I'm sure there a 6000 threads about our wonderful firebird headlights so how about one more.

Mine go up with absolutely NO problem. But they don't go down. No noises, no trying to go down and don't. They are up and they stay up.

Is there possibly a simple solution since it is both of them acting the same way. I hope so.

 

do they manually go down? if you twist the screw on the top of the motor do they go down?

 

yes. Exactly. It takes a couple hundred turns but they go down just fine that way. Then when I turn the switch on later they spin and come right up with no weird noises or actions. But turn the switch off and they stay up. I tried cleaning the contacts on the switch when i had the dash apart last fall but nothing seemed to help...yet

 

have you checked out the wires that go to the motor to make sure none are shorting out or anything

 

I had a lot bigger things to worry about after buying the car last summer and never got too involved in trying to fix them. Stuck up headlights wasn't the worst thing to have them do so I'll check that out when the weather breaks. Any other ideas out there? Give me all of them to try when the snow melts (hopefully soon)

 

yeah i hear ya, you can wire the headlights up with a straight switch if you just want to try that, but if you want to keep the car original and stuff you prob dont wana do that.

 

That might be good for a test though. Good idea. Keep 'em coming!

 

yeah try it out.... i have a 1983 trans am i am just going to straight wire them to a switch, hope it works!

 

there is this like electronic module on the firewall in the engine bay, right behind the steering wheel, I believe it has one plug, when you turn your lights off and they don't come down, mess with it .. press on it and see if they come down..



Just looked it up and it's called a headlight module, so if you don't get any spin on the down, then this might the culprit...

 

Great!! I will try that too.
BTW, the pic was a nice touch!!!

 

FYI, the headlight control module is used on 1987-92 Firebirds. He doesn't have one, so it's not the problem. The cause of the symptom he describes can be a blown taillight fuse. That answer applies for both 1982-1986 three wire headlight motors and 1987-92 two wire headlight motors.

Of course, before you posted the question you looked at the "troubleshooting hints" under the Headlights Section of your 1983 Firebird Service manual which you purchased online at www.helminc.com, right? If you are planning to keep the car and avoid the high cost of having it repaired at the dealership service dept, you should invest in one.

Lon

 

Very nice touch with the "plug". I will check out the taillight fuse asap and post with what happens. Although, pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't that mean that my tail lights are out as well? I know they were working on Saturday night.
Thanks

 

on your 83 , look on right or left by radiator condensor area there is a relay there that may be bad, cant remember which side

 

I have an '82 T/A (which is a 3-wire), and I've had the drivers side pulling the exact same One-Eyed Jack b.s. for nearly two years now. It's maddening, as it totally kills the look of the car. So during the summer when I drive it around or to work I have to manually turn down the light before taking off in the morning. What a pain.

I've tried checking wires, fuses, swapped relays and other bits, (though not all I'm sure). Just about everything except for the switch itself, which is next on my list i think. I was hoping that when I swapped the relay (via Autozone's part) near the radiator, that would fix it, but nada. Instead, it actually made it worse...?

Currently, when I put the lights on, both pop up fine. When I turn the switch off, the pass goes off and down, but the driver's only goes off. No motor crunching or other noises, it just powers down and stays up.

When I swapped the relay, the light stayed on even when I switched it off. Weird.

Anyways, I DO have the service manual and have been going through everything on the back page to fix this and thus far, no dice. Hence why I'm wondering if the switch is bad, but the pass side works fine. Hmm...

Ideas?

 

I have the same problem... I just have done about the same as you to try and find the problem. I am wondering if the kit by Top down solutions would work, or any of there other repair kits they have would work.

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/pro...roducts_id=118

 

Not meaning to complicate this even more for you guys, but '82-'86s have three relays. Each headlight has its own relay, mounted in the engine bay on the inside of the fender well behind the headlight. And the third relay is by the radiator.

So if you're having a problem with only one headlight, try swapping their respective relays and seeing if that solves the problem for the one, thereby creating a problem for the other one. Then you'd know if the relays are good or not.

If you're having a problem with both headlights, then it could be two or all three relays. Or it could be the tail fuse, as Lon has already suggested.

But if you hear the motors running, a humming for a couple of seconds, but the headlights aren't going down, then it's not an electrical problem, and Lon's TDS rebuild kit will solve your problem. Otherwise, no running motors indicate one of the mentioned electrical problems.

 

If it turns out your 1982-86 headlight actuator has a bad gear, then my 508210 will solve the problem IF your headlight motor has helical gears inside. Some early firebirds had straight-cut style gears. If you open it and find yours has straight gears you can swap helical gears from a 3-wire headlight actuator from a Fiero, then use my repair kit.

Lon