Headlight Actuator Question 98 T/A

[ajhale]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum. I am in the Austin,TX area.

I'm in the middle of a headlamp actuator installation on my 98 Trans Am. My initial problem seemed to be the common stripped gear problem where anytime I would raise or lower the headlight- the driver's side would grind for an additional 5-10 seconds (but it would still raise and lower).

After changing the part out with a brand new acutator I bought from GMPartsDirect.com the operation was backwards! Turn the lights on - passenger headlamp goes up, driver headlamp goes down - I could repeat it as many times as I wanted. Then I disconnected the arm and tried turning the gear thinking it was positioned in the opposite direction and reconnected it. Now the only movement I get is that the light will go down the first time I turn the light switch on (as the pass light goes up), but then when turning the lights back off the housing only raises about 1/2 inch. So it won't raise, but I don't hear the grinding sound, which I thought always came along with a messed up bushing.

Anyone know how to explain this strange behavior? I was thinking the wires to the actuator motor might have been installed backwards. I don't know why the thing won't raise now though, unless I stripped the bushing/gear when manually raising and lowering it, but I wasn't that rough with it.

PS- I'd be interested if anyone had links to good actuator repair how-to Web sites.

Thanks!

[ajhale]

I got it straightened out!

I had connected the pivot rod to the actuator improperly. This rod swings from one stop to the other during normal operation. I had reconnected it with the joint (like an elbow-joint) pointing in the wrong direction. This was causing it to bind and to go in the opposite direction.

Thanks for looking and thinking about the problem.

[bigmac776]

I have the problem of when my passenger side headlamp goes down, I get the grinding noise. Are the actuators repairable or do I need to replace it with a new one? I saw a post earlier that mentioned replacing a gear with a brass one.