99 Firebird headlight won't come up?

45

Asked by Dre_tech27 Apr 17, 2015 at 02:45 AM about the 1999 Pontiac Firebird Base

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I replaced my headlight motor gear
on the drivers side (plastic gear) and
when I reinstalled everything it was
working fine after my first test of
flipping them up and down. But I was
curious to know if they would work
continuously so I tried about 4 more
times up and down successfully but
then on the fifth try the driver's side
headlight was restricted on it's
rotation. The light still comes on it's
stuck. There are two t-30 torx bolts
that hold the headlight assembly on
this rotation. Could it be that I
tightened these too tight? Or does it
have something to do with the lever
arm? Please help!

10 Answers

3,475

I don't really have a lot of experience in this, my guess is that where the arm attaches to the bracket to hold the assembly of the light maybe that's loose and needs tightened or it could be that your motor is going bad? There's a whole complete kit sold online with the gear and the motor assembly everything together in one kit so it might have been better that you replaced everything all at once? Did you use a brass metal gear or plastic gear cuz they sell kitts that have a metal gear instead of the cheaper plastic gear. The metal gear works better it makes a stronger contact point, let me know I hope that helps?

2 people found this helpful.
26,865

Run the headlight up and down with the hand actuator next to the housing under the hood. The light assembly should move freely up and down. If it binds, look at the assembly hardware and make sure it is all tight. Also a shot of wd-40 or other light macine oil on the mechanism is good to try. As you are doing this, have someone turn the lights on and observe both the binding light and the other one that is operating correctly. It may also tell you what is wrong. If you can't find any cause for the binding, pull it and examine the new gear. Make sure it is clean with no debris in the teeth and it is not broken in any place.

45

Thanks for your help. I actually found the binding to be one of the three headlight motor bolts placed on the wrong side (there is a black bolt and a silver nut) The lever arm kept coming in contact with the nut which was causing the arm not to extend it's full travel. So I switch the place of these two and its working fine now.

2 people found this helpful.
3,475

Good to hear looks like I was right in the first part of my original answer to you!

1 people found this helpful.
45

You were on the right page, it did have to do with the arm .. And nice firebird it looks just like mine .. But with chrome wheels

2 people found this helpful.
3,475

Thanks I do love my bird and it looks good! if you don't mind can you mark my answer the best Thanks

3,475

Yeah actually your question should have been outside in an open Forum not inside of the of the answer boxes to this other guys question but anyway no problem I'll try to answer your question if you have no power to the headlight Motors you might want to check the fuses first and then you can manually open the headlights with a little black knob that's on them when they are closed you can see a little black knob on the outside of the headlights themselves and that'll manually open them. First thing I would do is check your fuses if that isn't it check to make sure they're plugged in okay no wires broken or anything and the connector harnesses are connected start from there and get back to us.

1 people found this helpful.

Where The Fuse Located in headlights will not close they opened all the sudden they will not close and that made him the noise at all

30

I replace the headlight motor on the Passenger-side it comes up and turns on but will not go down unless I do it manually now my driver side headlight sometimes does not come up I know I need to replace the motor because it grinds but when I go to turn the park lights on like for my dash tail lights both headlights come up and I didn’t even turn it to the headlight part any idea what I’m talking about or any advice

3 people found this helpful.

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