Cascade Crew

Xophertony

[clutus voice]yup, she's got them there posi traction, chevy "tree-fitty", a-lumin-am rims, and one headlight stuck up!!![/cletus voice]

it is official, it is now a "turd"-gen. Rolling Eyes

that ONE thing pushed it over the edge. before it was a nice car wityh a few problems, now it is a Piece of junk, that happens to run realy well, have nice paint and nice interior. the headlight stuck in the up position disqualifies it from being "in good shape".

i got home tonight from a day of helping chris work on some chicks 2nd gen camaro, and as i get out of the car i see that my drivers side headlight door is up. i flipped the switch a couple times, but it is still up. it makes a twitch to go down but then freezes. i am going to check all the grounds tomorow, and make sure that is all good. hopefully it will be back to it's full glory soon. Sad

aaron_sK · Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject:

Time to do the winky mod like Ian. Twisted Evil

Twilightoptics · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:09 am Post subject:

That's pretty common I thought for birds?

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:24 am Post subject:

ya pretty common. certainly not enough to put a nice GTA into 'turdgen' status.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:58 am Post subject:

See tony, if you had a camaro, you wouldn't have this problem.
(when I read the title of the post, I thought someone ran into your car)

alloy · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:25 am Post subject:

chevymad · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:57 am Post subject:

There is a plastic gear/cushion setup that connects the actual electric motor to the mechanism. This thing comes all apart and strips out. Several years ago mine did this. I filled the thing with JB weld and its worked fine ever since. If the electric motor is running I'll bet this is your problem.

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:05 am Post subject:

i'll look into that.

and yeah, i know it's prety common. but every time i see one, i always think "jees, show some pride". i won't drive this thing until i fix that, it's embarassing. Embarassed

chevymad · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:10 am Post subject:

Awhile back, I had Mike in the car.. went to turn on headlights one stayed down.. WTF? I've had no problems for years.. hit the switch a couple of times and it started working again. Yes, I felt the same way. Car goes from cool to crap at the flip of a switch. Thought I might have had a link to the repair.. but been too long and probably 2 computers ago.

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:16 am Post subject:

i am searching TGO right now. well actualy i am waiting to search TGO right now. they upped the search wait time to 90 seconds... ever since the new owners took over that sight has pissed me off more and more. sure its pretty now, and a little more organised, but all that crap gets in the way. the damn topic discriptions take up so much room that the BB is 7 pages long....
/rant about TGO

anyway, i'll figure it out. Smile

EDIT
new rant!!!
god damn it!!!!!!!!!
then you have to re-start your computer between searches, because heaven forbid you used the "back" button to get to a new search, clearly that will cause the TGO searver to crash, because of the massive tax on the hardware.... WTF. how are you suposed to get "back" w/o doing that? and if somone tells me i will hurt you. i know how, it is just so natral to use my web browsers "back" feature.

gah........

kidcamaro · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:41 am Post subject:

i would still drive it. just keep your headlights on. lol when ya park it, park it nose in Wink

chevymad · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:08 am Post subject:

You can crank em up and down by hand.. just a pia.. I'd do that before driving around in the daylight with them up though.

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:27 am Post subject:

ok, so i cranked it down by hand, and now it goes up and down by itself. however, once it is up, the motor will continue to run for some time. same thing on the way down. upon pulling the motor out i discovered a bunch of chunks of the big gear inside it. i also destroyed all the gaskets.... sooooo i am goinbg to go to the junkyard and get a "new" one.

but i did learn somthing. the original problem was NOT with the motor itself. so once i put the new motor in i will still need to diagnose the original issue (i think). i also learned somthing else. do not take the motor apart. Shocked

anyway, i also discovered that my headlight suround on the driverside is all cracked and oxidised. so i am going to snag another one of those while at the yard as well. wish i could find one that was gold for my GTA... but i know i won't. Crying or Very sad

if anyone ever sees a gold one in halfway decent shape get it, i'll pay you for it.

chevymad · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:05 pm Post subject:

The motor will continue to run if that gear is stripped.. thats the part i filled with JB. I actually bought a used motor first.. but it only ran 2 more months before it quit too.. then I did the JB fix.

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:52 pm Post subject:

well, i picked up a used one today. hopefully it will work, as i can't drive my 1986 car legally anymore. see "back porch" for details.

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:57 pm Post subject:

sweet. it works. yeah upon closer inspection the teeth on my old gear are SHOT..

so the GTA is no longer a piece of junk. it went from "no class" to "all class". it is amazing how one little thing can totaly destroy a car. i am glad she is back to her show quality appearance. Wink

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:59 pm Post subject:

Kage87Z · Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:36 pm Post subject:

These motors are, I believe, the same ones used by fieros. I used to own a fiero (86), and it did this very thing.

Here's a fix walk thru that worked for me.

http://www.fierosails.com/headlights.html

Xophertony · Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject:

wow that is verry comprehensive. i did not see any spacers or bushings inside my headlight motor assembly, i did find a bunch of plastic bits, which could be thier remains. Shocked

the plastic bits also could have been shavings from the nylon drive gear. or a mixture of both.