vmatt350

A friend of mine has an early fourth gen firebird. His headlight actuator needed to be replaced so he got the part and replaced it.
Now when he turns the lights on the side that was not replaced worked fine but the side he replaced stayed down but the light came on. When he turned the lights off the one that was replaced came up and the light turned off. It seems like its backwards or something but he installed it in every way and position he could think of.
What could the problem be? We are at a loss.
Thanks for any help.

cndctrdj

try and open the light up with the lights off. thier is a little **** you can twist to do this. then when its up turn the lights on and then off again it usually works for me to get them both down and then up again

vmatt350

Thanks I will try that.

cndctrdj

good luck

rncotton

Easy fix ... and no, moving the **** won't change anything. Your friend has one of the linkages turned the wrong way. It's very easy to make that mistake (made it several times myself)

Turn the headlights on and look at the hinged arm going from the motor to the headlight on the known good light (i.e. the one he didn't muck with)

Now turn the lights off so the other light will come up and look at the linkage. Ahhh .... now you see the difference. Pay close attention to the angle of the hinged part. It will be about 45* out of whack. Take it off, move the hinge to the correct position, and put it back on. (wow .. this is hard to explain, but easy to see if you look at it).


Make sure he used red loc-tite on the screws when he put it back together. Otherwise, those nuts are going to vibrate loose in about a month and let the motor slide out of position. When that happens, the stock nylon gear inside the motor won't last long at all.

vmatt350

Thanks for the help. I keep telling him that he needs to get on this board because of the huge knowledge base this board has. Thanks again for all your help I will let him know what he needs to do.

Thanks again,
Matt