1982-86 Firebird and 1984-86 Fiero Headlight

Motor Troubleshooting Guide

Two different types of headlight motors were used in Pontiac Firebirds and Fieros. 1982-86
Firebirds and 1984-86 Fieros (aka early style) used relays to control up/down movement.
1987-92 Firebirds and 1987-88 Fieros models used a small ECM controller. The following
troubleshooting tips have been gathered from various informative websites and are
intended for the 1982-86 model year Firebirds and 1984-1986 model year Fieros. I own a
1988 Firebird and unfortunately am not an expert on the earlier Firebird and Fiero
headlight systems. At times, these early style systems can be difficult to diagnose. I
provide this tip sheet as an addendum to the repair kit so you can have some information
to work with.

Troubleshooting Chart:
Both Headlight One Headlight Both Headlight One Headlight
Doors Will Not Door Will Not Doors Won’t Door Won’t
Close Close Open Open

Blown 20 amp Bad actuator relay Blown main fuse link Bad Actuator relay
taillight fuse to headlight switch
Bad isolation relay Bad isolation relay Bad isolation relay Blown actuator
relay fusible link
Bad connection or Bad connection or Bad connection or Bad connection or
ground ground. ground ground

Faulty actuator Faulty actuator

motor limit switch motor limit switch
Bad actuator motor Bad actuator motor

Quick Troubleshooting:
First check the fuse, then check for your problem and follow the tips below:

Both Motors Not Working:

If both motors are not working, check the
isolation relay. It is on the frame of the car,
next to the driver’s side headlight
mechanism. The isolation relay controls
both headlight motors, and is the most
likely cause for this problem. You can also
check for a bad ground, or corroded
connections.

Only One Motor Does Not Work:

Continually Running. If one motor is
constantly running, you probably have
stripped gears. You will have to rebuild the
motor and replace the gear.

Not Continually Running. If the motor is not running constantly, but refuses to go up and
down, a light rapping on the motor knob may jog it loose. Make a fist and lightly pound
on the top of the headlight motor knob. Watch your fingers, as the indentations on the
knob can grab fingers or jewelry pretty easily. If this does not work, turn off the
headlights (turn on the parking lights if you need the front compartment bulb illuminated).
Unplug the blue wire with the inline connector. It is located next to the headlight
mechanism and provides power to the motor. Plug the blue wire back in and check for
motor operation. Keep hands and clothes away as the motor may suddenly begin
spinning and the headlight may abruptly go up or down, taking a limb with it. IF the motor
still fails to work, once again unplug the blue wire, and switch relays. Looking at the
headlight mechanism, you will see the relay toward the inside of the housing. It is item
number 3 in the below diagram. On the back of the relay, below the mounting screws is
a small metal flange. This holds the relay in place on the bracket. Take a small
screwdriver and bend the flange away from the relay. Slide the relay up and out of the
bracket and remove the wire harness connection. Do this on the other side and swap the
good relay in place of the possibly bad one. Reconnect the blue wire and again, keep
hands away. If the headlight motor now works, the relay was defective. You may still be
able to purchase a new relay from the dealer. If this does not work, you will have to
remove the headlight motor, it may be defective.

Motor Removal:
Make sure the blue wire is unplugged from the motor. Next, remove all other wires
harnesses connected to the motor assembly. With the headlight cranked into the full up
position, reach under the headlight and loosen the two 10mm nuts toward the lower
corners of the assembly. You may need to use a long extension and ratchet. You do not
need to remove the bolts, only loosen them. Now, crank the headlight

back down and remove the two top 10mm nuts. Tilt and lift the headlight mechanism out
of the car. It will slide right out of the lower, now loosened studs and nuts.

With the headlight motor removed, remove the C-clips that hold the motor arm in place
(illustration 4 below). Remove the 3 10mm screws holding the motor to the headlight
assembly. Remove the headlight motor from the headlight assembly. You may want to
wiggle the assembly to get it out.

Once the motor is out of the assembly, remove the 3 screws that hold the side access
panel in place. Remove the panel, being careful not to damage the rubber gasket
(illustration 2). With the panel removed, gently remove the rubber plug holding the
wiring down (illustration 8). With the plug out, gently lift up on the ceramic portion of the
HTS switch (illustration 7). It should slide out easily.
 With the switch removed,
see if the “brushes” are in
good shape. Re-solder in a
new “Brush” if they are
overly worn. These
switches tend to wear out
with age, so you may want
to replace even a clean
looking switch. GM Part
number was 22038870.
Once you repair or replace
the switch, reinstall it and
reassemble the motor and
headlight assembly unit.

