Headlight wouldn't stop running. Probable stripped gear.

Ordered Rodney's headlight motor kit. Metal gear, new bumpers, and screws to reassemble.

Never done this before. It was actually pretty easy, taking about an hour from start to finish.

If I could provide any assistance, it helped having a Dremel tool to do the job. A 1/8 drill bit in the Dremel took the rivets out in no time, and a wirebrush attachment made it easy to clean the gunk out of the gears from the green sand and old lubricant.

A pretty dirty job, but easy with minimal tools. I just remember thinking "damn" when everything worked when I was done.

Thanks Mr. Dickman.

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quote Originally posted by deceler8: Headlight wouldn't stop running. Probable stripped gear. Ordered Rodney's headlight motor kit. Metal gear, new bumpers, and screws to reassemble. Never done this before. It was actually pretty easy, taking about an hour from start to finish. If I could provide any assistance, it helped having a Dremel tool to do the job. A 1/8 drill bit in the Dremel took the rivets out in no time, and a wirebrush attachment made it easy to clean the gunk out of the gears from the green sand and old lubricant. A pretty dirty job, but easy with minimal tools. I just remember thinking "damn" when everything worked when I was done. Thanks Mr. Dickman.

Was this on an 84-86? I used his kit on my 87 and it worked awesome... but from the 84-86 Fieros I've owned, I remember thinking a rebuild would be a huge pain...

It wasn't. I started about 7:30 last night wondering if I would run out of daylight, and I didn't.

Everything went according to plan. When does that happen....

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quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: Was this on an 84-86? I used his kit on my 87 and it worked awesome... but from the 84-86 Fieros I've owned, I remember thinking a rebuild would be a huge pain...

Looks like we're supposed to guess what exactly deceler8 was responding to.

quote Originally posted by deceler8: It wasn't.

It wasn't what? An 84-86... or a huge pain?

I would THINK he means it wasnt huge pain. If he ordered the new gear most probably it's a gen 1 I would assume.

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===Always trying to find time to work on cars===
Louis Duet
Baldwin, Long Island, NY
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"Blue" <= '85 Fiero GT
Stock V6---Stock everything. Trying to keeip it 'mostly' that way. But I just got the 3800sc to swap into it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Boo" <= '81 Delorean DMC-12
VIN #5835
"Don't hate ... Carburate!"
Stock PRV engine
Robertson Equipped
Neiland/Delman Engineered
Peugot 604 Intake manifold
Exhaust headers
Anti-3rd brake light

Sorry, it was an '86.

Actually, the metal gear is a much tighter fit on the shaft than the plastic original, so it takes a lot more force to get it on, but that was the only difficult part of the job. Other than cleaning up all the crap inside the motor from the ground up bumpers and old grease.

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I rebuilt my Gen 1 drivers side about a week ago and it was painless. I used a TFS kit and it went smoothly. I have found a solvent that loosens the old grease, Hops #5 gun solvent. Left the gear in overnight and it only required a light brushing with a brass brush to make it look like new.
It turned out not to be a stripped gear in mine but the metal eared part that rides against the rubber stops had popped out of it's staked area. I swapped out the old gear for the new one but the old one looks like new so I saved it for the next time I need one. My green rubber inserts were just beginning to break up so I didn't have any green sand issues to deal with, not bad for an almost 30 year old 179K Fiero headlight motor!