Hey all, this is my first post. I am from Australia and recently got my first car; the fiero! As a youngin' naturally the first thing i did minus a few small touchups is put in a new stereo which went off without a hitch. That is until I take my baby out for dinner and when I get in my car to go home (the first time i driven at night since putting in the new deck) and put on the headlights i notice that they wouldn't pop open. So naturally i do a bit of investigating, both headlights turn on no problem but they would not pop up. So I am assuming there is a problem with the wiring regarding the isolation relay. Problem is that I don't know where the isolation relay is. I assume when i was wiring up the new pioneer deck i must have pulled a wire or something. Could someone please shed some light on the matter (no pun intended). Thanks!

Hi, Welcome to the Forum, if your talking about the main relay for both, and its a 84-87, if you look on the left side of the drivers-side headlamp assembly, you will see a little black relay there mounted on the fender well--it kind of hides it-self, you can get at it, if you manually move up the head lamps. On 88`s its around that area --but underneath the driver side wheel well--I think you have to take the well insert out or at least dig around in there, its a whole different set-up. Also there are relays attached right on the headlamp buckets themselves. The only other ones up there are right in front of the drivers side headlamp--but (I think ?) these are for fan relay . Hope this helps some.....

More likely the headlight motor is shot. On 87 or 88 Fieros the bearings inside the motor have disintegrated. Check out www.rodneydickman.com for inexpensive rebuild kits. He has them for the 84-86 Fieros also, but I have only 87 or 88 Fieros and experience at rebuilding them. It may be a half hour job with 87 - 88 motor assemblies.

quote Originally posted by 3800superfast: Hi, Welcome to the Forum, if your talking about the main relay for both, and its a 84-87, if you look on the left side of the drivers-side headlamp assembly, you will see a little black relay there mounted on the fender well--it kind of hides it-self, you can get at it, if you manually move up the head lamps. On 88`s its around that area --but underneath the driver side wheel well--I think you have to take the well insert out or at least dig around in there, its a whole different set-up. Also there are relays attached right on the headlamp buckets themselves. The only other ones up there are right in front of the drivers side headlamp--but (I think ?) these are for fan relay . Hope this helps some.....

Let me correct this one as it is almost correct.
84 thru 86 all use the same system and the isolation is located on the left front headlight well beside the lamp. (some are located on the HL assembly by the other relay)
87 and 88 use a different system and the total relay block is located under the front fender forward of the wheel well.
Since the problem is related to both lights check your isolation relay as sugggested.
Stereo wiring has no effect on the head lights operation as I recall, did they work before?

quote Originally posted by Indiana_resto_guy: did they work before?

that was my first question.
did they work before you put the radio in?

if you simply spliced in to the wires behind the radio it shouldn't have anything to do with the lights going up and down.
even if you blew the fuse for the dash lights the outside lights should work and the headlight relay should work.

i've seen headlight switches act funny, try pushing your headlight switch slowly
or keep gently pushing on the headlight switch all the way in.
(turn your radio off so you can hear if you've holding it in the "sweet spot"

some times turning the parking lights on then push in the headlight switch works.

if you ran wires down to the fuse box or you've never seen your head lights go up then we'll start some place else

First off thanks for all your replies they are very helpful. My car is a 85 SE model. To clarify the headlights use to popup before i put the stereo in. I thought maybe that all the wires ran through that centre console area and I might have pulled it. I am going to have a look this afternoon and hopefully I'll be able to source it. I'm no electrician but I don't think the wiring from the switch to the isolation relay is broken as the headlights turn on they just don't pop up. Maybe it was just co-incidence that they died when I put in the stereo.

[This message has been edited by AvAtAr (edited 12-11-2005).]