Have rebuilt both sides, they open and close together. When i turn on the lights they immediately flip open and light up[. Here's the deal, when i turn them off, they turn out but stay open, they may stay open 10 seconds or 10 minutes, then they close together. Ideas ? Wiggling the headlight switch seemed to work a couple times but not anymore.

 

you've spent alot of money on your car and it looks great, best advice I or anyone else could give you would be to upgrade to the later year lights, eliminates all those issues. jumping from your battery directly to the lights hot would eliminate or identify the light switch as the problem

 

Its likely the internal contacts burnt or misadjusted inside of your 1984 headlight motors.
The thermal breaker internal fails also as these headlight motors age.
Leaves an open circuit that +12v can not pass through.
Thermal breaker opens premature.
The glass bulb inside next to the armature brushes.

The 1984- 87 headlight motors are known to be trouble prone.
I retained them on my 87.
I had to go through both headlight motors more than once on my 87 to get them both operational & right.

The 1984-87 headlight motors are very expensive GM NOS when You find them.
$300 + each.
So I kept working with mine till I got them each right.
Spent my $$ elsewhere on my other 410 engine build.

Another tip I can share with you,
if you re glue or JB weld the permanent magnet fields in backwards like I did, mixing up North & South magnetic pole reference,
the headlight will open when you turn headlights off.
And close when you turn the headlights on.
Only way to solve that problem is use a simple hunters map compass to find North & south poles on each permanent field magnet halves.
Then orientate correct.
Or as I did,
Grind a new reference locating slot on the steel permanent magnet housing 180 degrees opposite.
Then reassemble the headlight motor.
Left me scratching my head for a few days why the passenger headlight worked correct & not the driver's side.
Big problems if you J-B weld the permanent field magnets in backwards.

Both headlight motors have been problem free all spring, summer, and thus far fall of 2011.
They both open very fast & in perfect synchronization with each other.
Costed me no $.
Just my time.
My labor is free on my own 87 vert.



BR

 

Never had a problem with mine, but maybe you can find some info from these pages from my 86 FSM, that will shed some light.

http://members.shaw.ca/dankai/Headlight%20Doors.pdf

 

Thanks to you both for the info-now i have an idea what to look for

 

send me that pretty car , I'll fixem for free, and one of these days, I'll send it back, you know, 5 or 6 years or so.

 

it's on the way , just hold your breath till it gets there....

 

I quit holding my breath a real long time ago