Kk1220

I have a 98 firebird which is having some unusual headlight motor problems. Woth everything connected the passenger side headlight works great as it should and the drivers side not so much. I bought the car used with the headlights up being explained to me that it might be a relay or a fuse. I checked everything and it looked fine. I plugged the control module plugs in and when I cycled the headlights i found the headlights went down but only the passenger side would raise again. I manually moved the drivers side headlight to the downward limit until I felt the gear popping. When I cycled it again both lights went up but only the passenger side went down and the drivers was stuck again now in the upper limit. It seems as if it was randomly getting stuck in either down or upper limits and sometimes not working at all. I removed the control arm from the motor, rotated the motor 180 degrees with the manual **** and reconnected the control arm to see if I could use the other half of the gear. Miraculously it did work but for two or three cycles until getting stuck again. I gave up after about three more tries.

Any clue as to what this might be? At this point I am leaning more towards a control module problem. Is it possible for the motor to get jammed at random points or after some cycles? It looks like the motor is not getting power due to being "stuck" in upper or lower mode. Is it designed to get power based on the headlight being up or down? What would be your best guess?

one bird

Dose any body know were I would be able to find a new wiring harness for my headlights for a 4th Gen firebird I am having corssion Issues with it and would like to just replace the entire harness.. Thanks in advance!

one bird

[QUOTE=Danny2tek;1413180]Ive seen alot of threads asking why all of a sudden is there a "noise" when I lock/unlock the doors, why do the headlights pop up and down when I use the remote (along with the noise), or why do my headlights come up when I just turn on my park/fog lights. The answer is that one of your headlights has stripped its gear.

The headlights on the Trans Am/Formula/Firebird measures amperage (resistence) to know when the headlight is fully up and fully down (controlled by the BCM). When a plastic gear in the headlight motor gets stripped, the system keeps powering the motors and thats why you hear a jackhammer/grinding type noise coming from the stripped headlight motor when you lock/unlock the doors or when you turn on/off the headlights.

There are two options to solve the problem.The gear in the OEM motor only uses half of a side to raise/lower the lights, so you have another half of the gear that has never been used.The first fix is the 180 temp fix, this is when you rotate the gear in the motor to the unused portion. The second is to replace the plastic gear that has worn out with an aluminum gear.

Heres a step by step write up for the "TEMP FIX" on that same page you can order the aluminum gear to replace the plastic stock ones.

I have used the aluminum gear mentioned above and I also have used this kit. This kit is very well thought out, it includes shims, a t-brace, rubber insert/bumper, all in order to prevent any binding/flexing that can make the new aluminum/brass gear fail.

If your little white stopper has fallen off or missing a chunk of it don't panic. All you need to do is grab a roll of electrical tape and just put enough wraps/turns of tape on the end were the stopper is or was. Works perfect!! Signs of a missing stopper is, the headlight goes fully down then pops up just a little, or it does a constant up/down/up/down


Also the harness underneath the headlight tends to develop corrosion over time, check this if you experience a dim light (bad ground), or the headlight occasionally won't go up or down or, no power to the headlight/motor at all.




If your headlights act or sound like this you have a stripped gear:

You Tube

Also for those interested in upgrading the headlights themselves, check out my other thread.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...kit-birds.html

Any questions? Just post it up.

Hope this helps.

Dan[/QUOTE




Would you happen to know were to get a new headlight harness for a 4th Gen I am having no luck with GM and am having corossion issues bad on my right hand side head lamp

o Crimson xx

Hey guys I need some help, my headlight motor is messing up, but it's not doing what the stripped gear does(up and down hen I use my remote and what not) instead it's just when I turn my lights on my driver side headlight comes up then makes this terrible noise for about 5-10 seconds then stops. Then while I'm driving it will start trying to open and close, but it will stay open. I just don't exactly know hat the problem is.

gnomee

iTrader: (16)

Its the gear man. You might try the trick to just rotate and use the other side of the gear, probably already talked about in this thread.

RedBeardedOne

Hail all! New to the forums here.

So I have a different problem concerning the headlights on my '01 WS6. Everything works fine as far as them going up and down, but every once in a while both lights will go out (happened once after going over a bump) and the only way to get them to come back on is to cycle them on/off a few times. The high beams will still work fine tho even when the low beams don't. Any ideas? Corrosion on the connectors maybe? Cheers!

