My headlights wont go up. I have tested the motors and they work in both directions. and i know that the assemblys are not clogged up. when i flip the switch they dont seem to get power to move it up. I replaced the switch so i am wondering if there is a relay or a fuse between the switch and light?

 

What year car do you have?

 

Sorry. its a 85 firebird and the headlights will go down but not up

 

Do you mean the motors work when unattached from the actual headlight? As in, the rotor-like thing on the top will spin when its not hooked up? But when its hooked up it "dont have enough power" to lift the light assembly? If so, then they are probably stripped out inside. They work on a worm gear, and one or the other of the gears inside is plastic. They strip real bad, and get to the point where they will spin but wont catch in the gears and will not lift the headlamp. Best thing for you to do would be just go to the junkyard and get a new motor, save you the hassle of trying to figure it out. When I took my motor apart, the plastic gear was completely shaven off, and there were shards of plastic throughout the motor.

 

no I disconected the motor from the light assembly and when i flip the switch the motor does not even spin (in the open direction). but if i put power to the motor it will spin (in both directions). I am guessin that there must be a realy or something that is bad. i dont know where or what it is.

 

There may be a fuse in the fusebox for it, not sure. I would look just in case. If that's not it, then I would start following the wires back to some sort of relay. More than likely the relay (if there is one) is out. Fuse is always a good thing to check first tho, make it easy on yourself. If that's not it, I would start following the wires to a relay, which is probably under the dash somewhere.

 

If your car has a headlight control module, that may be the problem. Check near the wiper motor assembly for a black square box attatched to the firewall. That thing controls the up/down movement of the headlights. It's common for it to go bad on these cars. If you tap it and the motors turn, then you know it's bad.

 

I would still go with the motors needing replacement. My headlight motors will spin up or down. Problem is they are not strong enough to lift the motor. They will drop the lights without difficulty. Also depending on the temperature outside they sometimes will come about halfway up. Definatley my left light is stronger than my right one as it is less cooperative than the other.

 

I just had a problem where headlights would go up but only one would go down I had a bad fuseable link, replaced it for a couple of bucks and it worked. The link is wires looped out of the harness in the engine compartment running along the fender well just cut them out and splice new ones in. Hope yours is that simple.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...s+do+not+go+up

 

I just might have to try that when it warms up around here a little bit.

 

I have a '85 TA and I had the same problem as you. Check for power at the headlight motor relays. They are attached to the fender wall near the strut towers. The red wire with the white stripe(or solid red) must have +12 volts at all times. If they don't then the fusible links are bad. Unfortunately I couldn't find them so I spliced a wire from the battery post into the red wires and put a 20 amp fuse in between.

The headlight motor isololation relay may also be the problem. It is located on the passenger side, near the radiator. It should be on the side of the radiator. That relay is not like other relays. It CANNOT be swapped with any other relay. Only another isolation relay will work. THey should be still available from GM. They are around $26. As far as I know only GM sells them.

Hope this helps.
If you have any other questions on the '85 style headlight motors let me know.

Matt