I know this has been spoken about to death, but having another issue and just looking for some thoughts or suggestions.....

01 TA with 70K miles. About 6 months ago my drivers side headlight started to randomly not go up. Sometimes it did... sometimes it did not. I decided to simply buy a new motor and replace. The motor was a Cardone but when it came from RockAuto it turned out to be remanufactured, not new. The description said new gears and upgraded parts so I figured why not. Installed the motor, lubed pivot points and tested. Everything worked!

Since replacement of the motor I have probably turned on the lights twice in 6-months and both time they worked fine. Until last night. First thing I noticed, which may or may not have anything at all to do with this, is my passenger side turn signal is not working. When you turn the signal on the arrow on the dash stays solid green (no blinking). Taillight signal illuminates bright solid (no blinking). Front signal light just stays as is, low illumination. So my guess is front bulb needs replacing. Again, may have nothing at all to do with the headlight issue I am about to explain but figured I mention just in case.

So what has now happened first is when I turn the parking lights on the headlights go up. I know there is a lot of back and forth about this being normal, but in the 10 years I have owned this car that never happened before. So turn on the headlights and they go. The next issue is when I turn the lights off. They both go down fine, but the drivers side makes a machine gun type of sound for about 3-5 seconds after it fully closes.

So the issue is the lights are popping up in parking light mode (which they never did before) and the noise the drivers side motor is making when it closes.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks so much for helping with a topic that has been exhausted before!

 

Can't give any advice on headlight motors because my 99T/A hasn't had any headlight issues other than replacing burned out headlight bulbs.

Lighting-faq had a lot of good links on various headlight issues for our cars. See post #1 for list etc. Hopefully that will be of use.

As for turn signals, my car has had a host of issues over the years. Try replacing the bulb. Mt car has had several sets of turn signal sockets over the years. Often water gets into the front turn signal housing due to the design, shorting the bulb and sometimes the bulb socket. Silicone can help seal but in my experience water always finds a way back in sooner or later.

 

The machine gun noise is probably a stripped gear.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/pontiac-f...s-go-here.html

 

The turn signal issue is not related to the headlights. If your hazards work properly, then you have a bad turn signal flasher. (The hazard lights and turn signals use different flashers.)

For sure.

You should resolve your broken headlight gear before chasing down the other behavior when you turn on the parking lights, they could be related.

 

I replace my passenger side turn signal bulb roughly every 6 months. It's been the only problem I've ever had with my '00 WS6 since I've had it. I could probably figure out a fix for it but then something serious will go wrong with it so I leave it and consider it cheap insurance.
The turn signals are the daytime running lights so as long as the key is on those bulbs are burning. It's surprising they don't burn out more often.

 

I have replaced the driver's side motor multiple times on the various Firebirds our family has owned, but never a passenger side. I have had good luck with the Cardone replacements, but i would wager yours has gone bad.

I agree on the flasher being the problem. I had to replace mine on my DD some years ago.

Also, as was pointed out, the turn signals are the daylight running lights and because they are always on, the sockets get toasted and go bad. I've had to replace those also on my DD Formula and other various cars.

 

Purchased new bulbs and the blinker issue is resolved... figured it was just the bulb. Sockets are looking quite toasty, so might replace them in the near future just as a preventative measure.

I'm going to purchase another headlight motor. I'll go with Cardone again (unless someone has a better suggestion?). This time I'll make sure its NEW and not a remanufactured one. We shall see.

I'll update when the motor is switched out.

Thanks and Merry Christmas everyone!

 

For posterity, when the time comes, you DO NOT need to cut any wires. The socket can be disassembled and then re-assembled with new parts and no cutting. https://ls1tech.com/forums/wiring-st...-required.html

 

Thank you for link!

My 99 T/A seems to eat turn signal sockets, so I'll need this soon!