Alright, I'm hitting a weird issue with the headlights of an 87 GTA.

When I connect the battery terminals, the motors instantly turn (get a nice spark off the terminals too, cheap fireworks anyone?) and do absolutely nothing.

They turn for a little while then stop, and I also can't manually turn and lift the headlights. The tops of the motors just spin and don't grab. And, as far as I can tell, the headlights don't turn on either. The wiring under the passenger dash is a mess, but fixable (some electrical tape to hold them together again possibly). looks like everything's connected properly old home repair I'm assuming.

Would this be from the motors being shot, maybe a shot relay or the light switch??

 

The problem is that the plastic bushings in the motor are shot, which is why the motor will spin but the headlight won't come up.

Buy this and repair: http://www.top-downsolutions.com/Bod...ight-motor-kit

 

Found a kit on eBay for a dollar fiddy, that supplies the bushings for both headlight motors! My problem is- They're both stuck down, and I can't get them to flip up at all. Tried pulling on them but they don't budge and I don't want to break anything more... hitting that issue with the starter already (solenoid cap was feeble) annnd a bolt holding the Y-Pipe to the header...

Any tips on how to get em up? Don't exactly know how to get at em..

 

Have you tried spinning the **** and pulling up at the same time?

 

I've tried all of it, to no avail. The motors just spin and do nothing, so I know the motors are ok. As soon as the battery's connected they go off to the races and spin for a while, then give up.

Drains the battery, too. Completely killed the last one that was in it, so I unplugged both motors... Haven't connected the battery after that to be sure that's what killed it tho, have the starter out and am in the process of getting the y pipe down to put the new one in (and what a pain in the *** that's been so far).

I've tried turning and lifting. Lifting alone. Turning alone. All I could think of, and they just don't budge... are they supposed to move freely in the first place? As in, you should be able to lift them yourself? Haven't had any experience with flip-ups before this project.

I've looked around online and found videos of people pulling the assemblies out but the trim is different on the 87 I guess... can't get to the underside of the headlights and motors without taking the damn bumper off (at least is seems that way)... Can easily get the top 2 but the bottom 2 are anyone's guess...

But yeah, they don't budge at all, and I'm afraid that if I pull too hard, something else'll break.. that's what happened with the starter lol.

 

Here is a thought, remove the fill panel that goes between the headlights, the core support and the front bumper. It is just like 12 10mm bolts that are all easily accessible from the top. Then you can get to the lower headlight bolts from the sides. I think that is easier then pulling the front bumper.

 

Agreed, remove this and you may have access to remove both headlight motors for repair. By your description, it does sound like the bushings are shot.

 

You must be referring to my "tool tray"

Thank you guys, never would have thought about that! I'll have to give it a shot then.

It'd probably be the only thing left to do if it were mine. Since it's not (unfortunately), I have to wait on my gf's mom to fund it... Currently have a host of parts and stuff on the "Need List": antifreeze, belts, power steering fluid and filter, brake fluid, rotors and brakes (Hoping brake lines are ok yet *cosses fingers*) And that's just to get it road worthy

Almost a restoration, at this point lol. But yeah, since it's gonna take a while, and the bushings are dirt cheap (found a guy selling them on ebay, if anyone else comes across this!), I think I'll give it a shot. I'll keep you posted on that.


PS: Any tips for cutting and drilling out bolts? I've never done that before, but need to.. when trying to unbolt the Y-pipe from the header (passenger side, to replace starter), the first bolt snapped from the torque and the other nut was already stripped...

My plan of action is to borrow a dremel with a cut wheel and just cut them both off, drill them out and put new bolts and nuts through.

 

That's a good plan. For future, use a good penetrant oil such as AeroKroil or PB Blaster. Spray it, make a sandwich, then come back and spray it again. Tap it with a hammer. Use some heat on it if you have a propane torch, then try removing the bolt or nut.

Good luck,

Lon

 

I picked up a can of "Liquid Wrench" for them, after snapping the one.. underestimated the amount of rust, initially. Coated them a few times over the coarse of the day, and tapped them for a couple minutes. I'm amazed at how well it works, almost before-and-after pic worthy.

I'll be sure to post here after I get those bolts cut and drilled out.. sure has turned into a project for "just get it running and we'll go from there"

 

Newbie here on this site....But it looks like it may help me out.
I have a 1982 firebird bought it with one (Passenger) side headlight would not go up (Manually yes) but when I turn the lights off they would both go down. I bought a used motor assembly yesterday and went to install it only to find out it was the wrong side, so we took both apart and just swapped motors and then installed it back in the car. No change was still doing the same thing, so I then thought yeh i did not exchange the little contacts that are in the motor assembly so i removed the unit again, open the small accesss panel on the left side and exchanged the contacts. Reinstalled the unit and now nothing works on the passenger side. The unit did come with a relay so i exchanged that as well and no change.....Any ideas?
Thanks