OK. This past weekend I adjusted the headlights a little, because the pass. side was raised a little too much. Today is the first day Ive driven it since doing this and the lights came up fine, however when I turned them off the pass. side made a god awful grinding noise for like 5 seconds then stopped. Now when I turn on just the fog lights the headlights both come up and still make that ***kin noise when going down. Is this the actuator? Easy tips to fix are welcome.

 

The typical head light actuator problem. You can either replace the actuator, turn the headlight gear 180 degrees (if not already done), or replace the gear with brass gears. After repair the lights will work normally again and not pop-up with just the parking/ fog lights on.

 

The gear is stripped out in the motor. Will happen to everyone after a while. What you need are to replace just the gears with Brass Headlight Gears . Then you will nevger have the problem again. The factory uses nylon/plastic gears so they strip out fairly easily.

 

Thanks! I this happened to my old 96 firebird right after I bout it and they replaced the whole motor, so Im glad I found the link to just turn the gear 180 deg, so I can save so ca$h$$$. Thanks guys.

 

And you can turn the gear without having to remove/disassemble the actuator casing. Just unbolt the lift-lever from the axle of the actuator, rotate the actuator axle 180 degrees using the manual crank for the headlight, and then bolt the lift-arm back on. Works great! I've done this on both of my headlights and it took like 5 minutes of work. Of course, Brass is the way to go, but I figured I'd wait until the other side of the gear wears out too.

 

Thanks for the tip! and I agree, im not going too spend money on something unless I have to, I love cheap fixes.