I have newish (three years old) headlight motors in my 88 GT and the driver's side motor will over-tighten itself every time I turn my headlights off. This means that the next time I go to turn them on I have to open the hood and manually turn the motor so it's loose enough to open on it's own. How can I fix this? After three years of manually starting my headlight motor I'm really starting to get annoyed. Thanks in advance.

I second that! Mine does the same damn thing. Its works fine when i loosen it enough so it gets going... but it gets old.... Any ideas????/

When that was happening to mine, I took the motor/gearbox case apart and found that the white gear had a crack in it. I bought one of Rodney's to fix it. Might be your issue too. This was with the gen2 setup. (87-88)

Charlie

I bet the torque slugs are just bad.

so I agree with what cptsnoopy had so say.

I also have the same problem, On the 87 88 I think there is a small ball bearing at the bottom of the worm gear that keep the worm gear from over tightening

quote Originally posted by IIKool: I also have the same problem, On the 87 88 I think there is a small ball bearing at the bottom of the worm gear that keep the worm gear from over tightening

Yes... Oil it and all the "easy" bearings. (4 bearing in lower case. Don't worry about top most bearing under knob) See cave. Gen 2 headlight motor.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 03-27-2010).]

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll try the suggestions out. I'm finally ready to get this annoying little issue solved.

Make sure that you reply once you get the problem fix so someone else can profit from it.

It didn't work for me. I just installed Rodneys kit on the drivers side, I went back in and lightly oiled the shft, washers and worm gear. It just barely overtightens, whenever it reaches full up or down. So long as I loosen just a bit, it will work fine, until it rests again, either up or down. they worked fine before when it was cool outside, on a hot day they wouldnt work. When i got into the motor, the plastic gears were well worn, and powder everywhere. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

When I rebuilt my Gen-2 motor assemblies a couple years ago, I used Rodney's rebuild kit, re-greased the bearings, and checked the gears and motors for excess wear or damage. Everything looked good when when I re-assembled them.

But regardless, my headlight motors will sometimes over-tighten. It only happens if I turn on the parking lights, and then turn them off. Because turning off the lights (even the parking lights) signals the headlight motors to retract. And in my case, the motors will crank down a little bit more, which over-tightens them. I blame this on the headlight switch design. If the headlights and parking lights were on two separate switches, I would be fine.

quote Originally posted by wingless: It didn't work for me. I just installed Rodneys kit on the drivers side, I went back in and lightly oiled the shft, washers and worm gear. It just barely overtightens, whenever it reaches full up or down. So long as I loosen just a bit, it will work fine, until it rests again, either up or down. they worked fine before when it was cool outside, on a hot day they wouldnt work. When i got into the motor, the plastic gears were well worn, and powder everywhere. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

With white powder everywhere, your bumper/bushings inside the gear/drive shaft are shot. Worn or damaged gears will cause the same thing along with the little ball bearing being too "loose" - it allows too much movement in the shaft and creates a bind in the worm gear. Make sure that the ball bearing is in place. If it's gone, it will bind and stick.

Pat

Thanks for the advice! is there any other posts with pics? something that would visually help me. I would like to avoid buying new motors if possible, if not wheres the cheapest place to buy motors? thanks guys!

I noticed while working on my daughters lights that if the light didn't make it all the way up (say 3/4 of the way) then when it went down it would over tighten itself every time. As long as the light made it all the way up every time then it was fine. Still haven't figured out why it overloads before it makes it all the way up. Right now I have one of the passenger side torsion springs for the door removed and it works great. Haven't taken it out on the highway yet to see if the door pops up from air pressure yet though.

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Sad to say this is the best looking part of the car so far!

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/080998.html

Donnie

quote Originally posted by katatak: With white powder everywhere, your bumper/bushings inside the gear/drive shaft are shot. Worn or damaged gears will cause the same thing along with the little ball bearing being too "loose" - it allows too much movement in the shaft and creates a bind in the worm gear. Make sure that the ball bearing is in place. If it's gone, it will bind and stick. Pat

Thanks for the advice, where is the ball bearing located? any pics or diagrams? I really appreciate the help, and would really like to save the 220 bux for rebuilt ones at fiero store. thanks in advance!

Buff

Here's the adjustement screw and ball bearing:


It goes in the bottom of the housing:


The ball bearing sits in a "dish" in the end of the armature/wormgear shaft. You want the bearing making contact with the shaft and the adjuster screw - not snug. I just turn the adjuster screw till it makes contact with the shaft the back it of 1/8 to 1/4 turn and lock the jam nut down. You do not want very mush play n the armature shaft.

WOW! excellent, thanks alot for the pics! Ill try that tomorrow night! Much obliged!

Buff

+ to you

Glad to help! No need for pluses - give the plus to buddycraigg. Anything I know about Fiero headlight motors, I learned from him.

Pat

[This message has been edited by katatak (edited 06-20-2010).]

Too late! lol I appreciate you taking the time to post up and supply some pics! Thanks again!

Buff