flip up headlamps
 

My wifes 2000 firebird started having problems with headlamps a couple months ago. First her low beam headlamps would burn out only after a couple of mounths of being replaced. Now, hear headlamps flip up and down after locking and unlocking the car with the key fob. After they close the motors continue grinding away. Any ideas.:confused13:

That's a common problem, the plastic gears are worn. The motor is fine but the gears are plastic and integrated into the housing. You can disconnect the armature and spin the gear inside 180* and reattach. This will use a different part of the gear/teeth in better shape. You can also buy metal gears available somewhere, search cz28.com or ls1tech.com or other. Or you can replace the whole assembly. Hope that helps.

PMDJIM If you haven't already replaced the window motors, they will go next. Just another common problem with along with the cracked door panels.

already have cracked interior door trim. Already repaired outer skins that were coming off the door shells. Now these headlamp motors. Going to try what quicksilver said.
I don't understand why they pop up when using the remote. Never did that before.

When I was at the dealership we had wiring issues under the headlights that was common.They collect water and corrode splices and connectors.It would cause all sorts of screwed up things.
Craig

Could an aftermarket alarm install be making the headlights pop up if the installer used the wrong wire? My 2 cents..Good luck.

Mine did that when the gear was bad. It has to do with the alarm flashing the parking lights, yeah I know, they shouldn't flip the headlamps but it has something to do with the lamp motor sensing (a lack of) resistance against the (worn) gears. PITA, but just fix the gears and the problem will go away.

question .. how do you flip the gears over ??? i looked at mine couldnt figure it out

You got to take the motor out of the car. Take of the one side of the motor, flip the gear and put it all back on. I just bough the metal gears from a guy on the LS1.com site, I suggest you do the same as that side of the gear will eventually strip out too.

no aftermarket alarms on the car. Just have to find time to remove motors. I still don't understand why the low beam lamps keep burning out.

IIRC I was able to remove that nut and spin the shaft 180* without removing the motor from the car, but mine is a '97 so yours may be different. On the lamp burning out :noidea: no idea, I would check the voltage.

That low beam deal sounds like a dirty connection at the light plug.

or a bad ground

I can't get my wife out of the car long enough to check the lights. The change oil light is on also. All I know is I bought a pair of low beam headlamps from Carquest and when I was installing them they seemed loose. Like the socket was going to fall right off the prongs on the back of the lamp. Not even 3 months later both are burned out again.
sounds like I'm going to have to pull an all-dayer on her car. The list keeps getting longer. 159,000 miles and counting. Gotta love those 3.8 motors.

The headlight attempting to rise when the alarm is activated is the gear going bad. Been there, bought the gear. Actually I just reversed the gear, but planned to buy a new one.

PMDJIM, go to www.LS1tech.com you'll get more replies over there on this problem.

Actually, this guy's website is much better than LS1tech for this isue:

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/

I purchased one of his metal gears for my PS light. Solved the grinding, but then the headlight developed a new problem, non gear-related. It goes up once, then won't come down unless you release some of the tension on it. What a trip.

Anyway, he explains most of the common headlight problems, responds quickly to e-mail, and has detailed step-by-step of how to swap in a metal gear OR how to do the free fix of flipping the gear. I did that method on my DS light after it started acting up, and it did work just fine.

Thanks for the link. Can you guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

Thanks for the link. Brent's fix-it and installation page was actually the first thing I ever found when I started surfing right after I bought my 4th gen years ago. Memories. :p

Well, I finally got a chance to work on the firebird yesterday.:rolleyes: Stared by putting car on jackstands to change the oil. The last oil change was a local shop when the car was inspected. Try to back out the drain plug. Nothing. Garage must have run it in with an impact.:censored: I had to use my breaker bar to back it out. I almost took the car off the stands to take the car back to the garage to have them loosen it for me. But thought better of that. Anyway. Worked on the headlamp problem while oil was draining. I used the cheap method of turning the actuators 180 degrees. Worked like a charm. Checked all gounds. Cleaned the grounds I could get to in the engine compartment. Installed new low beams. I guess I have to wait and see when or if these blow out.

:clap3: Glad you got it fixed.