The passenger side flip up haedlight on my firebird stopped working today. When I turned the lights off it stayed up. I can operate it manually and the driver side light works fine. The black cyliner with the ****(which I assume is the motor) is lose on that side as well, the drivers side is tight? Help me find whats broke guys!

 

Its the relay and/or the motor, my friend had the same problem.

 

Where is the relay located and how do I go about checking it? If it was the relay, wouldnt both headlights not work? Also, the black plastic stop tabs are not broken incase anyone was thinking that was the problem. Thanks guys.

 

like on my bird, the passenger one doesnt work, i think it screws it down to tight... so all i have to do is get it started w/ a half a twist and the flip the lights and then it will work until it gets about 36 hours of rest then i need to get it started again...

but if i use it every night it works, if i have a day off it'll need to be started i dont get it tho

 

Ok guys. There is power to the electrical connectors on both motors. The passenger one still woulnt go up or down. Interestingly, the driver side headlight comes up when I turn on the parking lights now, it should only come up when turning on the headlights. This makes me think its a relay, either that or this is an effect of a motor being burned out, kinda like your turn signal flasher blinks faster when a light is out. I have no book on the car, so which relay and or fuses are related to the headlights. Thanks guys. I just want to rule out electrical possibilities before buying a new motor.

 

im having somewhat of the same problem...except that both of my lights are stuck up. this would lead me to believe that i need a new relay. anyone have any ideas?

 

Most common problem when ONE just quits working is corrosion in the connector. The motors rarely ever fail and the headlight control modules are also very reliable. If it just quits working all together then check the connector and make sure it is clean and tight!

If the motor seems to get stuck in the down or up position and won't move electrically until you use the manual ****, that is another common problem. An easy fix for this that works most of the time is to slide a piece of thick rubber tubing/hose over the stop/tab that stops the motion in either the up/down direction (depending on which you are having trouble with). What this does is stops the light just a little early to prevent from getting jammed in place. The rubber tubing/hose also helps provide for some dampening as well.

 

My passenger side one does not work all together and I checked and cleaned the connector. Now what?

 

not manually?

 

Try rotating the ring gear around.

 

How do I get to the ring gear? Sorry Newbie War, it does work manually. I was just frustrated.

 

If the the gear needs replacing or turning around, the symptoms are a grinding noise, headlight may or may not raise or lower properly, headlights will come up when lights are turned to the park position. If it does those things, then the headlight fix should be tried. Find Brent Franker's page, and look for the headlight fix. It involves rotating the ring gear in the headlight motor to it's good side.

 

There is absolutely no noise coming from the motor, I even had my dad put his hand on it and he cant feel any vibration even. Sound like the motor went bad? It just seams weird that it died in the full up position, hmm...

 

even if the motor died, it should still work manually? unless the cog is broken. and if both happend thats kinda odd

 

The manual **** should work, unless the gear is completely stripped. It won't hurt anything to try the "headlight fix" except about 20 minutes of time. Do a search for "headlight fix" and you'll find the links.