Brianjg054

first off iam sorry if this is in the wrong section I just wanted everyone to see it, feel free to move it.

Ok so now that winter is gone iam getting ready to get the bird on the road again. One minor problem. The damn thing is stuck on high beam ( as shown in the video ) Is this just a simple spring out of place or something ? I really need help with this. here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlT5fUBqaBg

now my other agressions !! General motors screwed up on the 3rd generation design. It rained for 2 days straight at my house. after those 2 days i go to check to see how my car is doing. the back seat is soaked with water. ( t-tops leak a little ). then i go to open my rear hatch and all the rain/dew rolls off the trunk into the rear seats some more. F-ing SWEET ! ok.... so i go to open my hood and i notice the tbi air cleaner rim is full of water ( S**t design ) and that makes it rust out. next i notice a bunch of other parts in my engine bay are holding water in pockets. which makes the parts rust. what iam wondering is how the hell my engine gets drenched with water when it rains if the hood is down and secure? so i go to start it and the batteries dead ( brand new ) I notice the bracket type thing that the batterie sits in is holding water, so basically my battery is sitting in a puddle of water. so i take the batterie out and dry off the water and put it back in. now it starts fine. if there is anything i learned about my car is that 3rd gens hate rain. keep them away from rain because they rust easy. its almost like gm wanted them to rust out. anyone else have my problems ? sorry about the long post..... iam just venting!!

p.s. i still love my firebird and i love the site !

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

I failed inspection because my headlights WOULDNT go to high beams. It was basically like they were stuck on low, and if I held the lever back, then it would turn the high beams on, but the moment i let go, the high beams were off again.

Try this:

Your lever that you pull for the headlights is actually attached to a metal rod that travels down the steering column to a switch on a bracket at the base of the steering column underneath the dashboard (in the area of the fuse panel, and pedals). The bracket you are looking for is white, and is secured down with two bolts (this is going to be a tight squeeze so you should get the smallest wrench possible that will fit on these two bolts). What you need to do is LOOSEN the bolts holding down the bracket, NOT REMOVE. If you remove these then you will never get them back in because the angle is impossible. Now, try to slide that bracket down just a tad and tighten one of the bolts. Try the high beams again. If that doesnt work, try moving it further down the column, or move it up the column.

If you can't find the bracket, an easy way to find it is to get under the dash, and pull the high beam lever, and you should see a rod moving back and forth. Follow this down to the bracket.

I really hope this works for you.



As for your leaking issues, get a weather stripping kit for the ttops and for the hatch. That should at least keep your interior dry. Under the hood is strange though, never thought water could collect under there so easily.

Brianjg054

thanks a lot man ! i will deffinately check that out tomorrow and get back to you!

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

No problem. It's just that after time, these switches get knocked out of alignment and need to be readjusted.

camaronewbie

If it turns out you have to replace the switch entirely, like was said, reinstalling those screws is next to impossible, so get a GOOD switch, like Carquest (NOT Autozone or Advance) - you only want to do this once!

Easiest way is to put feet on headrest, and lay head in floorboard face up, with a small (hold it in mouth) flashlight, and ALOT of patience!

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

Haha! Exactly what I had to do, you want to effectively "sit" in your chair at a 90 degree rotation...if that is making any sense.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Here is what happened to me, I broke the pivot switch for the headlights and the part was buku bucks. I had the choice or installing a floor dimmer switch or replacing the original. What I did was I installed a SPDT toggle switch on one of the dash bezels and I could switch from bright to dim by the flick of a switch.

Brianjg054

well come to find out the rod is bent a little. Someone on another forum told me to tilt my steering wheel all the way down and then see if it will turn on/off high beams. so i tried it and it worked, my car only turns off high beams when the tilt steering is all the way down. I need it inspected soon so do you think i will pass as long as I have my tilt steering all the way down ? then i will fix it later when i have free time.

p.s. thirdgens with airbags tend to have this problem. i guess its common from what i hear ???

sully91rs

Funny, mine only turn on or off if the wheel is tilted is all the way up.

