I went out to eat with my fiance sunday night and as I parked the car and turned off my headlights the drivers side didn't go down. DOH!!!!! It is an 84 Firebird Sport Coupe. I have never had an ounce of trouble with the lights.

Here is the kicker. I popped the hood and turned off the headlights the pass side went down but the drivers stayed again. I twisted the manual overide on the motor and it zipped down the light about two inches and stopped.

I then twisted the cap again and it zipped it down about a half an inch. After this point it takes twisting the cap to get it all the way down.

SAME THING HAPPENS when I have both lights down and turn them on. The drivers side will stay down and I twist the cap and it will zip then stop, zip then stop.

NOW....heres another kicker. I parked the car and left it for an hour or two (light still up) and when I came back it was down! A similar thing happened when but it only when half way down.

Is my motor dying or do I have a wiring problem. I have never touched the wiring for the headlights. Is there a relay for the motor...could that be bad?

It is for my red 1984 firebird sport coupe. Drivers side light. The brown car in my sig is my 1984 s/e and it's light was damaged by a rammin' a deer. (not me...the previous owner).

Any help?

 

Try cleaning the contacts inside the motor. I have the reverse problem with my trans am, that is they wouldnt go up. The motor contacts are dirty, and once you get that blasted motor out, take off that cover and try to clean the contacts. My motors used to be on a like 20 second delay with the other.

 

I have to agree. I had a similar problem and replaced all the relays, blah, blah, blah and it turned out the High Torque Switch (HTS) inside the motor housing was dirty and worn, so I redesigned it, and rebuilt it. You can find the HTS when you remove the little cover on the side of the motor housing. Trust me it is best to remove the entire headlight assembly from the car (4 bolts) and work on it at a bench. Remove the little cover, exposing the HTS. Use a 12 volt battery charger (or other 12V supply) and watch how the switch works. Just make sure everything is clear of the motor and headlight, especially your fingers, when you apply power. I had a detailed description of how the "system" works on the electronics board, but I can't seem to find it. If I do I'll send it to you.

 

Here it is: 82-86 headlights

 

Had the same problem exactly............Remove the motor, open the side inspection cover (3 screws), remove the brush assembly, gently pry it out, and squeeze together the two brushes. Thereby making tighter contact with the motor thingie. Took me 6 hours to figure this out, two junkyard oldies, swaping parts, rotating stuff etc, etc. While your in there clean up the brushes, motor, remove dust, and look for broken black plastic pieces.

I guess that, under load, and after years of use, the tension on the brushes is not sufficient to maintain sufficient contact with the armature when under load. By the way the motors, all of them (read used) worked in both directions when not under load. Try it. Mine have been good for 6 months since repair

 

Just wanted to thank you guys for our input and experiences. I will try this out as soon as I can get the chance. I hope that this is the only problem. Oh wait, I drive an 84 F-body....there's going to be more problems.

 

Just wanted to express my deepest thanks to those who replied to my thread....MY HEADLIGHT IS FULLY FUNCTIONAL AGAIN!!!!

All I did was remove the whole headlight assembly and then removed the inspection cover (3 screws) and pulled out the contacts. Cleaned them, made them tighter and put it all back together.

Zip! it went back down! It took me an hour and a half to do the job.

You guys are life savers!

Thanks again.
billsfirebird

 

Had the same exact problem w/ the 83. I just replaced the motor all together.