When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
OK just venting a little here, my 99 was great when I got it used then IT happened so I bought the gears and repaired them and was happy with them. Then I got a 2000 Formula and I knew the gears were bad in both so I bought gears again diassembled cleaned relubed tightened motor to housing and epoxied cover back on and worked good for maybe a month now LF is grinding again
my old 87 T/A did this twice on both too
I hate firebird headlights!
must be why they quit making them
someone tell me why we love our cars?
I took the entire headlight off and started over. Everything is tight & square. It still had the problem. Could not figure it out. Upon close inspection and comparison of the 'good' headlight, the only difference is that it appeared that the tail end of its crank arm is touching the lower mounting bolt. On the new headlight, it does not. Apparently the new motor's shaft is a tiny bit longer than the original. What the hell. 10 minutes later, back from Home Depot with a longer mounting bolt and now it works.
Originally Posted by wssix99
It's not that your bolts are too long. It's that some are in backwards!!! Not all the mounting bolts go the same way. Some have heads in. Some have heads out.
^ Yes, this is weird. It's the way it came from the factory and will keep your problem from happening.
OK just venting a little here, my 99 was great when I got it used then IT happened so I bought the gears and repaired them and was happy with them. Then I got a 2000 Formula and I knew the gears were bad in both so I bought gears again diassembled cleaned relubed tightened motor to housing and epoxied cover back on and worked good for maybe a month now LF is grinding again
Hey guys. I have a 98 TA and just swapped the gears in both headlight motors. Got everything back together and the lights and motors are working fine, except for some reason the open/close operation is reversed now. When I turn the lights on, the headlights flip closed. When I turn the lights off, the headlights flip open. I've tried manually adjusting and pulling the fuses/power to reset them in the correct position, but it just keeps happening. Any suggestions?
Hey guys. I have a 98 TA and just swapped the gears in both headlight motors. Got everything back together and the lights and motors are working fine, except for some reason the open/close operation is reversed now. When I turn the lights on, the headlights flip closed. When I turn the lights off, the headlights flip open. I've tried manually adjusting and pulling the fuses/power to reset them in the correct position, but it just keeps happening. Any suggestions?
This is common. Check to see if the motor power and ground wires are reversed in the connector.
Hey guys I want to install a "Miata button" or a button that just flips the headlights up and down so I can do so without having to turn the lights on and off, an leave them up without needing the parking lights on.
Really all I want is to make it so the headlights don't move unless I press this button or switch. How do I go about this
Hey guys -
Ya, I'm quite late to this thread here but I need some help! I have the loud grinding noise in my driver headlight when I turn the lights off. I attempted the 'quick fix' of turning the gear 180 and went to put everything back together. When placing the headlight lift arm back onto the gear I noticed that the lift arm 'square' (the 'hole/square' on the arm that goes onto the gear) has one of its sides rounded/stripped! Putting the headlight back down manually was a pain and when it got towards a totally closed position it kept 'popping'?? Manually putting it up to attempt the fix went just fine?! Is the arm spinning on the gear shaft? Is it in fact the gear inside? I'm not sure. And to make this a worse situation... I can't find a replacement arm anywhere?!?? (If that ends up being the/one of the problems and needs to be replaced) Any help would be sooo very appreciated! Anyone got a suggestion or any thoughts? Anyone have a bead on an arm?!?!
Thanks
Chris
Last edited by Dr End All; 02-19-2017 at 01:21 AM.
Reason: Spelling errors, grammatical errors
RH Headlight never goes up when I flick the lights on. I have to pop open the hood, manually open the headlight just a tad and re-open the headlights using the switch. What could be causing this?
RH Headlight never goes up when I flick the lights on. I have to pop open the hood, manually open the headlight just a tad and re-open the headlights using the switch. What could be causing this?
ok got a '91 headlight problem and I searched but got nothing, as I wasn't sure what to search exactly.
so the 91 got moved and one headlight stayed up. and now the batt is DEAD. I hooked a jump box to it and nothing. hooked another battery and barely anything with a charger hooked to the batteries. but I did hear the motors trying to run??? so now its sitting there with the battery unhooked. but when it was all hooked up the lights cam up turned on. so I unhooked the headlight pop up motors, and let it charge, nothing changed battery and it went dead pretty quick but lights aren't on and headlight motors are still unhooked, so I think its a wiring or switch problem.
anyone had anything like this? and where to start looking?
oh. Should I replace the gear with a plastic one or replace the whole motor?;
If you ask the question like that, you will get 10 different answers and none will be helpful. You first need to figure out why your original gears stripped. Old age? Loose motor body at the gear case? Botched earlier repair job? Stuck door? Cosmic Rays?
^ From there, you can make a semi-educated choice.
My passenger side light would grind when I turned them off. I performed the simple fix and now it grinds when I turn them on. Should I assume the gear is shot ?
Headlights making fringing noise also blows dash fuse cause car not to start the fuse on side of dash only blows when headlights used if I remove headlight door fuse under hood doesn't blow when lights on. Thinking module not gears causing
I've read all thru this page and haven't found someone with a similar issue. I have a 1999 Firebird Converted to a LS1. First started out that when I would turn on my headlights my doors wouldn't open. I could Literally flick my fender with my finger and they both would open, they do not make any grinding noises. Have replaced headlight door control module and headlight switch. Currently i have to turn them on and off twice to get them to come up, flicking method no longer works .
I've unplugged the large plug on each side and they are corrosion free. Have sprayed arms that come off motors with lubricant. Noticed that Bump stops are worn down to metal on the closed position (could that be my problem?). I'm out of ideas! I recently upgraded to HID lights and am assuming flicking lights on and off are not good for them...
I think I'm finally on to the root cause of this problem. I had my hood open this weekend when the issue came up and I have the headlight control module a very very slight tap with my finger and the headlights opened up!
I also found on another 3rd gen forum that someone else has had this issue in a 3rd gen and discovered solder joint cracking in the module.
There is a mechanical relay in the single headlight control module that flips the doors together, and I suspect that the solder joints feeding that relay (or the relay itself) are bad:
I got the headlight door control board out and... indeed there were cracked solder joints at the pins where the connectors come in to the board. (All the other solder connections looked good.) I've re-soldered and expect my sporadic door opening issues to be gone!
02-01-2017, 10:01 AM
You first need to figure out why your original gears stripped. Old age? Loose motor body at the gear case? Botched earlier repair job? Stuck door? Cosmic Rays?
. 
