General Maintenance & Repairs - A few small problems.

Just got this Trans Am almost 2 months ago. 100k miles so I'm planning on swapping all fluids and all the general maintenence. Now lately, a few small problems have been popping up, nothing serious. Most of these are simple problems, but they're mostly electrical and I have no idea where to start with electrical problems so I need y'all to help me out..


Ok #1 He told me that the head light motor had went out before, but he replaced the plastic part that usually fails with a metal part, so it should never fail again. Now, I know nothing about the headlight motors on these cars so I don't know how accurate that statement is. But it can't be all true, because my left headlight doesn't come up anymore. The light turns on but it stays down. Now, there were no signs on it going bad. I picked my friend up one night, and they both came up. When I got to his house, put them down and turned the car off, went to 711. When I got back in the car, only the right headlight came on and we were both surprised, we tried helping it lift up by hand when I turned them on, but it gets to a certain point and doesn't want to go any further. They don't flip up when I lock or unlock the car, there's no noise or anything. Just one comes up and one doesn't. Also, they've always been pretty loud when they go up and down, but no grinding noise or anything.

Edit- Just found a thread with some info on these motors. Hopefully this will help me but it doesn't seem to be exactly my problem..


#2 The turn signals wont turn on, even the dash indicator won't flash. All of the other controls on the turn signal handle work fine, wipers, etc. The cover that covers the wires came off, so I think my knee might have hit some of the wires when I got out of the car, I'm a pretty big guy. This also happened all of a sudden, nothing could've gotten wet or anything. I have no experience with fuses/wiring of any kind so I have no clue where to start.

#3 Sometimes when I get into the car, the screen on the radio won't display any actual numbers/letters, it'll just be random lines that change every now and then. It sometimes goes off after I start driving. I've always been kind of confused by this, but it bothers me. Anybody have this same problem?

#4 My fans have never turned on since I got the car, but I never noticed it somehow. Low-temp and Hi-temp fans don't work, not just one or the other. This actually caused the car to over heat and die before.. Where should I start at diagnosing this problem? I don't have anything that could check electrical systems, just a tiny ratchet set and a torque wrench..

#5 The CD player will randomly skip/FF a song, for no reason. The disk I used is brand new, no scratches or anything.. Don't know where to begin with this one.

#6 When it's colder outside, the button on the shift know (A4) is pretty hard to press in. I have to use some man strength to squeeze it in. The colder outside, the worse it is. What could this possibly be?

Thanks for y'alls help.

No one?

Alriight i can offer a little help. The headlight motor is most likely a short. What the guy told you about it neverfailing will only apply to the plastic gear stripping that those motors are prone to. The electrical compnents can still fail which from what youre describing is whats starting to happen. I would deff reccomend replacing the plastic gear like the previous owner did when you replace this motor. Check all connections and fuses for the motor before laying it to rest though

Just got this Trans Am almost 2 months ago. 100k miles so I'm planning on swapping all fluids and all the general maintenence. Now lately, a few small problems have been popping up, nothing serious. Most of these are simple problems, but they're mostly electrical and I have no idea where to start with electrical problems so I need y'all to help me out..


Ok #1 He told me that the head light motor had went out before, but he replaced the plastic part that usually fails with a metal part, so it should never fail again. Now, I know nothing about the headlight motors on these cars so I don't know how accurate that statement is. But it can't be all true, because my left headlight doesn't come up anymore. The light turns on but it stays down. Now, there were no signs on it going bad. I picked my friend up one night, and they both came up. When I got to his house, put them down and turned the car off, went to 711. When I got back in the car, only the right headlight came on and we were both surprised, we tried helping it lift up by hand when I turned them on, but it gets to a certain point and doesn't want to go any further. They don't flip up when I lock or unlock the car, there's no noise or anything. Just one comes up and one doesn't. Also, they've always been pretty loud when they go up and down, but no grinding noise or anything.

Edit- Just found a thread with some info on these motors. Hopefully this will help me but it doesn't seem to be exactly my problem..


#2 The turn signals wont turn on, even the dash indicator won't flash. All of the other controls on the turn signal handle work fine, wipers, etc. The cover that covers the wires came off, so I think my knee might have hit some of the wires when I got out of the car, I'm a pretty big guy. This also happened all of a sudden, nothing could've gotten wet or anything. I have no experience with fuses/wiring of any kind so I have no clue where to start.

#3 Sometimes when I get into the car, the screen on the radio won't display any actual numbers/letters, it'll just be random lines that change every now and then. It sometimes goes off after I start driving. I've always been kind of confused by this, but it bothers me. Anybody have this same problem?

#4 My fans have never turned on since I got the car, but I never noticed it somehow. Low-temp and Hi-temp fans don't work, not just one or the other. This actually caused the car to over heat and die before.. Where should I start at diagnosing this problem? I don't have anything that could check electrical systems, just a tiny ratchet set and a torque wrench..

#5 The CD player will randomly skip/FF a song, for no reason. The disk I used is brand new, no scratches or anything.. Don't know where to begin with this one.

#6 When it's colder outside, the button on the shift know (A4) is pretty hard to press in. I have to use some man strength to squeeze it in. The colder outside, the worse it is. What could this possibly be?

Thanks for y'alls help.

I will take a shot at a couple

#3 There is a cold solder joint/joints on the display flexstrip or where it solders into the front board. It happens in most electronics. Live with it or deal with it.

#4 I believe he fans should turn on when the AC is on?? I also believe there is a relay switch that applies power when the fans are needed. Check the voltage.

#5 Somewhere down the road the pickup eye could have been bumped and slightly misaligned or just dirty.

#6 This prevents women from driving the car. It is a safety measure do not attempt to change. :jest:

The turn signal issue is the flasher or blinker. It's under the dash on the drivers side