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I’ve noticed a lot of recent posts about head lights, recently went through a rebuild of one of my motors, and wanted to do a quick write up on what I did. Contrary to the title this is a very VERY long post so be warned. Also it’s meant more to supplement posts such as Patches thread about the later style rebuild, and not be definitive in any way.
If you’ve been daunted by possibly having to do this don’t be as it’s very easy to do and saves you a lot of money (remember replacement motors are very expensive and labor can run in the $120-$240 range). I’ve rebuilt a lot of various GM headlight motors in the past (F-body, Fiero, etc) and have a good deal of experience. I did this in the span of less than two hours work - 1 hour and 40 minutes to be exact - so you can easily do this in an afternoon and if rebuilding both can do them in half a day.
You may need to rebuild your headlight motor(s) if;
- You’ve noticed a loud grinding noise either on extreme open or close.
- When you flip the multi-switch, one side refuses to go up. If you then turn them off, turn the raise **** slightly, then turn the switch on again and the light raises, then there is damage to the gear.
You can buy parts from a variety of vendors. Personally I deal with Rodney Dickman (I’ve dealt with him a lot from my Fiero days). He sells kits for both the earlier and later style motors;
Tools needed;
- A philips screw driver
- A T15 torx bit
- 10mm sockets and a 10mm box end (I used two sockets [!! I have a special place for 10mms] and two ratchets).
- The headlight rebuild kit of course
OEM you should have two types of headlight motors depending on the year car you have. If you have a 1997 - early 2000 car you will have metal housings. If you have a late 2000 - 2004 car you will have plastic housings. The discrepancy is important as the steps change slightly. Also note that as long as you have the whole housing assembly it’s possible to swap types, so some cars out there may have had parts changed at one point (this is a possible indicator of if your car has been in an accident).
If you’re rebuilding the early style, you’ll need a 6.5mm socket for the cover. If it’s the later style two small flat-head screw drivers for prying.
- Disconnect the main power connector for the headlight motor (you can also disconnect the battery if you so choose, but you’ll have to disconnect this connector to remove the motor and this completely isolates it from power).
- Manually raise the headlamp by turning the headlight ****.
- Remove the three screws holding the headlight bezel. The bezel pulls towards you and is held onto the door by a large metal clip.
- Remove the four torx bolts holding the body color headlight door. Remove the door.
- Disconnect the two connectors for the low and high beam bulbs.
- There are three bolts holding the headlight motor to the frame, with one being a pass-through bolt w/ nut. Remove the pass through w/ nut first (it’s towards the back). Next remove the middle bolt. Before removing the last bolt, remove the nut holding the headlight bucket throw arm. Hold the headlight up with your free hand while using the other hand to remove the last bolt. Remove the headlight motor.
Now you can rebuild the headlight motor. If you have the metal type, you will need to remove the three motor cover bolts. If you have the plastic type, the motor cover has to be pried away with small screw drivers (be careful prying on the cover). When you remove the cover, you will see the headlight throw arm and headlight motor (likely with teeth damaged). Pull the entire assembly out, taking note of the position of the spacers and washers.
In front of you will be the throw arm shaft, two nylon spacers on each end, and a rubber piece holding the gear. The new headlight gear “should” have a new rubber piece. Remove the rubber piece and headlight gear from the throw arm shaft as a unit. The new rubber and gear are then assembled and slid back onto the shaft. At this point, you then want to grease the headlight gear itself with the grease given in the kit. It needs to have a lot of grease, but you want to save some for the worm gear in the motor.
Before final assembly, clean the gear seat in the motor out. You can either wipe it out (cotton swabs work well here) or use compressed air. Basically you want to make sure any damaged portions of the gear are out. When done, use the remaining grease on the worm gear.
When you pulled the headlight gear shaft out you will have noticed two small washers. Place the first washer onto the opening in the headlight gear motor. Next insert the greased headlight gear assembly into the motor (the flat side should be facing you) ensuring there are the nylon spacers on each side. Finally, place the second small washer on the shaft and place the gear cover onto the motor assembly.
If you have the screw type headlight motor, then you need to install the gasket and three screws. If you have the later plastic type, it is sealed with RTV-type material. It will have to be clamped and allowed to sit for 24 hours before assembly.
When you have the headlight motor rebuilt and it’s ready you can put it back into the car. Here is how I put them back in;
- The headlight door is floppy at this point. Holding it up with one hand lay the motor into position, using the pass through bolt in the back as a guide. When it’s in position, use one of the other bolts - preferably the forward-most one - to hold the headlight motor in place. finger tighten it enough so it doesn’t flop out. Finger tighten the middle bolt. Now ratchet the two bolts down and finish with the pass through bolt w/ nut.
- To re-install the swing arm, the small part of the arm needs to be pointing upwards (so the pivot point is down). You probably noticed the arm and shaft are keyed to go a particular way. Turn the headlight motor **** until the keyed portion lines up with the throw arm opening. Slip it over and secure with the nut. REMEMBER: the pivot point of the arm needs to be below everything hanging, while the bumper end (basically the small pivot arm itself) needs to be pointed upwards so it travels between the bumpers in an upside down U motion. This is one of the bigger problems I read when people rebuild these and the arm is incorrectly attached.
- Connect the low and high beam connectors. Connect the main headlight motor connector. If you disconnected the battery, reinstall the negative cable.
- Before installing the bezel and body cover, turn the multi-switch. The headlight should raise up like it’s supposed to. Turn off, and reinstall the body cover and bezel (in that order).
I read posts concerned about positioning of the headlight door cover when reassembling. Do not be. When removed it will be fairly obviously exactly how you should re-install the door. If the door has had adjustment issues you can also adjust the four bolts that determine the height of the door relative to the body and hood; it's easy to do.
Some other things you can do when replacing the motor is replace the headlight bumpers. There are four total for each side (Rodney Dickman also sells these). They are important to proper operation and need to be installed. Over time with the operation of the throw arm they can get these little indentions that can affect operation. It's a good idea to either flip them over or swap them anyways.
Another note: if you’re rebuilding a later plastic style driver’s side motor this is a good time to perform the TSB that is for them if it’s not already done. The TSB involves installing three washers between the headlight motor housing and the mounting bracket, with a final washer going on between the headlight throw arm and motor shaft. What this does is "pull" the motor and throw arm closer to the headlight mounting points to ensure the throw arm contacts the bumpers properly.
Finally, I do know there are a couple ways to go about doing this. Some people remove the entire headlight bucket assembly (that's still a lot of the same work I did with unnecessary steps) or go at it from under the car through the fascia access panel. I think the method I use works the best and you can do stuff you normally wouldn't be able to do like detail cleaning work under the headlight door and such. Also if you're right-handed and doing the passenger side it will probably be quicker doing that side, as it takes a little longer to do the driver side being right-handed.
Rebuilding Headlight Motors - A Quick Guide
