Is there a common reason why an early 914 ('72 1.7) would have all headlights/lifting work perfectly and then after polishing the car yesterday (including headlight covers) with an orbital, today the headlights go on but do not pop up/ lift or retract?

This is a 914 I picked up on Saturday that hasn't been driven in almost 8 years and was stored outside for 2 years. Already got it running! Was tickled when the headlights worked perfectly...but today no lift/retract. Pulled and cleaned headlight relays. Still nothing. Looked like all fuses under the dash were good...although I didn't actually test them. Rheostat, dash lights, tail lights, turn signals all work. Bright light indicator doesn't work, but didn't when the lights were going up and down fine.

If there is a common go-to reason this happens to both headlights it would save me investigating in the systematic approach.

I've owned in the past a 70 911T, 944 and 928. This is my first 914.

Thanks!
Sam

My money is on a fuse. If it’s not a fuse, the distant second culprit would be the headlight switch. I say distant because it’s unlikely you’d have a sudden failure like that after you were all over the car cleaning.

And…

Interesting.

Same problem, and I haven't found the solution.

My 74 sat inside a heated space all last winter, headlights went up and down before sitting for several months. This spring - headlights don't move, nothing - weird... I'm not at the stage to find out what is wrong yet. All I have had time to do is replace the rusted headlight buckets with NOS. Never touched anything electrical on the car that just sat there - all the work was mechanical.

For me I don't think it is the fuse. I can manually lift the lights to the up position by turning the motor's knob. Once I get to a certain point while continuing to turn the motor powers up and lowers the light. So it is getting power. The switch? (appears to be impossible to find a replacement).

What happens when you turn the knob to lift the light manually and keep turning?

Be careful when working with your headlights.
Keep your fingers..

Did you remove the relays while you were polishing?

Zach

Possibly disruption of the diode. Check connection, it’s a green wire, and not easy to see. The diode may have a black covering.

Fixed the issue. While I had looked at all of the fuses that were in there, since I didn't have a bright light when I did, I hadn't noticed that the last fuse was actually missing entirely! Given the tension of the contacts, I'm guessing the fuse had been in crooked (not seated) and the vibration caused it to slip and launch. (Still haven't found the old fuse!) New fuse in and all back to normal.

Thanks y'all!

It's very easy to kick the fuses out if you don't have a fuse cover, and not careful getting in the car

Bob b (I have big feet and do this by accident a bit)

Bob b (I have big feet and do this by accident a bit)

Was there ever an original cover on the fuse block?

Sure. Looks like this:
https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/9146...RhoClu0QAvD_BwE