I am having trouble with the headlights. Both motors will go up when I flip the switch but when I turn them off they will no longer go down. I have to manually put them down. What is the problem? Relay, fuse, module, the entire motor? Please let me know. I looked at the motors to so i could see how to replace them and it looks to be a lengthy process any one have comment on this?
Thanks
Jason

 

probably the headlight door module. when mine went bad it did the same thing.

 

well... when you push the switch to put them down do you hear the motors trying to pull the lights down?

>you might try to flick the switch on then hit it off before they lock into the full up right position, just to ensure you that the motors can move the opposite way.

>I would say most commonly the gears inside the headlight assembly strip out. GM will try to sell you the whole new assembly most likly.. freaking gears are made of plastic! I opened headlight assembly for the gears, what ever you want to call it, "gear box?" and found that lol the gears have turned to powder. They were so jacked up.. So I made some rig outta electrical tape and foam padding, stuffed it in there, put it together and it works, but not so much in the summer coz of the tape being a sticky grip.

btw... if you decide to take the assembly apart to troubleshoot it.. ya know that wheel you turn that turns the motor? Well pretty much the motor itself, there are two little screws holding that mottor onto whaaatever.. well those two screws on the motor, DONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REMOVE THEM! I tried, One broke, had to drill and tap another screw, pita.. and it turns out I didnt even Need to touch that screw. *srugs* so.. just look out for that.

 

You can download the instruction sheet and read all about repairing it. I make two headlight repair kits for the 1987-92 Firebird headlight actuaton units. The 1982-86 had two small gears that fail. Your 1987-92 has one large gear with 3 gel inserts that transfer the load from the gear to a 3-lobe hub that is attached to the shaft that raises and lowers the headlight bucket. The precision-machined close tolerance Delrin® bushings in the kit will repair the headlight to new condition. 207280 Headlight Repair Kit and 209280 Deluxe Headlight Repair Kit.



Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

LOL! That sounded like a sales pitch if I've ever heard one! But I was just about to tell him that you sold those.

I haven't bought it yet, but I'll be buying it in about a week. But my headlights do the opposite. They won't pop up anymore. So if I go out before dark, I have to stop somewhere to crank them up if I'm still out when it gets dark, lol. They close just fine, but won't pop-up. Well, when they're in the mood they'll pop-up, but they're in the mood much less often than they used to be, lol. And sometimes I could get one to pop-up by slamming my door, LOL!

This has been a fun night, lol. Sorry for the laughing, but I really am!

 

It's like Ricardo Montalban and "rich Corinthian leather."

 

This was on an '82.... don't know if it applies to the newer models but. . .

If you have a problem with one headlight door that will raise, but then not lower again until you do it manually, there's two fuseable links on the frame rail by the drivers side wheel well opening. It looks like two little loops sticking out of the harness that runs to the front of the car. Power to lower the doors is supplied from these links, to raise them it's supplied from a different source through the relays.

If it won't go up then you need to check the single realy for that side. If the other one works then the master relay that's fused is good but that side is bad.

 

Sometimes my pop-ups act as if possesed. Mostly they work, but occasionally one will pop up and not the other one. It will make an attempt to go up, but fail. But the funny thing sometimes the left one acts funny, and sometimes the right one, so it cant be the motors, it must be some electrical short of some kind. I think?

 

You're right it isn't the "motors". But it also isn't a short. Let me describe in a nutshell what is happening and why they work erratically as you've described.

Inside the large nylon gear of the 1987-92 headlight actuation units is a large nylon gear that uses 3 inserts or bushings made of a hard gel material of some sort. These inserts transfer the force from the gear to a 3-lobe cast hub that is part of the actuator shaft, which raises and lowers the headlight. These inserts harden and crumble with age, breaking down to roughly a spoonful of crumbs. At this point the gear will no longer turn the hub to raise and lower the headlight assembly. Instead hub will just free wheel on the gear. Sometimes these crumbs of the former inserts will lump together and transfer the load to open the headlight. Other times the gear will free wheel until these crumbs and chunks stick together to move the hub. Now does it make sense why it is acting erratically?

The headlight repair kits I sell will solve your problem if you have a 1987-92 Firebird, 1987-88 Fiero or 1988-96 Corvette. You'll be able to ask LAFireboyd in a few days all about it, since he picked up a kit yesterday to repair his. I'm sure one of the other hundreds of my customers that have repaired theirs using my kit can chime in as well. Sorry, I don't have a repair kit for those of you with 1982-96 headlight actuation units. If you e-mail me I can direct you to other sources for the repair parts for that style of unit.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Don't rule out the possibility that it could be the headlight relay... Paying $12 for a relay sure beats digging through a junkyard for an old motor.

 

I had the same problem on my 1986 Bird and I just replaced the motor with one I pulled off another bird from pull a part. It seemed it was the motor so you can always try that and see what happens. Just my opinion though.

 

if your going to do a rebuild, get the steel gears so the teeth dont break like the factory plastic ones do. thats a common problem when lights stop working. i forget who makes them, its some crazy dude online but they work great. i did the rebuild for my buddy and he was thrilled when his lights started working again.

 

I have an 84 ta but i had the same problem and it turned out being my brakelight fuse. I would have never guessed that but some body told me to check it and it was blown. good luck iam curious if this is your problem.

 

oh yeah, this is one of the factors of the down movement of the headlights in the 84 ta cars. Iam not sure if it is the same for your year though.

 

there is a fuse just for the bringing down of the headlights. I forgot which one it was, but it happened to be when i was playing with the relay while still plugged in, spark flew and they went up but not down checked a fuse and it was blown. Should try this man.




Shane

 

Ok, since Lon put me on the spot here, I figured I better do the repair.

His repair kit works very well, and it's very simple to do. But heed his warnings. Those little bolts that hold the covers on DO break(the head twists off) very easily! And as for his paper clip trick to hold back the brushes and springs when re-assembling the motors, it was easy to understand once I saw everything apart.

So for only $20 worth of parts, this is the place to start if you know your motors are working. And you'll know if you try to put the lights up with the engine off. You'll hear the motors if they work.

But I went a little beyond his steps, because I completely removed both headlight assemblies. It gave me a good chance to tighten-up everything, clean-up everything and put in new lights.

It's kind of natural. You'll end-up cleaning the motor when you work on it, and that makes you want to clean-up everything, lol. And now I've got working headlights again AND my cool blues!