If you own an 1982-92 Pontiac Firebird chances are your car is winking at oncoming traffic or refuses to open its eyes at all. This is a common problem with just about any car that has pop-up headlights and the Firebirds are no exception. If your headlights do not go down or up but you can hear the motors spinning when you engage the switch then your motors qualify to be rebuilt. If you do not hear the motors spinning you may have a relay out, your headlight module is on the fritz, or possibly some other electrical issue. There have been many tech articles documenting the rebuild process of headlight motors so this will serve as a tips and tricks to hopefully make your life easier.

NOTE & DISCLAIMER

This information is designed for the 2-wire headlight motors used in ’87-92 Firebirds. If you have a 3-wire motor the process is much the same but may require some different parts. I am not an automotive repair expert nor do I claim to be. Use this information at your own risk as I will not responsible for any broken parts or injury.

PARTS

TOOLS

First, you will need to remove your headlight motors from the car. If you can move your headlights up go ahead and remove the headlight shroud, bulb retainer ring, and the bulb itself. This will make it easier gaining access to the 10mm nut holding the HL motor shaft to the HL door arm. If your headlight does not go up you will need to figure out a way to raise it up. Usually messing with the HL door arm will free up allowing you to do.

Once the 10mm nut is off the HL motor shaft you will need to unplug the motor from the car and remove the 3 10mm bolts holding the motor to the HL assembly. The top one is pretty easy to get to, the other 2 bolts are a little tougher. One trick is to take your small Vise Grip pliers, lock them on to the open end of the wrench allowing you a temporary extension. The bolts will not come out completely once loosened due their length, just watch out for them as you pull the motor out. Once it is out notice that the upper and lower bolts are black and the middle one is silver. The silver one is shorter than the other two.

Place the motor on the shop towel and examine it for any damage. Depending on which side you are repairing, the driver side or passenger side will determine how much of the motor will need to be taken apart. The driver side requires you to remove the electric motor assembly first before taking the gearbox apart. The passenger side only requires you to take the gear box apart. Please refer to the instructions that came with the rebuild kit for further information.

Once you have removed the 3 bolts holding the gear box cover on carefully remove it and set it aside. You will see some washer like shims, DO NOT lose these or get them out of sequence. Place them aside in the orientation that they were in the motor. They maybe stuck against the bronze bushing of the gear box cover or they may be on the shaft of the drive gear. Below is what you should see.

Below are the shims. You will find them on each side of the drive gear.

When you pull the drive gear apart this what you will find. Take some time to make sure you get all of the debris out of the drive gear and clean the teeth of the gear. Use compressed air or gently knocking the flat side of the gear against a table will loosen and remove the debris.

Once it is all cleaned out dab a little grease that was included with the kit and insert the Delrin bushings as shown.

Put the drive gear assembly back together and liberally grease the gear, the housing, and the worm gear shaft.

Now reassemble the motor in the reverse order making sure your shims are in their correct locations, install the new gasket, place the cover back on and tighten the 3 cover bolts to a snug fit.

Reinstall the motor on the car. MAKE SURE you insert the 3 bolts in to their correct bolt shafts on the motor before placing it in to position. Note again that the silver bolt goes in them middle. Once tightened down reinstall the HL door arm on the shaft and secure it with the 10mm nut. You may have to turn the motor by hand to line up the keys on the motor shaft with the HL door arm. Reconnect the electrical motor plug and reinstall your headlight bulb, retainer ring, and shroud. Flip your headlight switch to test and the result should be a quick moving headlight. That’s it!

With some patience and time you can save yourself $100 or more rebuilding your own headlight motors. The above information outlines the rebuild of the passenger side motor. If you are rebuilding the driver side motor you will be working with the motor, springs, and motor brushes. TDS recommends creating a brush retainer tool out of a paper clip or string. I used the paper clip method and it worked perfectly.