98FoRmULa_BiRd

Alright after alot of reading about Firebird headlight motors, I came to the conclusion that I have a problem with the plastic gear in my headlight motor. Now this is my concern. I have read the sticky's for the quick fix and how to replace the entire motor etc. My issue is that although I was getting that frustrating grinding/vibrating sound when locking my car and having the lights pop up and close. I drove my car home last night and the headlights would still work like normal until I locked my car. My problem now is that the passenger side headlight does not even pop up anymore when I turn my headlights on. The driver's side comes up like normal but the passenger headlight stays closed.

I am just concerned because I have no problem replacing the plastic gear inside the motor. It seems like it is easy enough to do but my main concern is now nothing is happening. The passenger headlight just stays closed. If I replace the gear will this bring the motor back to life or is it something worse? I have only had this issue for 2 days and I just havent had the time to fix it. Did I damage the gear to the point its not getting any grip or is it not getting power?

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

yes..............

TransamGCS

iTrader: (2)

yes just replace the gear, there are several kits available that replaces it with a metal gear

98FoRmULa_BiRd

Thanks for all the advice. It seemed worse then it was. I did the free fix by rotating the gear which fixed the problem. It only took like 30 minutes. The hardest part was removing the arm because it was on there pretty tight. It was so easy to do. I am just so happy everything is back to normal. I don't know for how long it will be good for hopefully a few years, but its fixed and the headlights are acting as they should when arming my alarm, so I am happy. If it happens again I will be forced to swap out the gear but for now I'm good. It was harder for me to get motivated to do it then to actually do it. Thanks again everyone.

cbrenthus

A quick headlight tip I have that you probably already know - to service the headlights or clean them the easiest thing to do is turn them on the pop them up, then remove the motor fuses and turn them off. I figured this on out after draining the battery on my '98 replacing the headlight bulbs (battery was on its way out anyway). Much easier than manually raising them!

ooops, meant to post this somewhere else!