I agree with Iron Duke on this one. Instead of contorting yourself and trying to work on the switch, just buy a toggle switch that can handle the power and put it somewhere. On an empty dash bezel would seem like a nice place, but if you don't feel like ripping everything apart to do that you could shortcut a little and put it underneath the dash .

kuulkatdadieo

iTrader: (1)

What did you hook this switch to? Such as specific wires and where they are.

DENN_SHAH

iTrader: (1)

Brianjg054, your switch may just be out of adjustment.
normally the rod doesn't get bent unless something was done to bend it.
when it works with the wheel tilted down that means its too loose, sliding the switch up toward the steering wheel takes the slack out. over time the switch wears & the adjustment becomes loose.

sully91rs, it sounds like your switch may be too tight, sliding the switch away from the steering wheel may take care of your problem.

i replace the dimmer switch sitting in the drivers seat.
pull the panel below the steering column, then unbolt the column from under the dash & let the column drop down with the wheel tilted all the way up. you can reach in from the top side with a small wrench & unbolt the switch & put the new one in. it takes me about 30 minutes to do including adjusting the switch.
be sure you have the switch properly adjusted before you bolt it all back together. check to make sure the lights work with column in both full up & full down postions.

jmm70

I currently have a 1991 Firebird and mine does the same thing. You're right the only thing I have been able to get it to work is putting the steering wheel all the way down(while holding it down), change from high beam to low.

kuulkatdadieo

iTrader: (1)

Well what happened to me was that, my right turn signal got stuck. And I took the column apart and put it back together. My turn signal functions perfectly, but my high beams don't turn on. You can just pull the lever back and feels like it doesn't push on anything to turn them on. I really don't feel like tearing that thing apart again, so I was trying to figure out how he controlled this operation through a toggle switch.

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you have the same problem I discussed initially. Do what I said in the first post, you will find that it isn't that hard, and easier than wiring up a toggle switch.

DENN_SHAH

iTrader: (1)

kuulkatdadieo, if you did put the column back together right, there is a good possibility that the rod isn't in the dimmer switch, once you have done a few it takes maybe 5 minutes to put it back in. if it isn't in the switch & you do like GuitarJunki said, about 10~15 minutes of work & your done.

kuulkatdadieo

iTrader: (1)

What I meant to say was that I put the turn signal back together. Iam not to sure what I did to the high beams. But, I will try your idea guitarjunkie and see if that is. When I fixed the turn signal I had to take the steering wheel off and take all that junk in there to get to the turn signal part.

jetblast

iTrader: (1)

My car does that too. What I do is move the steering column up and switch goes back to low beams. Badabing

Mylilbowtie

I fixed mine by taking the column apart. I think the main reason is a loose tilt wheel is some of the problem with the high beam switch. Yeah you can adjust the switch but that is most of the time a band aid fix and a major pita. Plus if you fix the loose tilt problem now the switch isn't adjusted right and you have to do it again. I took the steering column down to the four notorious inverted torx bolts. Locktighted them even though they were 1/4-1/8 turn loose. So that fixed any problem that may have contributed. Put the pivot pin housing back on. Looked at the rod for the highbeam switch. Got a small boxed-in wrench and bent it back a little not very much. Put the ignition housing back on to test the switch. Tilted it all the way up and down to see if the switch work in all positions, it did. So that is what fixed mine and I didn't have to adjust the high beam switch. The bolts are 5/16 if anyone is brave enough or doesn't have gorilla hands like I do. The other complication in adjusting the highbeam switch is it can also move your ignition switch.

My problem was an engagement issue and the switch was fine. I tested it before I took the column apart. If your switch is bad it most likely doesn't have an engagement problem. In that case in all honesty I would just take the whole column out and replace the switch. So you can have a way better access to the bolts and get everything properly adjusted.

It maybe a few days but I can get some pictures to show what Im talking about. If that will help anyone.