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Thread: Headlight Motor

  1. #1
    The Bandit Wesman's Avatar
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    SGM
    1998 Trans Am WS6

    Headlight Motor

    Well I went to turn my headlights on last night and the right (passenger) side headlight won't open. As far as I can tell it doesn't even make any noise. I had this problem a few months back, intermittently the right side wouldn't open, but after turning the switch a few times it would come up. Then it was fine for a couple months until now, when it quit working again.

    Whats the most common thing that goes wrong with these things to make them not operate?? Almost seems like a bad ground, since the motor isn't making noise, and if the motor was shot I'd think it would have quit the first time months ago when it wouldn't open.

    Any suggestions/tips are appreciated.
    1998 Trans Am WS6 SGM
    Lid, Pro 5.0, WS6 Short Stick, LS7 Clutch, TB Bypass, Detroit TrueTrac, Poly Mounts, Bilstein Shocks, LS6 Intake, SFCs, CTS-V Brake Upgrade, STB, Nitto 555's. SS Longtube Headers and True Duals w/ H pipe and Magnaflows. Tuned by Harris Speed Works. 341.4WHP/346.1 lb/ft.

  2. #2
    Member Baluchitherium's Avatar
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    It has a big wing!

    Well in my experience,smaller electrical motors (like window motors) tend to start showing symptoms rather than just quit all at once.Since you say it has acted up in the past,I would say that it's been on it's way out for a while and finally quit on you.

    If you were getting that loud ugly sound when turning off your lights,I would say that you just need a new gear orflip the existing one.But you say it will do nothing at all,so that points to the motor in my opinion.

    One thing to check before going through the expense of buying a new motor is the alignment of the headlight "covers" in relation to the body panels.My brother's TA had a very similar problem,with the same symptoms.It turned out to be that the cover for the headlight assembly was catching the very corner where the hood meets the fender.

    They tend to get out of alignment when people either mess with them,or people sit on them (I hate when people do that!!) and they force them out of aligment.

    Good luck man,just throwing some ideas out...BTW a GOLD WS6?I knew they made them for a short time,pretty rare and cool!

  3. #3
    The Bandit Wesman's Avatar
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    1998 Trans Am WS6

    Quote Originally Posted by Baluchitherium View Post
    Well in my experience,smaller electrical motors (like window motors) tend to start showing symptoms rather than just quit all at once.Since you say it has acted up in the past,I would say that it's been on it's way out for a while and finally quit on you.

    If you were getting that loud ugly sound when turning off your lights,I would say that you just need a new gear orflip the existing one.But you say it will do nothing at all,so that points to the motor in my opinion.

    One thing to check before going through the expense of buying a new motor is the alignment of the headlight "covers" in relation to the body panels.My brother's TA had a very similar problem,with the same symptoms.It turned out to be that the cover for the headlight assembly was catching the very corner where the hood meets the fender.

    They tend to get out of alignment when people either mess with them,or people sit on them (I hate when people do that!!) and they force them out of aligment.

    Good luck man,just throwing some ideas out...BTW a GOLD WS6?I knew they made them for a short time,pretty rare and cool!
    Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check it out this weekend and see what I can come up with.

    And yep, its Sport Gold Metallic. Color really comes out in the sun

  4. #4
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    This is a common problem with TAs Its a stripped nylon drive gear. There are aftermarket gears made from brass that solve the problem. However, a trick is to reverse the stripped gear/ turn it over to allow the "good" / remaining teeth to drive. This will extend the life of the gear somewhat.

  5. #5
    The Bandit Wesman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 30thbird View Post
    This is a common problem with TAs Its a stripped nylon drive gear. There are aftermarket gears made from brass that solve the problem. However, a trick is to reverse the stripped gear/ turn it over to allow the "good" / remaining teeth to drive. This will extend the life of the gear somewhat.
    I was reading about that issue on the T/A headlight thread over on the LS1Tech. However, as far as I could tell it didn't sound like the motor was operating at all. I'll check it out and see what I can find.

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