Ok, so last week I noticed my left front head light kind of "sticking" when I turned the lights on. It would eventually pop up after a couple seconds. This went on for a couple days and then went away and then...BAM! Now it doesn't go up at all. I do see the manual **** spinning when I have the hood popped, so the motor is working there just must be some gears or something that drive the assembly up. Anyone had experience with this issue? Can't stand the thought of driving around with a one eyed GTA. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Jeff

 

mine does this too but i am too lazy to fix it this year, most of the time i get lucky and it pops up but other times when its trying to pop up i have to help it with my hand.
anyways what is wrong here is that the plastic bearings inside it are shot. What you have to do is remove the defective motor, take it apart and replace the plastic bearings with steel ball bearings. I believe the size you need is 3/8s and i think you only need 2 per motor, but since i havent done mine yet i could be wrong.

 

Deluxe Headlight Repair Kit

that should be exactly what you need to get your motors rebuilt and working properly.

-menace

 

Thank You Menace. This looks exactly like what I need. I appreciate your help!

Jeff

 

I just installed that kit. They work great! Just a word of caution: Go easy on the bolts that hold the motor on the passenger side unit. They are cheap, and I broke both of them, taking them off. I barely turned them, and they snapped. Just be prepared to drill them out. Awsome kit, saves you about $250-300. They can launch a kids toy through the air now, not that Ive tried. Do both units too.

 

Ha...I broke both bolts on my passenger side as well

 

me too

 

I didnt break mine on the passenger side however I have the drivers to do yet, bought the kit to do both but havnet gotten around to the other one yet. I have heard the driver side was a little harder to do can anyone tell me why that is?

 

Because on the drivers-side you have to remove the motor from the actuator housing to remove the gear. On the passenger-side you don't need to remove the motor, just the 3 screws attaching the side cover. For some reason I find that the screws attaching the motor are the ones most likely to snap off.

Lon

 

Oh yeah, ordered my Headlight Rebuild Kit from TDS months ago, just got around to doing the driver's side the other day--pretty straightforward, just stick to the instructions, and put penetrating oil on the bolts a while before you start! I broke one bolt that holds the motor to the drive assembly, just drilled it out and used the replacement nut and bolt and that comes with the kit. Lubed everything with lithium grease, and the headlight is sheer magic going up and down now.

Still have to do the passenger side, I'll be getting to it later this week. Anyway, couldn't be happier with the kit, and now my "lazy eye" is fixed!

 

OK. I ordered the repair kit from Top-Down Solutions. You guys were right, the plastic bearings were nothing but a pile of crumbs. It took me a little bit of time to kinda get the hang of what needed to be done via the directions, but all in all it was a great purchase and one I would recommend to anyone. It took me about an hour and a half to do the driver side. I will do the passengers side later this spring even though I am not having any trouble with it at this time. Some things to point out: Remove the rear electrical plug for the light prior to manually raising the light unit and using the paper clips to hold the brushes in while the motor is slid back in is the best way to go. Light works like new now!

Jeff

 

Boy, this thread is back from a 4 month slumber. I've always found the paperclip trick to be the easier method. The string method was suggested by a customer that found that method easier for him. I have recently switched from including white lithium grease in the kit to synthetic grease at the recommendation of a Permatex rep I met at the SEMA show. I'm glad you got the problem with the headlight solved. I suppose I'll read in another 5 months that you repaired the second one? I know, time gets away from us.

Lon

 

I just did both of mine and they worked great, but I think one of the relays went as the passenger one just quit. Maybe I'm looking the wrong place, but it seems my haynes manual has no info on that. I gotta get a shop manual.

 

There is only one relay on the 1987-89 and 1990-92 Firebirds. It is called the headlight control module and is located on the firewall between the brake booster and windshield wiper motor. Remove the connectors and it just slips out of the bracket. Sometimes it takes a screwdriver to pop it free. I have them in stock if you need one.

Lon

 

Did mine back in Jan/Feb. Other than losing a spring which took me several hours to find (), everything went well. Although it isn't really required, I removed the complete right-hand headlight assembly (which is required on the left-hand unit). It was easier to do the cleaning and re-greasing with it off the car (had a big tube of white lithium grease). Plus I could get to the gear-housing bolts better. None of my housing bolts broke. I tapped them with a small hammer a few times and kept them wet with WD-40 and they came off OK.

As to the "paper-clip", I used the rubber coated color kind as I thought it might be gentler on the armature bushing wire.

One more thing, my headlights had hardly ever been used since I rarely drive the car at night. Plus, I have an extremely low mileage car (16K). So it's not necessarily "use" that wears these plastic bushings out, it's "age".

(and thanks to Lonsal for the kit, and advice!)

 

I've lost a few springs too. As mentioned in my instructions, you could have used a spring from a ball point pen. Just cut the spring to the right length.

Thanks, Lon

 

Do you think that would cause my problem? the drivers side pops up great, but the pasenger side doesn't move. The mortor doesn't turn, however it does come up with the manual ****. I'll check the price on your site just in case, thanks for the info at least!

 

Yes. The symptoms you describe can be caused by a bad headlight control module, bad motor or bad wiring. You cqan test for a bad motor or bad wiring by plugging the motor into the opposite side connector.

Lon