I'm new to the forum and have found it to be alot of help so far. I own a 87' Buick Skyhawk with 60,000 miles and overall she's a great ride. I've searched the forums and found alot of my answers but can't find all of them.
The skyhawks have the flip up headlight covers on them. Well my motors will flip them down and not up. I know on Pontiac Firebirds the problem lies in a plastic gear that is easily stripped out and you can rotate the gear to where the good side is used so it works until it eventualy gets stripped out as well.
Do the skyhawks motors work the same way? or is there some other fix i can do to get them to work? It looks so much better with them up and to have them working properly definately would be a plus. Let me know if any of you have some solutions other than buying the $200 worth of new motors that I've seen
Thanks Alot
I'm a former Fiero owner, so I know the situation well. Best piece of advice: Bite the bullet and get the reman motors with a lifetime warranty. The problem can be the gears, but you're also dealing with an electrical device that is over 20 years old. I originally had the motors rebuilt on my Fiero when I bought it, and ended up cashing that warranty in 3 times within 2.5 years. Well worth it to me not to have to screw with anything, just pull the motor and dump it off at NAPA, wait 2 days and pick up the new one.
1989 Z24 Convertible - Dust Covered
2006 tC - Dust Covered, but driven more
I must say..you found a rare car and with on 60K on the clock..I would love to find something like that.
I would try a ‘cheater’ cable first. At the front of the car (near the header panel), you will see al plastic cover with three or four 7mm screws you can remove. Once this decorative cover has been removed, you will see two sets of connector to the headlight assembly, a four pin connector the lights and a two pin connector to the motor. With the help of a friend, take some simple speaker wire and strip about an eighth of an inch of insulation off each end. Place each conductor into the socket of the connector to the motor and at the other end of the wire, place a conductor to the positive and the other conductor to negative pole of the battery. Be careful not to short the conductors together as the small wire is not match to the current of a car battery (I don’t mean to tell you something you already know). By switching the connection of the conductors at the battery, you can make the headlight motor change direction. If the headlamp doors operate correctly, the problem is with the control module which should be on the Lt strut mount.
Jason.... you really have a very large pair to post on this thread.
I shot a whole darned roll of film of my car with the request of you returning them if not interested.
Several emails later, no pics back.... guess you're showing all your buds the car you're gonna get, cause you sure as heck must not have anything else to show them.
Alan says...
Far as doing the "cheater" method I don't believe it is the module. The motor runs when it's supposed to: Flipping the covers down with lights come on, and it tries to flip them up when the lights are turned off. Which it moves the cover alittle when they try to cover back up but seems the motor doesnt have enough power to bring them back up.....possbile gear strippage but more like a power issue. Also found what appears to be some sort of adjusting nut on the bottom of the motor, either that or how you dismantle the assembly. Any ideas on that?
Hi...
Check in with yer dealership and let them get you new parts! I went thru this a few months back..... Let them find the plastic gears that wear out/ strip teeth, etc....that make the eyelids open/close at seemingly random..... Forget junkyard parts, as they are used, and will bomb out within the year.....
Take care,
Moe Whittemore
