Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

I have a question that is related to Headlights, but I have yet to see it covered in this thread.

First, the basic info on my ride...

Its a 99 Firebird Formula and is not my daily driver. (I'm lucky if I put a thousand miles on the car a year anymore.) This past winter I installed a Suncoast Creations Raptor Hood. While having the hood painted, I removed the headlight covers to have a fresh coat put on them as well. Reinstalling them was kinda tricky to get them and the new hood to line up, but I think I pulled it off pretty well. Anyways the point I'm trying to make is that I haven't had the headlights apart other than removing and reinstalling the covers.

Here goes...

I had my Bird at the carwash today. I had "Presoaked" my car and then turned the Headlights on so I could wash the bugs off the bulbs, as well. (The same process I always use.) When I flipped the switch, only the driverside headlight came up. I attempted to pull the passenger lamp up by hand, thinking it was possibly hung-up on something, but it wouldn't come up. I turned the headlights off, and the drivers returned to its original position. I waited maybe 10 seconds and turned them back on. Both headlights came up as normal. When I took the car home to finish drying it, I tried the headlights a couple of times and they performed just fine.

The passenger lamp has always been just a bit behind the drivers when coming up, but has always fully extended and has never not come up until today.

I don't believe I have stripped gears in the motors. My car has never honked at me or flipped the headlights up and down when locking it.

I know this is rare, but could I have a Headlight Motor that is going bad?

I'd love to get some opinions on this so I can rectify the situation before I have the car out after dark and only one headlight to drive home with.

Thanks to anyone that can help me with this situation.

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

check for corrosion in the harness for that motor.

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

I'll take a look at it on my next day off. Thanks Danny2tek.

offroadfury6

iTrader: (8)

just because your headlights doesn't, "blink" at you when you lock the doors, doesn't mean the gears arent stripped :\ ... the motors are very strong, I highly doubt yours is going bad...

your same issue is listed on this page : http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/

read and find it, it will also state a problem and the solution, i'm certain he describes your situation on that page as well...scan through til' you find the problems or FAQ's or something...

and yes check the male and female harness ends for corrosion, happens alot...buy some electric contact cleaner and spray it, let dry and re-connect...either way, contact cleaner will only help...if no corrision, spray it anyways =P

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

Again, I don't have any of the symptoms of a stripped gear, so at this point I highly doubt that is the problem. I'm sure, being a diehard Firebird Owner, I'll definitely have to address that issue sometime in the future.

Thanks very much for the link. I scanned through it and it definitely offers advice for a number of problems and their solutions. Good stuff.

I have tomorrow off, so hopefully I'll get to take a look at it then.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice.

z28DC

iTrader: (1)

For some reason my right headlight will not go up on its own the first time around, however, if i manually crank the light to the up position, i can turn it down/up a thousand times with ease, but after maybe 30 minutes it wont go up unless manually cranked and the process repeats.

Furthermore this process works by A: Cranking it up by hand once, or B: Turn the manual crank 3 counter clock wise revolutions to the left before using the power headlight motor.

But once again after 30 minutes of inactivity it goes back to step 1.

I have tried to rotate the gear 180 with no success to this problem.

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

Your advice was spot on!!

After fighting to get the electrical connector to come apart (what a ************!), I discovered corrosion on one of the prongs that goes to the headlight motor.

While the diagnosis of the problem is complete, I can't say I've solved the problem yet.

As I was attempting to clean the rust off the prong with a small screwdriver and some electrical cleaner, I bent the prong. And upon closer inspection, I noticed the rust on it had deteriorated it to point of nearly busting off.

And, of course, the connector is wired directly to the headlight motor, so I can't simply just replace the wire harness.

I plan to call around tomorrow to a few junkyards to see if I can find a quality used one for a reasonable price. Otherwise I have a friend who can hook me up with a new one from Autozone for like $85 (unless any you have a lead on one for cheaper?).

I guess I should probably look into upgrading to some brass gears while I have this one disassembled.

I plan to hold onto my original due the fact that the motor is fine. If I should need one in the future I can simply splice the harness from the worn out motor to this one and be good to go.

Thanks very much guys for giving me a direction to look to solve this problem.

