Need4Camaro

iTrader: (1)

I've looked all over this motor and I cant find these "Tabs" everyone seems to be talking about...where are they? Any photos?

Also what do you mean by shim the gear?

chevyfreak68

On a 02 trans am the wires that go to the headlight motors the wires are green/white and gray and black. Any one know what one takes 12v to open and what one takes 12v to close.

kramsdell

Does anyone know if the guy that sells the brass gears at http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/ is still active and selling them still? I've searched around and most of the posts about that site are back in 07.

zman1969

iTrader: (91)

Kramsdell you can get them on ebay both nylon and brass, I bought nylon from Napa for around 15$ ea make sure you check the 4 tangs so the motor is tight with the housing -if not it will move around and strip the gear easy again. mine was loose! about a month or tow after replkacing the gear and tightening it up - I got the horrid noise again WTF? so i did quick fix- turned it 180 degrees and been fine till recently now its been sticking up or down - this is frustrating! next I will lube the pivot points and check the stops as others have mentioned on this thread- lots to read being 62 pages to thread so far so if you guys are having other issues read all of this thread!

Krazedkuniva

iTrader: (3)

For the record, I bought a gear off him just a month or two ago. So unless he's gone out of business since then, I would assume he's still selling them.

Blue2KTA

iTrader: (1)

From http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/index.htm

RedVertTA

iTrader: (9)

Started having headlight problems again, noticed one of the plastic bump stops that stops the arm from moving is missing. Does anyone have any idea where I could find one of those? The stealership wants $800 for and assembly just so I can get that one part, I'm not paying that.

Jvmun

iTrader: (1)

Mine started doing that too and has cos me a new motor. This will be the third time I try to fool with it.
I'm wondering if it's the lift arm as oppose to the motors

RedVertTA

iTrader: (9)

I've found a set of bump stops. Went to a local junk yard and pulled them out of a wreck. After some wrenching and adjustment the headlights work fine.

rambird

I just replaced the plastic gear in my drivers side headlight motor for the second time in two months. I was extremely pissed when I heard that irritating noise after successfully fixing it once! What I realized with the second rebuild is that the metal tabs that hold the motor housing to the plastic body were loose. I did not notice the posts on this when I replaced the gear the first time. My advice is to make sure that you re-crimp these tabs with channel locks or with a punch so that there is ZERO wobble. I also spread the epoxy that remained from glueing the gear housing back together to reinforce the tab area. I had absolutely no slop when this was reassembled. What happens is that if these tabs become loose, it opens the tolerance between the worm gear and the plastic ring gear so that the gears barely catch. Well, it doesn't take many ups and downs of the headlight to wear the edge of the plastic gear off and then you're right back to where you started, as I found out. My guess is that the plastic gear will last a long long time provided that I now have no more slop between the gears. By the way, I ordered the gear on line at NAPA auto parts for $15.

RogueLT1

iTrader: (2)

Ok, so there's 50+ pages of this stuff. So that I don't have to sift through all of them, can someone help me with the problem of my headlights going down then right back up? i understand the tab concept, but both of mine are gone due to an accident, so i have no idea where to fix it at. thanks guys!

RedVertTA

iTrader: (9)

^^^ If they are going up, back down and making a grinding noise every time you lock the car it means your gears are missing teeth.

If your headlight hooks over the hood when opened it means the metal cover is out of adjustment or one of the brackets that holds it in place is broken or you are missing the rearmost plastic bump stop.

If your headlight opens fine but does not close down all the way you are missing the front bump stop.

When I say bump stop I am talking about 2 little white/light cream colored plastic tabs which function to stop the arm that opens and closes the headlight. These seem simple and insignificant but this is far from the case. Without these the headlight motor/arm assembly won't stop moving when it should. This is very bad as the motor is strong enough to break parts of the headlight assembly if it does not stop when it should. I have personally had parts broken from this, do not take this lightly.

I'm sorry I don't have a pic to show this. Not now anyway.

RogueLT1

iTrader: (2)

Thanks red. I'll take a look and see if I cab tell what you're talking about next time I'm at the body shop. All I know is that whatever the stopping mechanism is, it isn't stopping the motor from making a full rotation each time the switch is turned. Anyone else with input or a picture would e greatly appreciated! I'm gonna work on sift through this thread as I get time. Thanks guys!

RedVertTA

iTrader: (9)

Wait a second, I should have asked this before. Is yours an LT1 car? If so the mechanism has some differences. In the LT1 generation flip up lights the stoppers are round and black, in the newer generation ones they are rectangular and white. I don't think the LT1 generation flip up stoppers are removable like the 4.5 gen ones but I could be wrong.

RogueLT1

iTrader: (2)

I'm sorry, I completely forgot to tell about the vehicle. It's a 94 TA LT1. I think I can recall having seen the black stoppers before, but I just can't picture where they are on the assembly. And I believe you're right, they're not supposed to be removeable. I think mine probably broke off when I had the accident.

94FormulaBandit

Ok i have a 94 formula. So when i turn my headlights on they both come up. But when i turn them off, they both go down, then suddenly the passenger side headlight will just pop back up, like a lazy eye? Any tips on fixing it?
Will be appreciated.

RedVertTA

iTrader: (9)

^^^ Check the bump stops

RogueLT1

iTrader: (2)

Yes, my bumps stops were gone. The bodyshop dabbed them up so that they work properly though, and they shouldn't have this issue again. The stops are plastic and wear out, so now there are metal stoppers in their place.

RogueLT1

iTrader: (2)

Fabbed*. my bad. Stupid autocorrect...

aman_darred

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading this forum for a while now, and just the other day found a solution to my very old HVAC issue. Now that that is fixed, I am moving on to my headlight issue.

I have a 1994 Canadian Firebird (not sure if it matters), and the headlights only pop up when you flick the switch a few times (on/off, on/off, on/off). On top of this you can only do this procedure when the handbrake is engaged. Once you let go of the handbrake, no matter what you do, you will never be able to get the lights to pop up.

If I forget to flick the switch a few times to get the headlights to pop, I have to turn the car off, engage the handbrake, flick the switch a few times, and then once the lights pop up, I can start my car and be off.

The lights themselves are lit when they are supposed to be, its just that they don't pop up

I have an HID kit, but I have the relay harness kit, and the capacitor, and this issue was occurring with the factory lights as well. I have swapped out the Headlight control module, and the switch on the inside, and I have cleaned all the contacts with electrical contact cleaner. None of these things fixed the problem.

Anyone have an idea what this could be? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!