Ahh...headlight issues.

**chris1974** · 02-15-2012, 09:37 AM

I have read many threads about them and the famously crappy nylon gearing. I was actually fully aware of the problems before I even bought my Firebird, which I bought knowing the headlights were "locked" in the up position. I figured, "gotta be the gearing....i'll just replace them after I get the car". So...last weekend, when the weather finally decided to cooperate, I took a look at the headlights. The drivers side appears to be okay. Motor/gearing and all. It's the passenger side that's completely screwed. First thing I noticed was the backside of the gear housing is completely gone. Gears are just sitting there, exposed. The manual raise/lower knob doesn't work. I can turn it just fine, but it does nothing in return. lol I guess that could be because of the faulty gear box. But anyways.. my question is this: If the passenger side is the only thing wrong, will it cause both headlights to not go up/down? Like I said...I think the driver's side is okay...but neither headlight moves. Just trying to figure out if I should just replace the passenger side, or bite the bullet and go ahead and replace both.

**damianj03** · 02-16-2012, 03:00 PM

they should be independent of each other. i have seen one up and one down before. i would buy the passenger side one first and see if it fixes it. have you checked the fuses? also check to ensure that everything is plugged in all of the way. connection could be loose or coroded or not even connected. i would try my best to trouble shoot it before dropping some monies.

**Knight** · 02-16-2012, 03:08 PM

It sounds like the motors may have been disconnected, so they would stay up all the time. I'd investigate that first. I'd also recommend doing both sets of gears if you can. It'll save you the headache of doing it later.

**0rion** · 02-16-2012, 04:13 PM

is the nylon gear still on the passenger side? It sounds like someone might've tried to fix it and the epoxy didn't hold causing that case to fall off. Finding that case might be the worst part of the whole thing. Junkyard is probably your best bet.

**chris1974** · 02-17-2012, 09:03 AM

Thanks for the replies.

Nope. Motors are connected...fuses are good. I can hear the motors when I lock/unlock the car. Also, they run for about 30 seconds after I start it. Pretty annoying.

I'm not really too sure how the passenger side is staying up. I assumed he just used the manual raise/lower knob like on the drivers side, until I went to lower the light and all I got was slippage. I would have dug further into it, but it started raining on me.

The passenger side is the one missing the gearbox cover, and from what I have found online, I will have to replace motor and all, right? They don't sell just the gear box?

**chris1974** · 02-17-2012, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by 0rion

is the nylon gear still on the passenger side? It sounds like someone might've tried to fix it and the epoxy didn't hold causing that case to fall off. Finding that case might be the worst part of the whole thing. Junkyard is probably your best bet.

Yeah...the nylon gear is still there! I was surprised!

**MrAFX** · 02-21-2012, 04:59 PM

go buy one at the autoparts store and put it in.

make sure you pay attention to how the linkage is positioned. Rotate manually raise lower knob to line up the shaft of the motor to the linkage. This is particullarly important to pay attention to, you should not need to force anything. Took me awhile to figure this out. and striped a repaired motor gear out in the process. LOL

**chris1974** · 02-22-2012, 06:03 AM

Yeah, I was thinking about jumpin on it this weekend. I'm probably just gonna go ahead and replace both motors and be done with it. Add the metal gears to both sides while I've got the motors out. At least that way I know I should be problem-free for a while. lol