My drivers side headlight motor wont go up..... it tries sometimes, but usually never gets all the way up.... is there anything i can do??? or am i sol.....

 

I'd imagine you'd just need a new headlight motor. Of course, you could also manually open your headlight pop-ups and make them stay open! (I'm sure you love that idea, hehe)

 

I have it unplugged right now and i am just doing it by hand. If I take the motor out, is there anything i can do to it??? clean contacts, grease, etc....??

 

in the same boat as you man & i've already replaced the damn motor once. if you decide to work on it, make sure you close the headlight & check out how the top plate fits in BEFORE you tighten the bolts all the way. close the hood & make sure the top plate doesn't scrape when you open the headlight. if you don't want to replace the motor, i will once again reference one of steve's excellent works: http://www.transamtemple.com/modific...ght_repair.htm

 

buy a camaro...problem solved. lol just in

 

What you need is a headlight rebuild kit. Several mfr's (including me) sell it. The kit consists of 3 Delrin bushings. They replace the gel inserts that were originally used inside the nylon gear. This gel hardens and becomes a spoonful of chunks. The kit runs $5 plus s&h and will repair one headlight. The kits I've described repair the 1987-92 Firebirds, 1987-88 Fiero & 1988-96 Corvette. If this applies to you, e-mail me at: topdownsolutions@yahoo.com for a picture and Price List.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

I had that problem but found out the ground wire was dirty .. had me stupped for liek 6 months because the wire is hidden under a lip of the bady and couldnt see teh rust.

 

I just took out the motor and unscrewed the inspection cover and dissasembled the contact. I cleaned it off and bent the metal tabs in so it made a tighter fit and put it back in. Works like a champ again.

 

Be aware there were two versions of the headlight motor assembly used on Firebirds. 1982-86 uses two nylon gears. This design isn't as robust as the latter 1987-92 design. That design uses a larger nylon gear with gel inserts filling the gap between the gear and the hub. The gel breaks down with age and crumbles. This causes the motor to just freewheel, without raising the headlight. The TDS p/n 207280 headlight repair kit I described previously repairs the 1987-92 motor assembly. It consists of 3 delrin bushings that replace that gel.



Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Lon, you've gotta make a kit for 82-86! I have three spare motors in the basement (don't ask, sigh), and both my lights work fine... but I'd love a kit as "further" backup!

 

Tom, The kits are already available to repair yours. Of course it isn't a $5 fix. More like close to $40 for the nylon gears, depending on where you go. There are also people that will rebuild your unit. A cheaper solution is to pick up the newer style and rebuild it with a $5 kit. I picked up two units out of a 1987 Fiero the other day for a LOT less than new gears would run to rebuild your units. Even the guys that rebuild and service these agree the 1987-92 units were a lot more robust. The only weak link in them were the gel inserts. Occasionally the nylon gear will strip, but you can re-index it one time (since it doesn't use the full perimeter of the gear on a Fiero or Firebird) and it will work good as new (assuming the inserts of busings are fine).

Lon