Hi,
I have an 88 GTA. The driver side headlight iasn't popping up properly all the time. It started about 2 weeks ago, when I noticed the driver side light popped up a second or two after the passenger side. Then last week, it started actually stopping half way up for a second, then popping up completely. Last night it lurched its way up, then actually flopped back down later when I hit a bump.

This morning I popped the hood and checked things out. I turned on the lights, and the pass one went right up as usual, and its motor stopped right away. The driver side light also went up right away but the motor kept running for a few seconds, then stopped. Turned the lights off, and the pass side went down and the motor went off right away. The driver side light went down right away too, but the motor kept running for a few seconds before stopping.

I turned the lights on again, and this time, the driver side went up half way, stopped for a second, then went all the way up. And the motor kept running for a while, then stopped.

Today the driver side light was firmly positioned "up" when it was up. I could not move it down by hand. But yesterday I could move it up and down when it was on.

I've read something about a $20 kit with bushings that might solve the problem. What do you guys think?

Thanks,
GTA88

 

I bought that kit cheaper than that on ebay.Under $10 but i havent used it yet.A friend of mine with an 88 GTA did buy that kit and it works perfectly.He said the install was very easy and it comes with instructions.Try that.

 

I just rebuilt both of my headlight motors with parts from Lon at Top Down Solutions. The two most common wear items in these motors are the plastic driven gear and the plastic bushings inside the plastic driven gear. I had to replace the driven gear in both motors because they had cracked. You might not need the gear but if you're going to rebuilid the motor then I would replace both gears and bushings at the same time. Lon has everything you need. As an alternative your local GM dealer would be happy to sell you a replacement motor for about $250 retail each.

 

Thanks.

 

Something to watch out for... I had the same problem, but when I opened the motor up, the bushings were fine. So I got a used motor which had a bad gear, so I swapped my old parts into it. I had the SAME problem still... I found out that the shaft the gear is on had kind of become loose. It wouldn't slip when I messed with it by hand as it would easily raise the light by hand, but when the motor was running I watched it just plain not move. So if your bushings are fine, that might be the problem.

 

Elthesh,

You mean the shaft that comes out horizontally from the motor, and rotates the light up and down? How did you solve the problem?

ANother thing : why does the motor run on for a few seconds after the light goes down? Did yours do that too?


GTA88

 

You may have a problem with the headlight relay. It is a black box about 4 inches x 6 inches on the firewall between the wiper motor and the power brake booster. It is mounted in a slider. Slide it to the left and it comes loose.

 

Bad bushings can cause this problem. The control module is looking for feedback to know when to shut the motors off. If it doesn't get the feedback (headlight fully up or down against the stop) then it runs the motor for short period longer before shutting the motor off.

 

Oddly enough, mine showed all the signs of normal bushing failure when the bushings had already been replaced by the guy who owned the car before me. That's what threw me off. I couldn't figure it out for a long while. That is until I got the replacement motor, swapped my parts to it and had the SAME problem. I fixed it by throwing out my old shaft/gear combo and using the slightly damaged one from the used motor I got. But yes, the shaft that goes through the gear when you remove the housing. That is supposed to be solidly connected with that, well, whatever it is it looks like its attached to. The metal plate behind it or gear or whatever it is. Been a while. However, under force it just spun around in the backing doing jack squat.

Yours prolly just is the bushings have turned to dust though. But if not, you have another idea to go with. The motor cost me like... 10 bucks at the local yard. I had my pick of about 15 firebirds and chose a suitable one to yank it off of. Course I prolly should have picked better as the gear looks like someone took it out, stuck it on the ground on an angle like this / and dragged it half a block down the road. But it works like a charm and I now have proper bushings instead of those nuts someone used on my original.

 

Here's another question. Yesterday I went to put my headlights up, and only the drivers side came up. I popped the hood, put them up and down, and the motor on the passenger side wasn't doing anything when I'd turn the lights on. I manually brought the passenger's side headlight up, turned the lights on so they'd both be up, and when I turned them off, they both went down, but only the one would come up again. Could my passenger side relay be screwed? And which ones are the headlight relays? The two in the same position on both sides of the engine bay, mounted to the fenders?

The car is an 85. Thanks for suggestions.

 

Anyone?

 

Maybe your pass side headlight is sticking on something on the way up? Are you sure the motor wasn't doing anything? Was the adjuster **** spinning? Seems like the relay is OK since your light goes down normally.

 

No, it doesn't spin at all. Odd thing is, it's a flip of a coin now if it'll work fine, or only work one way or the other. May have just been a ****ty connection, as it's working alright now. Who knows..

 

Yeah, mine are both working perfectly now, and all I did was use them a lot. I hadn't used my lights for a long time, since I wasn't driving it at night much lately.

The only weird thing now is that both motors stay on for about 5 seconds after the lights are all the way up or all the way down.

I sprayed some white lithium grease on the ends of the shafts that rotate the headlights, just for the heck of it too.

I'm just going to keep an eye on them for a while, at this point..