Hi all. As the proud new owner of a 1990 TA GTA, I'm starting to dig into it, see what's wrong and start tinkering with what I think I can do myself. Problem #1....Driver's Headlight does not come up when switch is activated. The headlamp motor is definitely working and the black manual-turning **** seems to spin, but the headlamp does not come up. I tried turning by hand, and the manual turning **** spins and spins but does not raise the headlamp. Obviously, the plastic gears inside are shot. The question is....how to get the headlamp up so that it can be removed and the motor replaced??? I'd appreciate any recommendations for replacement motors. The car is 30 yrs old, so I plan to just replace both and be done with it! I've seen new/reman. Cardone's on sites, and some brand called "Replacement."

 

OK, sadly at this point it has turned from a one-person job into a two-person job. To raise the headlight bucket have someone push on and off the headlight switch while you grab hold of the headlight bucket and shake and try to lift it. Eventually it will suddenly rise up. Hope you don't run out of curse words.

To repair the headlight actuator use a headlight repair kit with delrin bushings. I make two kits. TDS 207280 has just the 3 CNC machined delrin bushings needed to repair one headlight actuator. These bushings replace the OEM hard gel bushings inside the triangular shaped cavity of the gear. Those bushings transfer the load from the gear to the 3-lobe cast zinc hub on the shift that connects to the lever arm which raises and lowers the bucket.

TDS 209280 deluxe headlight repair kit has 6 delrin bushings, two side cover gaskets, one motor gasket, a packet of synthetic marine grease and two screws and nuts (the screws attaching the motor to the actuator housing often snap off). Both kits include detailed instructions.

All available on my web site.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions
www.top-downsolutions.com

 

Thank you for the info. I was planning on just replacing the motors themselves given they're 30 yrs old and just be done with that. My thought was although more expensive, it might be easier than trying to disassemble the motors, deal with broken bolts, and replacing the gears. Thoughts on that? I bookmarked your site. Also, I was Navy in my youth....I never run out of cursewords!!!!!

 

It's not that much more work to repair a headlight actuator versus installing a motor someone else has refurbished. The driver's side motor is the one that requires a bit more work. For that side you have to remove the motor from the actuator housing. The gear can't clear the wormdrive of the motor. Removing the motor allows the gear to come out to replace the bushings. Two things to keep track of and make sure you don't lose. The 2 springs that are behind the brushes. Also the very small ball bearing on the end of the wormdrive. This is all covered with pictures and detailed description in the instructions that come with the kits. I also give you some tricks to hold the brushes tight against the springs as you put the motor back in the actuator housing. In total plan an hour per side for the repair.

Lon

 

OK, we ( my 16 yr old son and myself) did this repair today using TDS repair kit on my 88 Firebird, and it worked out great. (I think you DO need two persons for this job...)
I was amazed about the totaly desintegrated original inserts, they were totaly gone, only crumbles and debris left..
Indeed, the two bolts mentioned by Lon above broke, so we had to drill them with a 4mm drill, took the most time of the whole repair.
One thing though, we didn't see any small ball bearing, neither right or left...??
Anyhow, units work fine again now!

 

I've seen a lot of posts and on youtube vids about those bolts breaking and having to be drilled out. That's why I opted to just replace both. I kept the original motors and at some point I may tackle fixing them!

 

In the 209280 deluxe headlight repair kit I make I supply two longer than stock screws. Instead of drilling and tapping the actuator housing, grind the broken shift flush, center punch, then drill the body through with a clearance bit. The screws go through the body and are held in place with a nut on the backside.

Lon Salgren