LS1TECH for the win again!!

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

You can always just cut off the harness and resplice it with spade connectors, thats what I did.
Glad to see you found it.

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

Sure, but I don't think I can purchase only the Harness.

I believe I can fix the one that has the busted prong, though.

I had a friend, who used to work at a factory that built Wire Harnesses, look at it last night. He had the corroded prong out of the harness before I could blink. He explained that I could probably get a new one at a hardware store, crimp it onto the wire, and reinstall it into the harness. It'd be as good as new.

I'm definitely gonna look into this. I'll let you know how it turns out.

offroadfury6

iTrader: (8)

glad you found your problem but that page by brent franker describes MOST problems with the headlights, not just stripped gears but other issues as well....so again, there is all kinds of info on the page

TAvsGN

I ran into this problem over the winter. MSD makes weatherpak connectors that work well. I replaced my connector and no problems. Only thing--MSD makes a 6 cavity and a 4 cavity connector, not a 5 like in our cars. Got the 6 cavity and sealed the empty spot. And a weatherpak crimper makes life a whole lot easier when rewiring.

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

You don't understand, I mean cut off the OEM harness and just make your own connections using spade connectors

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

Ah. I follow you.

Not looking to go that route. Maybe as a last resort, but I don't think I'm to that point yet.

Thanks again for the advice.

offroadfury6

iTrader: (8)

its not that bad...easy as hell. I like OEM cars that are orginal but i'd much rather have modded misc. stuff done to my car and have everthing working right than everthing tore up on my vehicle because an OEM part cannot be found...Try it..

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

I'm currently working on rebuilding the factory harness on the original Headlight Motor.

I stopped at the local GM Dealership and had a quick conversation with the parts dept manager, Tom, about the prong I need.

He brought me into the shop and showed me the countless little bins of prongs and connectors. He said, "I know we have what you need, you'll just have to search to find it."

I didn't have time while I was there yesterday, due the fact that I needed to be at work in about 20 minutes, so I plan to stop by on Monday to rummage through all the bins.

I'm sure I'll find what I need to make the original connector work again.

Thanks for the encouragement.

lew10281

Ok im having the problems listed in the topic but instead of changing the gear.....i was just going to manually raise the light everytime (lazy huh?). The right headlight is the one having problems. The left headlight i can raise and lower manually and when i turn on the lights so that one is fine. The right one doesn't go up at all even if i try to do it manually. Can someone please help me? Im not too familiar with cars either.

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

Wow if the right headlight wont go up manually that could be a couple of things. The linkage somehow is binding really bad, or there aren't any teeth in the gear to grab on to. Try turning the motor by hand and with your other hand GENTLY try raising the headlight to see if it catches on some remaining teeth.

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

My Passenger Headlight is working once again.

I ended up replacing one prong on both the male and female wire harnesses that had corroded and weren't allowing current to the motor.

The male prong came right out of the plastic housing, but the female (forgive the pun) was a ******' bitch. After mangling the **** out it and pulling the wire off when I tugged on it too aggressively, I finally managed to depress the little tab holding it inside the housing and was able to remove it. Whatta ******' nightmare! Fortunately, Tom at Capper's (the local GM Dealer) had this prong on hand as well the male end and I was able to bring my harnesses up to snuff.

I also upgraded to a set of Mr. Franker's Aluminum Gears while I had the motor out. Well, at least on the passenger side for now. (I did order two gears, so I'll eventually get to the drivers motor as well.) The toughest part when performing this mod is waiting for the epoxy to set after you've installed the new gear, so you can reinstall the motor. LOL

All and all, not very difficult.

Thanks to everyone here at LS1tech for the advice to guide me along the way.

Problem solved!

offroadfury6

iTrader: (8)

pretty much what danny2tek said. when mine would not manually raise on my car, it turned out being the case on the motor had came open, causing the linkege to get into a bind...that was one my issues...

180ls1

iTrader: (4)

Just picked up a 98 ws6 formula yesterday,

Now my question, how do i get both headlights to flip up? The lights come on underneath the covers, the fog lights work and everything else seems too also but the lenses dont flip up. Any ideas?