I pulled into work today and shut off my headlights. The lights went down, but the motor for the drivers side headlight kept running, so I unplugged it. It still works. headlights go up and down. but when it goes down the motor keeps running. Anyone have this problem before.

ha! just happened to me 2 days ago. try this thread.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000001/HTML/20050119-2-045256.html

the big white plasic gear is what has gone out. rodney sells a rebuild kit for $35.
http://www.rodneydickman.com/
look under electrical, then headlights.
i haven't decided what to do with mine yet. hope this helps.

edit. just saw you lived here. try Thefierofarm.com. Todd sells rebuilt motors and lives in bates city,mo. his number is 660-221-2240. i've sent him an e mail about mine but haven't called him yet.

[This message has been edited by sostock (edited 11-11-2005).]

If it's an 87 or 88 then all you need are the three little bushings that cost about $5.

Wow, thanks for all the help. It looks like I'll be yanking the motor apart. I'll try to follow the buddycraig writeup. Thanks again to all.

:WOW: another person from kansas city.
by the way KCFOG is having our monthy meeting on monday

from your user name i assume it's an 85.

if the knob spins with an horrible grinding noise, then you are going to need a new gear.
if the knob just twitches and you hear a dull click every so often, then the limit switches are not working

so if it's just the limit switches, how does one correct that. Cause that is exactly what my passenger headlight motor is doing on my '86.

some of those answers are coming soon.
BTW, did you rebuild the motor?

Hey guys got the light motor fixed thanks for all the help I followed the write up by buddycraig that was posted above by sostock. I just siliconed some peices of rubber hose in (in the place of the bic pen peices) and it works great. I did it twice. the first time I got the thing back together wrong, there's a rubber seal peice at the top of the motor just under the twist knob, if you don't get this back in right and have it sitting on top of the motor but under the twist knob the motor can't push down enough to engage the stop limit device, and you will hear the overload clicking after the light is down, luckily I heard it and didn't let the battery get killed.
buddycraig, yes its an 85 thru 87 (lots of parts from different years) I work Monday's, when is the meeting?

quote Originally posted by nosaj1985gtjason: there's a rubber seal peice at the top of the motor just under the twist knob, if you don't get this back in right and have it sitting on top of the motor but under the twist knob the motor can't push down enough to engage the stop limit device,

i'm going to start calling that "sanderson" disease.

I went back thru the write up by buddycraigg (sorry about the single g before) and realized that everyone does the same thing when putting the motor back together. I sure wish I would have read the entire thread before reassembly. About the meeting: I work till 6 on mondays but I'll be near 635 and Kansas Ave in KC,KS. Is it anywhere between KCK and Blue Springs, MO.

[This message has been edited by nosaj1985gtjason (edited 11-13-2005).]

quote Originally posted by nosaj1985gtjason: I work till 6 on mondays but I'll be near 635 and Kansas Ave in KC,KS.

:WTF:
mmmm
yeah, it's kinda close to that...

map

now you're pulling my leg, have you been there before?

[This message has been edited by buddycraigg (edited 11-13-2005).]

Just fixed mine. wouldn't pull down that last little bit and kept killing the battery.

Turnrd out to be a bad connection in the limit switches. specifically at the thermal breaker lead.
the poor contact was limiting the voltage and current through the motor so it couldn't completely draw the motorto "pop"the limit switch over. the cure was to recrimpthe lead with a needle nose plier.

Good luck!

quote Originally posted by buddycraigg: i'm going to start calling that "sanderson" disease.

All these years and I finally get something named after me. Better yet maybe we could go with "sanderson syndrome"

All kidding aside anybody who is running Gen 1 headlights and hasn't taken them apart needs to. After all these year the little green bumpers have turned to mush and they now offer no cushioning for the gear. The bumpers are cheap. If you run the light to failure eventually the plastic gear will break and that gets expensive.

I haven't taken apart as many lights as Buddy but I'm batting 0.000 lifetime on finding the bumpers intact.

[This message has been edited by sanderson (edited 11-13-2005).]

quote Originally posted by sanderson: All these years and I finally get something named after me. Better yet maybe we could go with "sanderson syndrome"

too late. Call the act of leaving it up on top of the motor what you want, but
The symptoms of mis installing that grommet will forever be known "The Sanderson Effect"

dble post

[This message has been edited by buddycraigg (edited 11-14-2005).]