I have a 1986 Firebird Trans Am. Only one headlight motor seems to be bad, but in a strange way. The first time it misbehaved, it would go down and not go up again unless I got under the hood and turned the little **** on top. Eventually it stopped working entirely, even if I hit the limit switch by hand. Is my motor completely dead and I need a new one, or will a rebuild kit fix it? And if it the motor itself burnt out, does anyone know where I can find a rebuilt one for a reasonable price? The only rebuild I can find is ebay and I'd have to send mine in. But it's locked in the up position manually right now and the only reason I can use both headlights. I daily the car so I need the lights to function.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I swapped the relays from side to side and the same side stayed bad, so it isn't the relays. I also tested at the 3 wire connector and it is receiving power in both directions.

 

" I also tested at the 3 wire connector and it is receiving power in both directions"

This statement, providing what I'm about to say holds true, is the proof of the motor being bad.

When you say "Receiving power" I take that to mean you used a digital meter to take the measurement, with the connector unplugged from the motor?

I would like to see the result of the same test, taken with the motor connected. The reason being, a bad connection can sometimes pass enough power to give a voltage reading on a DVM with the actual load removed from the circuit, and then fail to deliver any power with the circuit loaded by the proper current draw (in this case, the motor). If, with the motor connected, you still have power in both directions, then by all means replace the motor.

 

I was receiving the full 12V signal through a DMM to both leads. My main question with this thread is if I should replace the motor or get a gear rebuild kit. Is there a noise or something I should hear from the motor if it's just the gears or something more along those lines?

 

If the gears (or more commonly the 3 plastic bushings) are bad, the **** on the back of the motor would still spin, but there would be no door movement. The fact that turning the **** previously made it work, and now it doesn't, leads me to believe the brushes in the motor were starting to make poor contact, and have now stopped making contact altogether.

Just curious here, did you Ohm check the motor?

 

I did ohm check the motor. I found Open loop on every connection

 

Considering this, I now feel most confident in the diagnosis of a bad motor