1998 Firebird Headlight

[ThaDyce17]

Every time I close my headlights there is a loud rumble coming from the headlights whats going on also how do I change the low beam headlights

[Need4Camaro]

Re: 1998 Firebird Headlight

Every time I close my headlights there is a loud rumble coming from the headlights whats going on also how do I change the low beam headlights

What is happening is this. There is a plastic nylon gear inside of your headlight motor. That gear is not very strong and over time of use the forces from the headlight opening and closing causes that gear to strip.

The headlight motor itself uses a resistor to tell when it is at the stopping point, when the arm meets the tab the resistance normally becomes so high that a circuit breaker is activated thus shutting off the motor, however; when the gear snaps a tooth or two then the headlight motor no longer had a stopping point because even when the arm meets the tab, the tooth in the gear where the stop point is missing and the headlight motor continuously tries to turn because the circuit breaker is not activating due to insufficient resistance, thus a fail safe is activated approximately 5 seconds later and thats the only thing that turns off the headlight motor itself.

There are two fixxes for this.

The first one is expensive but it will make things ALOT easier and is a permanent fix.

go to www.rockauto.com and search 98 Pontiac Firebird and purchase the NEW Headlight Motors (NOT THE REMAN) - The NEW ones come with screws on the gear cover that allow you to use a phillips head to remove so it's not a sealed unit and you can replace those plastic nylon gears with brass or aluminum gears from Brent Franker or search for Firebird Headlight Gear on ebay. Plop both of those in. ADD A THICKER WASHER ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE GEAR TOWARD THE REMOVABLE COVER - THIS ACTS AS A SPACER, WITHOUT IT THEY WILL STRIP!!! It will cost aprox $300 but is a permanent fix for the life of the car.

OR

just buy the gear kit on ebay - it comes with a brace. Brent's does not come with a Brace. You can remove your headlight motor and use a FLATHEAD screw driver to pry off the sealed cover of your gear housing and replace the stripped gear with the brass ones. You will need glue and the brace to replace it. I didn't have much luck with this route as it added too much resistance and the glue wore off exposing the gear causing it to rust and it didn't turn out right. This route is much cheaper if you can do it RIGHT.

-----

You will need TWO 10mm wrenches and a phillips head screw driver. - I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend at ATLEAST one of those 10mm wrenches be a Ratchetting Wrench - one that can be used as a ratchet OR wrench. It saves ALOT of trouble.

Edit: BTW regarding the headlight ITSELF, It's a sealed unit, you will need a head wrench to remove all four screws on the front of the headlight, pull the brace out and it should come right out.

-----

Links:
www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/ - Brent Frankers Headlight Fix Guide...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1993-2002-Fi...d611c1&vxp=mtr - Headlight Gear Repair Kit (You will need this either way, regardless if you replace the whole motor or just the gear - 1 unit per headlight, so you will need 2 if both gears are stripped)

http://www.rockauto.com - Purchase BRAND NEW Cardone Headlight Motors here. Do NOT purchase the REMAN or you will be defeating the purpose.

Good Luck.

[Punzak9]

Re: 1998 Firebird Headlight

I literally just changed mine about 5 days ago. It was kind of a little pain in the butt. I found the easiest way for me was to remove the entire headlight assembly. This gave me an open look at the headlight motor screws. after I got the motor out it was smooth sailing. The only issue I had was the alignment of the headlight after. It works fine and quit making the grinding noise, but I threw the alignment off and cant seem to get it to sit back in the right spot.

[2.8 Bird]

Re: 1998 Firebird Headlight

I bought a lifetime warranty on the motor from autozone, instead of changing the gears all the time.

[Gutless]

Re: 1998 Firebird Headlight

Other fix is to take the nut off the spindle that attaches to the headlight and rotate the top dial on the motor 180 degrees. The gear inside is a complete circle so you expose 180 degrees if new gear material.

They strip in the first place because there are 4 steel pressed in tabs that go from the gear box to the motor case, those tabs loosen up over time and allow the motor to wiggle in the gearbox. I did that on both mine and it fixed it for the most part. If it doesnt and still clacks, you have a broken piece of the gear inside the box. I took mine out and looked at the gear and it had 2 teeth broken that got stuck inbetween the worm and driven. Hapened to have another motor with a broken gearbox. Took gear out, swapped it over. Free fix.