Nathan Plemons

Well given the GM method of having EVERYTHING break at a given mileage, my headlights have decided it's their turn. The motors work fine, they just continue to spin long after the lights are openend or closed, and the lights don't always open or close all the way.

I know that the little bushings are all I really need, but I was thinking about getting the bronze gears while I was at it. What's been your experience with the bronze gears? Waste of time or worthwhile? Also where is the best place to buy. I know ecklers carries them, but they usually are not the cheapest place to buy anything.

Thanks guys

Nathan Plemons

TTT

Anybody?

mt_789

My 88 has just run into the same problem. The motors still spin, but the buckets wont go up anymore. I ordered the $5.00 bushings from Ecklers for each side, but now I cant figure out how to get in there and fix the problem. I had it at the dealer just to have something else looked at, but I asked what it would cost for them to fix the problem. They told me it would be about $1000, yes $1000 because they say I basically need new motors, and then I am sure they would spend several hours to jack up the labor cost. I really think that the bushings are all you should need, and that the bronze gears would be fixing something that is not broken. Then again I have not been able to get in there and see what mine look like, so I might be a bad source of advice.

Let me know how yours work out.

jackdaroofer

Don't go to the dealer! Youcan easily do it yourself in about 1 to 2 hours per light. I just did my 88's and learned or rather finally understood some advice Gordon K gave me which cut my replacement time on the left (second one) down to about an hour.

I'll try to explain it briefly here.

First remove the entire headlight assembly from the car...there are a total of seven bolts/nuts 6 of which are 10 mm and one I forget.

There are two nuts with washers on the out board side, two bolts at the bottom, one nut on the top inboard side and a bracket that bolts to the hood support and a nut inside the bracket

Before you remove all the nuts, trace the two wires coming from the headlight assy and disconnect them, now you can remove the light assy. Put it on a clean work surface covered with a towel to prevent scratches

Now the neat part!

Look between the motor housing and the light shroud and you will see an aluminum block, about 3/8's X1" there's a drift pin in that block, use a 1/8 punch and knock it out the bottom...save it! The motor shaft is now free of the light assembly!

Look to the inboard side of the motor assy and you will see the round end. the shaft you just knocked the pin out of is centered in the round end and this end holds the gear and the bushings. The cover is held on by three (3) 1/4" screw/bolts. You can get two of them out with a nut driver. The third takes a few minutes with an open end 1/4" wrench

When you have them out, carefully pry off the cover you have just unbolted.

Use a sharp razor blade to separate the gasket from one side of the housing. Take your time and think it through!

Once the cover is off, you will see the metal insert in the larger nylon gear. You will also see some of what is left of your original bushings.

Move back around to the aluminum block you knocked the pin out of and the end of the shaft that holds the metal and nylon gear will be obvious. Press on the end of the shaft and pull on the metal housing on the gear with pliers and the gear will come out.


Caution...there are shims in the cover you just removed and there will be shims(thin washers) on the shaft of the gear you are removing. Keep track of them and put them back in the right place...not complicated!

Once you have the gear out, separate the metal from the nylon, clean up the debris, insert the new bushings and press the metal back into the nylon, put some grease on the nylon gear ( I used silicone dielectric) then reinsert the gear back into the housing and back through the aluminum block. The end of the shaft is rectangular and only fits in one of two positions...you'll see.

Replace the cover on the gear housing, don't forget the shims, reinstall the pin in the aluminum housing , reinstall the light, thumb your nose at the dealer and...

send me half of what you saved :D

If you have any questions I will be happy to try to give you an answer

Jack

PS, these instructions may not fully apply to pre or post 88 lights, but I think they might . The trick is to see if you can get the circular cover off the base of the motor and the shaft disconnected from the light assy without having to take it off the light assy housing, which on the 88 at least takes a little doing


[Modified by jackdaroofer, 9:23 PM 7/25/2002]


[Modified by jackdaroofer, 9:27 PM 7/25/2002]


[Modified by jackdaroofer, 9:31 PM 7/25/2002]

LPDesRoche

Those instructions apply to all post 88 lights. Its a very easy process. I have done it many times on many different vettes. The 88 and later ones are much easier than the 84-87's. Don't waste your money on the brass gear, all you need are the 3 little bushings.

ZRWANABE

i got the bushings from ecklers $3.50
put them in the night before i left for the cruse in took me like 2 hours

Aggravated4life

I have the 88 and later headlights in my car I installed a few years back when no one was offering a rebuild then for my POS 84-87 style headlights.
(I paid 280 bucks wholesale for the entire upgrade kit from a GM dealer my buddy worked at) :D

Ok,with these headlights,as we all know,the bushings is usually what goes wrong.Theres No need for the metal gears UNLESS you see excess wear on the plastic ones.So far,I havent seen any complaints here as to these headlight motors chewing up the gears to warrant an upgrade to the metal ones.

The call is prob. gonna be as to how bad the gears are or need replacing.So far,it seems most of the companies that sell them offer them near the same prices.Cant really say where to get them.
:)

xzvs

I agree --I did mine on my 88 in about 1 hour for both. It's not too bad (really easy on the drivers side). I needed headlights to get home and was about 100 miles from anywhere in the shop I was in. I used 2 5/16's nuts in place of each bushing inside the gears and it works great.