nattybohsbros

Help!
So this started yesterday: When i put my headlights back down after using them they sound like they are grinding the gears. When i lock or unlock my car the headlamps come up half way, then go back down and start grinding, like they are trying to lower further into the car. I have an after market security system so maybe that has somethinbg to do with it. Im just worried becasue 1, its annoying, and 2 i assume it will make the motots/gears wear out faster.
any ideas?!
Thanks

Jaxem

iTrader: (3)

There's some light repair work in your future, read through at least the first post in here:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/pontiac-firebird-1967-2002/177470-firebird-headlights-all-comments-questions-regarding-headlights-go-here.html

slpwshea

I just received the rodney gear kit. I am not mechanically inclined and
don't want to do this but i can't find anyone willing to do it.
I am reading the insructions and on line 9 it says make a mark or take
note of which side the shaft exits. This is a little confusing to me.
maybe i'll understand once i dig into it. The rest of the instructions are crystall
clear to me.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

My headlight issue is the they will not go up, but bump them up slightly by hand then turn the switch on and bang they'll flip up and flip down when turned off. What in the world could this be?

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

This is happening to me, every once-in-a-while, also. I haven't tried to fix it yet for three reasons:

- it's intermittent and I have a work-around when they act up
- I figured someone would post the problem and solution here before it got to be a bigger issue for me
- When I bang on the hood to make the headlights work, I feel cool - kinda like The Fonz hitting the jukebox to get it going




I've been assuming it must be a bad loose ground or connection with the headlight module.

I also don't like fixing these things until they become easily repeatable and I can completely confirm the fix.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

Hey I didn't mean to mess anything up by posting in two places I was just hoping the question would get more traffic to be looked at in the other thread, so thas why I posted over there, wasn't trying to mess anything up. My situation is the lights never went up or down when I got the car. SO I took it to my buds shop to check it out since he worked on a lot of gm's from working at a gm dealership. My connectors were badly corroded and he felt like the module was bad cause he noticed some arcing at a point in the cars life at the module connector which I'm sure was from the connectors being so bad. He put a new module in and new connectors along with two more motors. They will go up and down but only if you by hand slightly pop the front of them up. This has very much baffled him cause he said they should work darnit. It's like the position of the arm might need to rotate slightly forward from where it's at now cause when the switch is turned on the back of the light wants to tilt up as if it is trying to close. It's crazy, just pop the light up slightly and they go up and down. I'll be investigating this further this weekend with the arm since I have the car back home now. He had a lot of other vehicles to work on and he wasnt sure when he could back to it so I said that's cool cause electrically their good now, just have to get them mechanically working correctly and maybe I can figure that out. I thought about calling hawks third Gen to see if they had encountered this issue before. Thanks for locking the other thread cause I don't wanna have something in a place it shouldn't be. Take it easy.

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

You raise an interesting point regarding a bind. Have you tried tapping the hood? In my case, I can open the hood and drop it, letting it slam. This enough to wake everything up.

The odd thing here - it's not just one light. The two act up in tandem. Is this your situation also?

Usually, an electrical connector, motor, or gear problem will only afflict one side at a time. Not both.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

Mine issue is both at the same time. This is with the hood open, we never closed the hood and tried to see what the lights would do. Maybe I should try your Fonz trick of which I liked cause I remember watching that show when I would come home from school lol. I'm gonna try and see if I can get the arm rotated forward slightly and maybe that will do the trick on mine. Electrically I feel like all is good on mine, just seems mechanical at this point. I'll Def post when I find the solution.

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

hmmm, im on the same boat. Just my drivers side tho. Sometimes i have to open the hood and twist the manual **** a quarter or half a turn to loosen it, then it goes up using the switch. Its only once in a while but embarrassing.


EDIT: i found a similar problem on page 43, so im going to be checking my connections for corrosion

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

If it's just one side, that is likely a gear or connector problem.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

When you have gotten yours to work, are you able to turn the **** on one of the motors and then they both open?

... This is the odd thing. There is no mechanical linkage between the two sides and they are not directly connected together, electrically.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

My update to this. My cousin and I was looking at them this weekend and only just a little, we didn't spend much time looking at them. He thinks the gear could be a culprit eventhough I have two new motors in there. So I'm gonna order the brass gear kit from hawks tomorrow and at least I can then say it shouldn't be a gear problem. One thing I noticed on the drivers side is the arm comes in slight contact with the metal frame at just about once lowered down so the slight contact could be what's causing a binding on the drivers side going up cause the arm has to go by that contact point before raising the light up. Now the pass side is a mystery cause the arm doesn't get near the metal frame. Boy if the fixed conversion lights didn't look so bad and cost so much I ****** these flips out. I'll update again with hopefully good news sometime this week.

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

I'm not going to hold out hope that metal gears will do anything but bring you more pain:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...ght-doors.html

If you still want to go with metal gears, at least go with the Dickman gears, which have the rubber inserts in them and should have better resistance to breaking.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

The set that hawks sells looks like Rodneys set cause the pic looks like the same pic on Rodneys page. Ordered yesterday. Update hopefully with good news next.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

Ok my update from studying the operation tonight. The brass gear kit I installed in the passenger headlight motor and I only worked on that side cause I wanted to get one side working then I'd know what to do to the other side. I still have the binding. I could turn the motor shaft where the light popped up slightly and it would raise up, but fully closed was no dice, it would try but that's all. I spun the motor again while watching closely. I feel like the issue for me is the long arm that attaches to the is the binding point. Where it attaches to the housing the little pin and and whatever is inside there is just slap worn out cause the arm sits not straight up and down which I feel is causing the binding. Seemed as I rotated the motor more the long arm would get straight and not cocked to the side and that's at the point where I could turn the lights on and it would pop up. I could explain it better prolly by phone lol. If somebody wants a better explanation then pm your number and I'll call ya and tell ya. I have found a place that sells a fix for this and it's the same company that makes the gear kits I purchased. Hopefully before long I can report back saying Shazam it's fixed lol.

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Make sure the bolts and nuts that hold in the motor are installed correctly. If not, the arm will bind on them.

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

Im pretty sure the bolts and nuts are in the right place to hold the motor in. Or at lest the bolts and nuts looked pretty simple to me as they go through and hold the motor in place as I didn't notice any other way they could be placed unless they were flipped around. I'm gonna go by the junkyard cause he claims he has lights that work. I wanna see what lights that actually work look like since I've struck out on getting mine to work correctly.

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

That's it. You have to guard your nuts. The nuts can not be facing the arms. There is only enough clearance for the bolt heads.

vikingramair

1 of the 3 screws holding motor in place is inserted from opposite side

Jamie R.

iTrader: (5)

Update! Alright last night I got to see headlights actually work on a Ta. I glanced at the motor and arm setup and immediately could see whats wrong with mine. The arm is between the inside of the stoppers and not on the outside. Now, I'm guessing somebody must have installed these motors with the arms on the inside position at some point in this cars life. I never knew any different cause that's how they were arranged when I got the car. Now I know!!!!! I should have working headlights shortly now that I see what needs to be done. Thanks for all the help and sorry I didn't know any better.

Jamie R.
2000 Trans Am