Decided to take my Fiero 2.8 SE to the coast for the first run of the year a couple of weeks back (short reel of it on my instagram @retrokid1983). The car ran perfectly for the 6 hour round trip until I popped it back in the garage. The passenger headlamp goes down but doesn't stop unless the battery is disconnected (or the blue wire). Being in the UK I'm without spares over here. What do I need to sort it? Thanks everyone.
Continuously running down implies the internal limit switch is not functioning, I would remove the headlight bucket, unbolt the motor and take a look inside the 3 bolt inspection panel to see if the limit switch and brush holders need to be cleaned
yes, open it up and clean the limit switches, test them for functionality, you may need to replace the rubber bumpers inside the gear assembly, or the brushes on the motor itself, but first off take it apart and clean everything, worst case scenario, unplug the blue wire, and leave the headlights up, a surprising amount of people do that, until they can get replacement parts, and thats why that wire has an inline connector. it wont damage anything to leave it up, and will potentially save the motor and battery and wires from being left on while down.
Looks like you're joining the winking fiero gang LOL
Mine's currently winking until I can swap my motors to gen 2. That's an expensive-ish but worthwhile endeavor since you can actually buy new motors unlike the gen 1. You can get rebuild kits for gen 1 motors from the fierostore for fairly cheap though.
No! It isn't the limit switches. It's the plastic gear that has stripped. The gear has to be good to make the limit switch disconnect. Order Rodney Dickman's headlight repair kit.
Correct it is the gear(s) or worse causing motor spin.
Don't bother to fix gen1 motors. Even If you "rebuild" them w/ "best" parts often only temporally & a money pit.
------------------ 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)
Don't bother to fix gen1 motors. Even If you "rebuild" them w/ "best" parts often only temporally & a money pit.
It's true that gen 1 system can be hard to fix and the green 2 is better, but all available parts for it from the Fiero store, gears, bumpers, relays, add up to well less then $200, if the limit switches are good, and the motor assembly itself is good, then that is much cheaper to do a full rebuild then buying $180 with of motor, and $600 with of controller, then figure out the wiring, or start with junkyard motors and controller that may also not work, which is the whole reason to go to the green 1 system, to get new parts. Personally if the electrical side of the gen 1 motors are ok. Which these apparently are, you could rebuild the gen 1 motor to new spec, and spend a fraction of the cost.
Something I think I would like to see someone make, is a headlight switch with a built in timer, when you press off, it applies the voltage to the down wire for, say 10 seconds, then cuts off all power, then when you go up, same thing 10 seconds on, before cutting the power, even if you had twitchy headlights, you could run them for years like that, wouldn't drain your battery much.
It's true that gen 1 system can be hard to fix and the green 2 is better, but all available parts for it from the Fiero store, gears, bumpers, relays, add up to well less then $200, if the limit switches are good, and the motor assembly itself is good, then that is much cheaper to do a full rebuild then buying $180 with of motor, and $600 with of controller, then figure out the wiring, or start with junkyard motors and controller that may also not work, which is the whole reason to go to the green 1 system, to get new parts. Personally if the electrical side of the gen 1 motors are ok. Which these apparently are, you could rebuild the gen 1 motor to new spec, and spend a fraction of the cost.
Something I think I would like to see someone make, is a headlight switch with a built in timer, when you press off, it applies the voltage to the down wire for, say 10 seconds, then cuts off all power, then when you go up, same thing 10 seconds on, before cutting the power, even if you had twitchy headlights, you could run them for years like that, wouldn't drain your battery much.
Yeah, I tried the timer idea for my capstone project. The issue is that different motors in different stages of wear, take different amounts of time to traverse. As they wear down they move slower, and spend more time at full locked stalled. This wears even them even more and get the wires nice and hot after a few movements of the light. Unsafe, even by my standards.
Originally posted by 1985 Fiero GT: It's true that gen 1 system can be hard to fix and the green gen 2 is better, (<-- fix auto spell), but all available parts for it from the Fiero store, gears, bumpers, relays, add up to well less then $200, if the limit switches are good, and the motor assembly itself is good, then that is much cheaper to do a full rebuild then buying $180 with of motor, and $600 with of controller, then figure out the wiring, or start with junkyard motors and controller that may also not work, which is the whole reason to go to the green 1 system, to get new parts. Personally if the electrical side of the gen 1 motors are ok. Which these apparently are, you could rebuild the gen 1 motor to new spec, and spend a fraction of the cost.
