Headlight Motors

[92Firebird]

I have a 92 Firebird with the rasing headlights and my passanger side is clicking when ever you put them up or down. Can anyone tell me how to fix this? E-mail me at CamaroZ28112486@aol.com, thanx

[Everglades W68]

High Performance Pontiac had a good article on fixing 3rd gen headlights and other common 3rd gen problems:

http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...aid/index.html

Cut and paste:
ONE-EYED JACK CURE
Another consistent complaint regarding these Firebirds is headlight motor failure. There are two versions of these motors, the early one using a 3-wire system and the later with a 2-wire system. Our GTA had the later 2-wire version, and our forays saw every single 2-wire unit missing from the junkyard cars. Grumble.However, we found that the 2-wire unit from the '87 Sunbird is the same except for the mounting boss locations. You only need to look for the Sunbirds with the droopy, 2/3 eyelid headlight covers, plentiful in the junkyards. The Sunbird unit is mostly hidden under the plastic cosmetic panel just in front of the radiator core support on top (near the hood latch).Our wires were spliced and badly corroded, so we decided to just swap out the parts. The motor and worm gear must come out before the driven gear and lever assembly can be taken out of the case. Two 8mm screws remove the motor unit, but be careful taking it out since this releases the brushes; also, the springs behind them want to jump out onto the ground. Now you can remove the brush holder/wiring assembly with another two screws if you need to, and use the one with the best brushes and wires from your two assemblies; they are interchangeable. On the "transmission" case, remove the three 8mm screws, and the driven gear will come out. We quickly found the problem with our unit, as the crystallized remains of the drive dampers poured out onto the ground. These go between the nylon driven gear and the drive axle that the lever arm attaches to. If this is your problem, you'll need to pull everything partially off the shaft and steal the drive cushions from the other unit.If your motor runs continually but the headlight door will not move, and screwing in the manual rotator (on the top of the motor) does nothing, this is likely your problem too, and you will not need a new motor. Although I didn't try it, I would use three pieces of vacuum hose, cut to length and filled with a bit of silicone, to prevent total crushing, to replace the drive dampers. Don't be a brain surgeon and try to assemble it before the silicone dries in the vacuum hose, or your motor will be glued in place.

[David Blalock]

Do a search on thirdgen.org and you should find the website of a guy that made a rebuild kit for Fieros that works with many different GM and GM affiliated vehicles. It's pretty cheap and I can personally vouch for it. I got two sets but I lost one or I'd let you have it.

David

[April]

yea if you go to thirdgen.org or team3rdgen.com and post asking about it there are tons of people that are willing to help you out!! i also have to replace my headlight motors :( they go up only when they want to.

[Phoenix]

Just make sure that it is in fact you motor. I've have a problem with mine right now, both motors will work off of the passenger side plug but not the driver's side. I got a new module from a junk yard, that worked for about a half a second. I've torn apart the module and I think I've found the culprit, hopefully I can find a place that sells the microscopic part.

[4mula]

Mine is starting to drop hard and have found, can you believe this a full 5 amp draw coming from the module itself when the car is sitting. They really bug me sometimes. I thought about thr fiero swap, but it is a little confusing with having to use the left on the right. :(

[92Firebird]

ya i mean its just the passanger side, i hit the switch i mean it goes up and drops hard. the driver side wroks like a dream, but when the passanger side goes down, it clicks really bad, i mean u can hear it with the radio blastin

[David Blalock]

The motor is supposed to stop after it detects a certain amount of resistance (when the light is all the way down) but when the gears are stripped it doesn't get enough resistance to stop and that clicking is the motor going around and around until it times out. Your headlights will be gone in a couple months at the most after you start to hear the clicking.

David

[92Firebird]

In a couple of months, i hope to have them replaced, I've heard a lot of different opinion on what it is and this 1 sounds like its right. I had 1 sayit was the bearings, I had a Pontiac mechaninc say i need the whiole new assembly. Thanx for the tip on 3rdgen.org, i read and printedthat out so hopefully if i can get the parts that i can do my own surgery on my light.