I have a 89 trans am. What I want to do is to have my parking light switched on. But I dont want my headlights to come up. I have seen other T/A's with this done. Of course, normally when you switch your parking lights on your parking lights come on, fog lights come on, and your headlights pop-up but they dont come on.

My '88 doesn't do that. When you have the parking lights switched on, only the parking lights and fog lights are on and the headlights stay down. If I have the headlights on and switch back to parking/fog lights, the lights stay up until they are switched completely off. I have an '89 factory service manual, I'll check and see if they're wired differently, but I can't imagine they are since they're close in year and use the same switch.

thank you

The symptom you describe isn't the norm, but is the symptom of headlight motors that have bad bushings in the gears. When the bushings are replaced with the delrin ones from a headlight repair kit the symptom will go away and the headlight buckets will stay down when just the parking lights are turned on. I discovered this fact when some of my customers gave me feedback that repairing their motors also solved this particular problem.

FYI I sell two kits, 207280 and 209280 on my site.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

I am having the same problem with my lights. and I dont understand how the bushings can fix this? I dont have anyother problems with my headlight but when i hit the parking like button the headlights come up but do not come on. I would think that if it were the bushings that one would start doing it before the other, right? Please help i would like to get this fixed.

camaro's dont have that problem

I've already posted the solution to your problem. As for why the problem is corrected by new bushings I can only tell you it does. I've had more than one customer that mentions in their review of my kit on my web site that they had this problem prior to installing my repair kit. After installing the kit the problem was solved. Maybe you'll believe satisfied customers that have no vested interest in whether you buy the kit or not? I've posted their reviews.

Date Added: Saturday 05 November, 2005
"I was not having problems with my headlights NOT coming up. I had a problem with my lights coming up....when I turn the parking lights on. I know this is a common problem for F-Body Firebirds. If you have your headlights coming up when you only turn on your parking lights, then buy this kit and follow the simple instructions that come with it.....it will fix your problem.

Thanks Lon,

Scott Williams- Tuscaloosa, Alabama", Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Date Added: Thursday 26 July, 2007
"This product is everything it says it is. My '92 firebird had headlights that didn't want to come up sometimes as well as the problem with the doors opening when the parking lamps were turned on. I had to disconnect the lights on my alarm because whenever it went off the headlights would flap (not supposed to happen). Anyway, this kit only took a couple hours to install and my headlights now open and close fully when they are supposed to and they don't open when i put on the parking lamps alone. THANK YOU!!"
Review by: Chantal Pinette, Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]


Lon Salgren

Well i'll give it a try. Can you send me a link to the bushings?

Lo, I'm not to call the customers liars, but rather, mistaken.

Headlight on or not is an electrical connection, having nothing to do with the bushings.

I suspect they had bad wires, bad connections, and while doing the bushings, cleaning the electrical contacts and/or replacing bad wires, is what fixed the on/off with up/down headlights.

Until I replaced my firewall motor relay, my lights would come on, but not up. A similar situation, just reversed.

The headlights motors are not turned on and off by the headlight switch alone. The headlight control module also comes into play. Inside the module is a circuit that senses the spike in current as a backfeed and shuts off the electricity to the motors. A headlight motor with broken bushings will take less current to start up than one with good bushings. I suspect what is happening is that when the headlight switch is turned on that there is enough stray voltage arcing across the contacts that it sends the signal to the module to turn on the motors, but only enough to start the motor. But only enough to start a motor with compromised bushings. A motor with good bushings would have enough resistance that the current sent to it isn't sufficient to start it. I'm not an electrical engineer so if one wants to chime in here with a better explanation, feel free. All I can do is report that more than a few of my customers have let me know as an aside that replacing the bushings also solved this problem they were previuously experiencing. Two customers even wrote about it in their feedback of the kit.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

Here's the 3 seconds of time-saving link:

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/pro...products_id=87

I can't say whether or not the new bushings will fix the problem your having of your headlights popping up when the parking lights are turned on, however i have rebuilt my headlight motors a few years ago with top down solutions kit and it was a great product, maybe you could get a few headlight control modules from the JY and see if you have any luck with that. the price of a new one from gm is ridiculous and i've gotten some from U-Pull-Its before for a few bucks each. good luck

i guess thats the price you pay for having a sexy as hell firebird.