transamls1ramair

Hi I'm new here
I have a 1998 pontiac Trans Am ws6 and I am having a problem that I have no idea where to start. It started a few days ago. When I turn off my headlights the passenger side headlight goes down just fine and at the same speed as the drivers light but the motor doesnt seem to go off for about 5 seconds and it makes a horrible vibrating noise that is loud for that 5 seconds. Another thing that started happening at the same time is when I hit my remote to lock or unlock the doors both headlights go up and then down every time and thus causing the passenger light to make that horrible noise. They never went up and down with the remote before the headlight motor started making noise.
I'm really stuck. I took a look at the lights and didn't see any stops that would turn the motor off but I could be wrong. please help
Thanks
Ryan

Z O SICK

iTrader: (1)

It's more than likly the nylon gears going out. It happen to me a few times. Replace them with brass gears and you'll never have to worrie about it again.

Tony

landstuhltaylor

iTrader: (6)

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/index.htm
https://ls1tech.com/forums/pontiac-firebird-1967-2002/177470-firebird-headlights-all-comments-questions-regarding-headlights-go-here.html

landstuhltaylor

iTrader: (6)

btw wrong forum. too bad i must have mercy on you as the search isnt working, otherwise i would say

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

The diagnosis is correct but the fix is not entirely accurate. Brass gears alone will not fix the problem. I have personally stripped brass gears in the headlight motor. Here's why and how to fix the problem for good. The headlight motors are actually 2 peices..the metal headlight motor and the plastic gear housing. The 2 are joined by 4 bent tabs that bend around the plastic gear housing. Over time the tabs rust through the paint and weaken. This allows play in between the 2 housings. When enough movement is present it pull the metal worm drive away from the nylon gear and strips it. That's the grrrrrr noise you hear. Sounds horrible I know. Not tomention embarassing in public places. You have 2 options: 1 go buy a new headlight motor. Option 2 is to buy Frankers brass gears...might as well buy 2 as the other headlight will go bad eventually. They all do...not just your car. Here's how you fix it for good though. Follow his instructions for the installation but before you close up the gear housing....cut a small peice of 1/8in. thickness or less plastic thats 1in. long and 1/2in. wide. Place it behind the metal worm drive. This presses the worm drive into the gear and eliminates play in it. Then get a small washer and place it over the gear shaft. This eliminate play from side to side. Then go ahead and close it up with the epoxy. The last thing I did was to take a large set of pliers and bend the tabs back into position and put any remaining epoxy on them to try and hold them in place. This solved my problem and was the second time I rebuilt them. I even reused my stripped brass gear and turned it around. The motors are now way more solid and have none of the play they had before. It really isn't that hard to do. Good luck!!

raymundojr

the gear may not be in place that is why its making its horrible dee zee sound or there is something broken in that motor.Check out for loose connections.

ImGeneralMotors

I agree with Walking-dead because I Got the same problem such as yours they told me this and that and so many stuff that I didn't notice that I am paying too much for their service and later on I found out that my headlight motor is already broke! But you can try this cool link for my GM Pontiac new Headlights here is the link.
gmc head light cover

98TADRIVER

iTrader: (36)

it only uses half of that gear to go up/down. try taking the gear out, fliipping it 180 degress, youll be fine. thats what i did and i have no problems since, been 2 yrs

qwkta98

look on ebay for brass headlight gears-there 40 bucks per side but i b eat 250 for the motor

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

Or...as I stated above...buy Brent Frankers which are tried, true, and an extremely nice product for $40.00. Either way...it's only going to temporarily fix them. The gear didn't just strip for the heck of it. I do ALOT of night driving as almost all my jobs for the past 12 years were at night at least going or coming from work. I used my headlight motors more than the average T/A owner because of this. When I purchased my T/A used one of the headlight motors was already bad. The car had 119,000 miles on it. I did the free fix which lasted about 5 mo. Then I bought the brass gears...this lasted about 1 year before it started making the noise again. I had a friend give me his old headlight motor and that's when I started looking at it very closely. The tabs had rusted and the paint was starting to flake off. They were loose around the base of the gear housing. The whole top moved slightly back and forth. That is the main issue. That's what actually strips the nylon gear...it moved back enough that it didn't make good contact and stripped. Even stripped if you push the metal worm drive into the nylon gear it works. It's when it moves that becomes the issue.

The Dragon

iTrader: (6)

The brass gear is a temporary fix as stated; albeit a longer temporary fix than the "180* mod"

I know from experience

I went through a FEW of those plastic AND brass gears before giving up.

I converted to non-pop-ups and never looked back.