Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong when my driver's side headlight raises and retracts perfectly, but the passenger side only retracts? It just started doing this today and i was wondering if there was anything minor that I could check out. Its really a PITA to use the little thumbscrews to raise it up, and id like to get this fixed ASAP.
thanks,
-stephen

 

Ya' know, I don't have a clue, but if you can find a Pontiac Fiero board they might be able to help you out, 'cause EVERY Fiero I've EVER seen always has one eye open and one closed.

And you can take that to the bank!

 

Sounds like your headlight motor is going out.

 

Hahahah, Ron. Its just weird b/c it worked effortlessly yesterday and tonight it just won't open, but closes perfectly. Does anyone else have any ideas or suggestions?
-stephen

 

look at the lil metal rod that moves the light up or down .make sure its not hitting stuff. mine did and then it broke the clip had to unplug the ligth casue it kept killing the batt casue it would try and put it down. so take a quick peek and make sure its not rubbing stuff.
joel

 

It didn't look like anything was obstructing the rod. It makes absolutely no noise or anythign when i want it to rise, but drops back down without a hitch.
-stephen

 

I had a problem like this in my 2nd gen. It turned out to be a fuse or a connector or something (it was quite a while ago.) (motor works fine because it closes them fine, and the linkage works fine because you can raise them up by thumb..)

The headlight motor seems to be wired so that when you don't have the relay energized (lights or headlight switch on), it would actively retract them when you start to thumb them up. For whatever reason your motors don't know they're supposed to go up. I don't think your motors are bad.

Sorry it's not an answer but maybe it'll be some insight.

 

If you figure out what it is you need I might be able to get you either the motor or the relay off my parts car...

Pm Me

-DC

 

It could be a number of things, but im guessing it could be your wiring harness. I'll share some issues I had with my car. My power window on my passenger side would go down from the drivers switch but never up. turned out to be the harness was getting corrosion.

Just a thought...hey btw when you press the retracter thingy on the gauge cluster does it do the same thing?

 

I used to own a Fiero and am expert at troubleshooting/repairing those motors and switches The Firebirds used the exact some motor so there's plenty of parts. The Fiero had heavily sprung headlight doors and this overworked the motor/gearbox mechanism. Everytime it either strips a gear inside the case, or the reversing switch fails. I always fixed the switches by adding external lever switches and splicing them into the harness. When the gears strip you drill out the rivets and replace the gears before putting it back together with little screws

dubcaps I bet your problem is purely electrical and I would suspect the reversing relay first. I have to check the schematic and see how exactly the FD wires this and where the relay is.

 

Thank you for all the help guys. Can anyone find me a picture or diagram on what to look for and where it is?
-stephen

 

stephen,

goto www.iluvmyrx7.com and goto wiring diagrams. I solved my door lock problem by studying the wiring.

 

I just got a new headlight motor for the passenger side, it burned out and almost caught fire. Not to get u paranoid but if its the motor you can tell by touching it, if its burning hot then its definitely the motor. Change it before you burn something out on ur car.

 

alright its not the motor b/c when i turn the red screw all the way over counter-clockwise when the headlights are down the light pops up and then comes back down. i think i have a severed connection somewhere but i wouldnt know where to start. I'll check those diagrams zero, thank you!
-stephen

 

If you download the Z-Large Print version of wiring diagram, your info starts on page Z-56. I warn you, its not very pretty.

 

Thanks for the info zero, its downloading now... If anyone else has ideas go ahead and throw them out there as i wont be able to start until tomorrow.
-stephen

 

With my two issues (Passenger door lock, passenger window) as I mentioned earlier the problem was my wiring harness. In my case the harness connects near the hinge to the door and goes to the drivers side kick panel. When I bought the car the pass window wasnt working but the lock was. About 6 months later the lock stop. Out of nowhere. I discovered the issues by moving the harness around and then pressing the up/down on the window switch and door lock switch.

In your case I would consider finding the harness and other connection points and try the same thing. If you find its the harness I would buy contact cleaner and maybe even use a metal file to clean the contacts.

I just by-passed the harness for the doorlocks all together as the Front harness is out of production for our cars .

BTW...when you turn on the lights only 1 headlight works right? So what happens when you press the button thingy that flips up the headlights but doesn't turn the light on...same thing?

 

yes zero, same thing only one pops up. Also when i turn the lights on they both light up, just don't pop up.

 

that means the main harness connector has good connection. Check the connector where it connects to the headlamp. Thats where I would start.

If thats not it, check the relay. I'll shut up now.

 

alright thanks zero. I'll check it out.
-stephen