakers like (I believe) the shelby lancers did. I know when my last stereo came in the documentation from crutchfield clearly showed speakers there

The factory used the hole where the HCM is in the '84-'86 cars for a speaker. If the car was EXTREMELY baseline, it could have been optioned with a center dash speaker.

I plan to extend the wiring for mine and mount it down near the transmission tunnel so I don't get that potting material everywhere again! I've wrapped it and made sure that the case is sealed and made sure there is no more real quantity of the stuff in there. This last time it ruined my HVAC controls and got all over the backside of my stereo headunit and carpet. I was P*SSED! There is a product I found that does an OK job of getting it off of hard surfaces, just make sure you don't care about paint. I don't know how it will do with carpet, but I think it would be bad for the carpet! LOL I got this stiff at Lowes in the paint section. It is a graffiti remover in a white bottle, IIRC

If you truly want to do away with the module, it is totally possible. However, you will have to manually control the headlight motors going up and down with a switch and it will require relays. I designed a circuit to do just this job back in the late '90's, but the paper is in my storage unit in Florida. I could probably whip it up again.

I'm even sure there are easier ways to do what I designed! I had used 4 relays...2 were activated at the same time. One acted as the positive, and one the ground. The other two did the same thing, feeding the power oppositely to drive the motors backwards. This is essentially what the module does anyway.

Oh, I know '87 cars and SOME '88 cars are like this: they have switches inside the motors that make it so the headlight itself doesn't come on until the unit is almost all the way popped up. Later motors don't have this feature and it can be bypassed.

[Force Fed Mopar]

Hmm, wonder why they put the potting in there anyway? I am definitely interested in seeing your diagram. How did it sense the lights were up and cut power to the motors?

[Khajjathefang]

Good info! How does one id if they have a delay box or not?

[cordes]

Hmm, wonder why they put the potting in there anyway? I am definitely interested in seeing your diagram. How did it sense the lights were up and cut power to the motors?

The potting keeps the various solder joints from corroding and it also helps to minimize the potential damage from vibration, water and heat if I had to guess.

[Reaper1]

Hmm, wonder why they put the potting in there anyway? I am definitely interested in seeing your diagram. How did it sense the lights were up and cut power to the motors?

I've never fully investigated that, but if I had to guess i'd say it uses a type of feedback circuitry that senses how much current draw there is from the motor and after a certain amount of time it will cut power to the solenoid after it senses that current demand. That might even be overcomplicated from what it really is.

The potting was to protect the electronics from moisture and vibration.

Good info! How does one id if they have a delay box or not?

The simplest way would be to have the ignition on, turn the lights on, then turn the ignition off. I forgot the amount of time, but I think it's around 5 minutes, if it has the delay, it will automatically turn the lights off and close the headlight doors.

You could also possibly run the part number at the dealer if it is still on the unit.

Lastly, if you have access to the board, the delay box will have the entire board filled up with stuff. The non-delay box won't.

[Khajjathefang]

I can see me plugging both cars into the battery and trying this out. Lol

[supercrackerbox]

The simplest way would be to have the ignition on, turn the lights on, then turn the ignition off. I forgot the amount of time, but I think it's around 5 minutes, if it has the delay, it will automatically turn the lights off and close the headlight doors.

I know it's a different system, but the timer on my '91 is 60 seconds. I had no idea that feature existed on the older ones.

[BadAssPerformance]

Sometime around when I put the FAST in the Z I lost the headlight controls, bad module maybe? Anyways, wired up a 3 position on-off-on switch and called it good.

[Khajjathefang]

Sometime around when I put the FAST in the Z I lost the headlight controls, bad module maybe? Anyways, wired up a 3 position on-off-on switch and called it good.

Push up till stop, vice versa? That's gotta delete like two pounds from the car. Lol. Any pics of the wiring?

[Force Fed Mopar]

Maybe there is a switch or sensing circuit in the motors that cuts power? I know when the driver pop-up on the Daytona would stick up, I'd have to free it, then turn the lights on and off again to make it go back down.

[Reaper1]

Nope. There is no circuit or switch that backfeeds the HCM. I'm fairly sure it is either timer based, or load based inside the HCM (or maybe a combination).

The ONLY reason I designed my alternative with relays is because I didn't want to run the amperage through a switch. It just seems like a bad idea. Like the door window switches...I think it's terrible they run the power directly through them! They should be on relays!

[BadAssPerformance]

Push up till stop, vice versa? That's gotta delete like two pounds from the car. Lol. Any pics of the wiring?

Yeah, push up and down to make the headligths go up or down. With the FAST, the message center by the headlamp switch was uneeded and with the roll cage dash bar I needed to move the headlamp switch... so i put the switch in there (pic) Pull light switch out then up on toggle and the lights come on when opened up. I wired the switch to the appropriate terminals on the connector that used to go to the headlamp module, forgot which ones tho, was 5 years ago

[Khajjathefang]

Yeah, push up and down to make the headligths go up or down. With the FAST, the message center by the headlamp switch was uneeded and with the roll cage dash bar I needed to move the headlamp switch... so i put the switch in there (pic) Pull light switch out then up on toggle and the lights come on when opened up. I wired the switch to the appropriate terminals on the connector that used to go to the headlamp module, forgot which ones tho, was 5 years ago

So the beams dont light until they come up? interesting. Very cool, I'll have to keep this in mind when its time for the spanish inquisition on weight

[BadAssPerformance]

Just took a look at it to jog memory, tried to get pics but crappy... IIR, I dissected the HCM plug and connected the ends right onto the spade terminals on the back of the 3-pol toggle switch. Not that this car will ever have the stock stuff back in it I like not cutting harnesses in case I ever do

[BadAssPerformance]

So the beams dont light until they come up? interesting. Very cool, I'll have to keep this in mind when its time for the spanish inquisition on weight

Yep, they light after they are open a bit Not sure there is much weight to save tho...

[Khajjathefang]

Well I did say spanish inquisition. lol

[Reaper1]

So the beams dont light until they come up? interesting. Very cool, I'll have to keep this in mind when its time for the spanish inquisition on weight

His car is an '87, so it has the motors that have the grounding switch inside. The lights will not illuminate until the motor has rotated enough to kick this switch to complete the ground for the lights. I want to say they did away with this in '89. I KNOW it is gone in '90 as those motors only have 2 wires going to them, not 4.