Something I think I would like to see someone make, is a headlight switch with a built in timer, when you press off, it applies the voltage to the down wire for, say 10 seconds, then cuts off all power, then when you go up, same thing 10 seconds on, before cutting the power, even if you had twitchy headlights, you could run them for years like that, wouldn't drain your battery much.
"On Paper" the Gen1 are "Cheap" to rebuild... But in reality does Not work long for most then a bit later often they sold/trade-in or junk the car before had to deal w/ HL problems again.
As to Timer, Very good way to start a Fire. While GM Gen2 has a 5 sec timer is only as a backup and even that can cause big problems. IOW if Gen2 timer runs expect model &/or motor(s) are dead. Normal Power Draw is ~ 4a but anything force a Stall then Motors can draw way more then the breaker in the motor. Tripping a Thermal Breaker takes way more time and why not only the battery dries but motor often have major damage if not Totally dies too when have "twitchy" problems. Any type Breakers HATES tripping to start but Thermal auto reset often burns when have that problem but most people have no clue and try to "rebuild" them anyway because of post here etc saying it's easy & safe. Is often same fools saying can use a Breaker as a Switch to run lights & more in a shop then wonders why breaker fries or even the Load Center dies along w/ the breaker.
Got the Fiero over to my workshop at my home to investigate. Cleaned up all the electrical contacts, then to the motor. The bar that lifts the switch for the raised position moves as shown here.
Again... Motor keeps spinning then gears or other parts are "dead" letting the motor run.
The "bar" only moves when @ end of travel or the lift is jammed so the gears are stalled & motor "climbs" up/down 1 of them & motor shaft force the "bar" to hit a switch.
Finding "good" used Gen1 often soon have same problem Or already did & was "Fix"/"rebuild" by anyone.
Ignore the above saying can "rebuild cheap" because for a start need to buy whatever from US vendor(s) then add Shipping & VAT & maybe other Taxes/Fees to import parts to UK. And if the vendor does not fill out shipping forms right, you may take days to months more waiting or never get product as your dealing w/ US & UK Customs that either or both may delay or block the package. For US readers VAT is Value Added Tax & added like US Sales Tax but often isn't same depending on product & can be even Higher then NYC Sales Tax 1 of the highest. I have to deal w/ same problems for international shipping between offices in same company plus shipping, broker fees, taxes & other fees can be high to much higher the actual cost of the part.
If you "rebuild" Gen1 motors often does not last long then trying to fix again adding more time & money eaten & maybe find other thing(s) that make them fail in the first place.
Example: Doors & Lift have bearings of different types & most should Never get Oil/Grease because Plastic parts Hate most lubes including most "plastic safe" lubes because most draw every kind of dirt that in turn "eat" the plastic bearings then dead bearing for that & other reasons puts bigger loads on the motors.
One "Bearing Set" on the doors & lifts... Red are main "bearings." Blue is a "backup" only maybe connect when full open. If those parts are damage/gone for any reason then whole lift assem &/or doors will have problems not just the motors. The Door Strips is likely Polypropylene & can be fix/make locally. If the lift's bumps have crap stuck into them then you must remove that & with as little damage doing so.
Some lube plastic w/ Dry or Wet Teflon because believe "Teflon is Inert" etc but many of them hate Plastic because have chemicals besides the PTFE that the problem. Many of these will say on the label Do Not use it on plastic but many have nothing or say that is safe for plastic.
Fortunately my Wife works for a company that have an office in Maryland. Whilst this may take longer waiting for someone to travel back, it would avoid VAT.
Correct, that's the part that's not working. I haven't split the motor open yet without having the repair kit. Need to see what's causing that bar not to move.
If the bar isn't moving, likely the main gear inside is stripped where the motor stops in the down position so the motor can't rise to open the breaker. The metal gears with bump stops can be obtained from Rodney Dickman. Order them quickly as he's closing his business.
Correct, that's the part that's not working. I haven't split the motor open yet without having the repair kit. Need to see what's causing that bar not to move.
You have to spin the knob 122 times for the head light bucket to move all the way to the open/closed position. Once it is bound up, then the armature will force itself the other direction.
