I'm looking for some advice on how to address a recent problem I've been having with my '97 T/A. There are three issues with the headlights which I'm pretty sure are all related. First, I used to be able to have the fog lights on with the headlamps still in the down position by clicking the headlamp switch once to the right and turning on the fog light switch. The result would be this:


Now, when the headlamp switch is clicked once to the right the headlamps rise to the up position with the lights still off and the car looks like this :


Second, when the headlamps are turned off or returned to the down/closed position the drivers side motor hangs up and spins/grinds for about ten seconds then shuts off.

Third, whenever the car is locked or unlocked via either the remote or the lock switch on either door, the headlamps rise and immediately close again, followed by the grinding coming from the drivers side. The car never used to do this when locked or unlocked.

I'm figuring that I'll need a new headlamp motor for the drivers side or possibly just a gear. After some searching I've read a few posts about the metal gear replacement and was wondering if that was worth it vs. a whole new motor. The first problem bothers me the most being that I can't have the fog lights on anymore without the headlamps being up. Any advice on a fix for these problems is appreciated.

 

You can sometimes fix the problem simply by rotating the original plastic gears 180-degrees. Don't even have to take anything apart but the linkage from the motor to the headlight bucket. Brent Franker covers all this on his site:

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/

You have to scroll way down past the metal gear info to find the "free" fix. It worked for me.

 

Thanks for your input. I came across that site a while back but couldn't seem to find it. I'm definitely going to try the "free fix." Also, seems I wasn't too far off when assuming all problems were related in some fashion,

 

those 3 issues are all definately related. like it was said, unbolt the shaft from the grinding headlight motor and manually turn the **** so the little key on the motor is 180 degrees reversed and put the shaft back on. if it fixes the problem great. if it grinds when it goes up, your gear needs replaced. either way that should stop them from popping up when the alarm is armed/disarmed and when the fog lights come on. plus if you start your car before turning on the headlights you won't hear the grind, lol. Mine was doing this when i bought my car 6 years ago and i had to replace the gear. then the other side went and i was able to reverse it.