i used rodney's brass gear and rebuilt my headlights and they still don't work right so i need some advice on how to clean all the connectors and contacts, i tried a wire brush on the connectors but they still only work some of the times, i also looked at the switch that u turn the lights on w/ and it looks ok, could i use some sort or cleaner or degreaser to get the grease outta the connectors? i haven't looked to closely at the contacts inside the actual motor though, thanks a ton

o and the previous owner unplugged the lights and left em up for a while so theres a lot of crap on the connectors

I use break clean to get off the oil/grease crud. After that I use electric contact cleaner (Radio Shack or electronic store) which cuts any of the green and/or white crud. Dry it off with air, add dielectric grease and you should be good to go.

what are your lights doing, or not doing?

In many cases... simply taking the socket off and putting it back is enough cleaning even when the grease seems pretty bad. That socket grease is odd stuff.

If youn have dim lighting the first thing I'd check, after the lamps and sockets, are the ground anchors for the lamps up front and the various grounds in the engine bay. Next would be the large terminal under C500 in most Fiero models. Any of those bad will cause dim lighting. (Headlights are one of the major draws in most cars.)

To make cleaning a bit easier....

the terminals can be removed. Do this one at a time!

There is a notch on one side of each terminal hole. (viewed from lamp side.) use a small screw driver or stiff wire to gently depress the tang in that notch into the terminal. Pull the terminal out the back of the socket.

Dielectric grease will do in a pinch but lamp socket grease is prefered. You can get small amounts of socket grease at some parts stores and oddly at Walmart. (It is with the automotive lamps at walmart and some parts stores.) The socket grease is thicker and is made to take the heat better than dielectric. (Does anyone know of a source for a larger size, like a couple ounce, tube of lamp grease?)

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the right one doesn't do anything at the moment and the left one will go down when turned ON and up when turned OFF but only sometimes.... not all the time, so i think i pry flipped the magnet but i don't know how i woulda done that, when ppl say to flip the magnet 180* do they mean to turn it 180 around the lil deal that turns or take it off that and turn it around?

i put some of that electric cotact cleaner on tonight i'm gonna let it sit till mornin, thanks for your help

No need to take it off, just "turn it 180 around the lil deal that turns". Also, when putting the case halves back together pay close attention to the rubber bushing on the shaft by the knob, if you don't get that right, you'll have trouble with it being able to operate the limit switches. (I'm assuming these are gen 1 motors.)

f-stop

sorry. misread above... thought you wanted lamp sockets.

same info applies to most blade sockets/plugs in the car. If you are working on weather pack connectors you need a special tool to release the terminals w/o damaging the hardware. Also, all you need is a dab of dielectric in a weather pack to make them waterproof. They are pretty well sealed to start with but some areas of Fiero are so wet I still use a tiny bit of the dielectric.

ok so i used electric cleaner stuff on all the connections and they still to the same thing, sometimes i have the help the motor start by turnin the knob a lil and then it'll go, but i took the motor out and looked in where the relay deal is and there are two silver metal male connector type things that come off of the shaft that spins, are they supposed to touch the two metal strips cause they don't on mine, i would post pics but my digi-cam isn't workin yet, thanks again

go here for pics and more info.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/045256.html

the metal tabs only touch the blades when the headlight is all the way up or all the way down.

if the contacts at the end of the limit switch are dirty or burnt it can cause intermettent up/down problems.

[This message has been edited by buddycraigg (edited 03-06-2004).]