Crank the headlight assembly into the “up” position and re-install into the car. Set the
headlight assembly onto the studs on the bottom of the headlight cavity and bolt
everything in place. Reconnect all wires but the blue or blue/white wire. Keep your hands
and clothing away from anything that will suddenly move, and plug the blue or blue/white
wire back into place. Test the headlight. If it still does not work, the motor windings make
be bad or there may be a short in the wires. At this point, you may want to find a new
motor or completely rebuild the old one.

Technical Information:
The 1982-86 Pontiac Firebirds and 1984-86 Pontiac Fieros and use a similar headlight
system. Both utilize two motors and three relays. The headlight motors go up and down
by using a three wire system, reversing polarity, and utilizing an automatic high torque
switch (HTS) to stop the system once the headlights are in full up or down position.

When the motor reaches its “limit” in the upward or downward position, the HTS “cuts”
the circuit to the motors. Because of this, the motors have three wires for control. The
combination of these wires provides polarity reversal to change direction of the motors
and also to run the motor from a dead stop.

Headlight motor wiring charts:

Blue/White Green Grey Wire Blue Wire Green Wire Grey Wire
Stripe Wire Wire
Up + -
Up + -
Down + -
Down + -

Left Hand Motor Right Hand Motor

In order to run the motor up, the green wire is hot, and the grey wire is ground. To go
down, blue or blue/white is hot and green is ground.

Since he HTS cuts the flow of current to the motor, reversing polarity would do no good
once the lights are up or down. This is where the relays come into play. The actuator
relay is mounted to the body of the light housing and the isolator relay is mounted to the
fender wall on the driver’s side. The isolation relay, in a sense, controls the actuator
relays. The two actuator relays perform the same task, just one per motor.
Headlights Down:
When the headlights are shut off and need to close, the isolation relay is not energized.
This causes the contacts between the blue and blue/white wires to make contact with
the hot side of the relay. The blue and blue/white wires are therefore hot at this time.
The Actuator contacts are also closed and they provide ground. Once the headlights are
fully closed, the circuit is broken by the HTS. When the system is functioning properly,
neither the relays nor motors draw any current in the full down position.

Headlights Up:
When the headlight switch it turned back on, the yellow wire from the headlight switch is
hot. This yellow wire energizes the isolation relay. The energized isolation relay causes
the pink wire to be hot. This pink wire then energizes the actuator relays. The now
energized actuator relays provide 12 volts from the always hot red wires, through their
newly closed contacts, to the green wire. The actuator relays also provide ground
through their newly closed contacts. Once the headlights are fully open, the HTS breaks
the circuit. When the system is functioning properly, with the headlight doors fully open,
all relays are energized and drawing current, but the motors are not.

Note: This circuitry is somewhat confusing. When the motors are running up, both the
hot side and the ground are furnished through the actuator relay. When the motors are
running down, only the ground is provided through the actuator relay because the blue
and blue/white wires do not run to the actuator relay.

Also note that when the motors are running down, the hot side is supplied through the
isolation relay, but when they are running up, the hot side is supplied by the always hot
fusible link (not the isolation relay).

When troubleshooting, you can swap the actuator relays from side to side. If the
problems follow the replaced actuator, you know it is defective. Don’t swap the actuator
relay and the isolation relay, they are different.

Note: A common problem is that there are bad connections through the headlight wiring
system which cause the voltage to the motors to be too low. This can cause many
problems. If the motor twitches once fully closed or fully open, it is because the motor
did not get enough voltage to make it open the contacts inside the motor. If the motor
does not spin, but gets warm or runs down the battery, it is because the voltage is too
low to start the motor spinning.

Top-Down Solutions will not be held responsible for any damages that occur to a vehicle or person as a result of
improperly following these instructions. The information in this troubleshooting guide was gathered from various Fiero
and Firebird informative websites and deemed reliable at the time of printing. If you are confused after reading these
instructions, please have a professional diagnose your vehicle.

Top-Down Solutions
PO Box 5601, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 369-0040
[email protected]

This document was printed on

1982-86 Firebird & 1984-86 Fiero Recycled copier paper
(30% post consumer content).
Headlight Motor Troubleshooting Guide

rev. 03/02/06