Raist103

iTrader: (12)

anyone have a wiring diagram for the headlight motors? i dont have 12v at the fuse for the drivers side one. the light does not come on and the motor does not lift. the passenger side has 12v and the motor works fine and the light lifts fine. i am thinking it is a plug somewhere since i just swapped my 5.7 ls1 for a 5.3 when i went turbo but can not find a plug yet. i do have one long wide plug unplugged but think it was for the evap or fog lights both of which i no longer have. this is on a 02 ws6.

thanks for the help

ScreamingChickn

I went through the grinding and replacing a while back. I have a new issue on my 98 TA that appears slightly different from the ones I have read in this thread. There is no grinding at all, the headlights do not cycle when I lock/unlock the doors, and they do not try to come on when I turn on the parking lights. When I turn on the headlights, the headlight light up, but neither pop up. Previously I have been able to cycle the switch a few times, and they would both eventually pop up. Last night, this did not occur. I manually brought up the passenger light about an inch, then I started bringing up the driver headlight. Once I got up up about a half and inch, both headlights popped right up. If I turned the switch off and back on, they would pop up again, but I'm sure I will have the problem again tonight. Does this sound like the headlight controller going bad?

Thanks much!

98 TA Conv
02 CETA Conv
85 TA 377
69 FB Conv 350
69 FB Conv 350HO

Raist103

iTrader: (12)

i found the large connector that was unplugged is the power i was missing but since i have plugged that in the drivers side works but the passenger side will not lift now. That side was fine before i plugged it in. The passenger light still does come on but does not lift, grind or move.

any thoughts?

ez98ls1

iTrader: (2)

I need to replace a headlight motor in my 98 formula but the light assembly will not raise. I have tried to turn the **** behind the headlight assembly that raises the light manually but all it does is spin.

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

Firs things first, did you spin both ways? If you were spinning the headlight down by mistake, then it won't do anything but spin.

Also, make sure to spin it for a minute or so. Sometimes it takes a few rotations to get them to raise.

98ws6blk

Sometimes you have to take a little pressure of the motor by lifting on the light a little...it can bind sometimes.

ez98ls1

iTrader: (2)

I spun it both ways and it didn't move at all and I lifted the light as well. What sucks is I put this motor in less than 6 months ago and I hardly ever dive this car and it already failed.

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

The only way I could think to get the motor out in this situation would be to get the headlight cover off and try to get the arm detached from the motor so you could just pull the light up yourself.

ahhwataday

iTrader: (7)

After installing metal gears I had a large gap in the driver side light while it was down. Lights worked fine, no grinding. I fixed the gap by fixing one of the stoppers that supports one of the moving arms. The only one that can be seen completely from the top. Ill get pics tomorrow. Now the light will not go up. What the hell! Ill try to mess with it again tomorrow and get a few pics

SlurpJ

I have a 93 a firebird that I just got, pass. motor would not go up so I picked up a brand new OEM motor on ebay for $60 well after installing it the motor will not power up or down. Am I correct that the fuses for these are #3 & 4? I have a red wire stuck in were the #4 fuse should go which comes out about 6" with a fuse on it going I don't know where, originally assumed it was a power wire having something to do with the stereo.

RevBishop

I did the brass gear change out on the lights. Haven't installed the unit yet, waiting on epoxy to dry. Will the lights automatically adjust them selves so they both go and down at the same time?

kyle1087

Well. The last owner of this car loves to do EVERYTHING the cheap way! As in. Rig it no matter what you have. I need some suggestions on what do do about this. The first picture shows the crap I found.. the second shows some pieces I need to know what to do with. Since theres no plastic cap for the whole thing what should I do? Didn't wanna pay for a brand new motor. I have a brass gear to put in it. Help me. I'm considering machining a pice of metal at work to cap it off maybe?

IAFFLS1

I have all 4 headlights on and all are very dim except for the passenger low beam. When I turn on hi beams, no driver's side lights come on. Not even low beam. I was told by auto zone it is the switch. I don't want to spend unnecessary money replacing things that don't need to be replaced. Any help is appreciated.

Blowerman

Sounds like you lost your ground circuit.