Introduction

This is a guide to help replace the plastic headlight motor gear inside a 1986 Fiero. This will work with either the left or right side as they are identical, but I am changing the right headlight in the photos.

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    • Open and prop the hood.

    • Disconnect the battery.

    • Disconnect the headlight from its housing by removing the four bolts with a 10mm socket and wrench.

    • Use the socket to hold one end of each bolt in place while using the wrench to loosen.

    • There are two bolts on the top and two bolts on the bottom.

    • Disconnect the headlight power cable that leads to the lightbulb, then remove the headlight from its housing to continue to disconnect the remaining wires.

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    • Disconnect the blue wire that leads to the motor, and the red wire harness that leads to the headlight relay.

    • Move the headlight to a clean working space.

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    • Remove the headlight from the housing and remember or take a picture of the orientation of the arm.

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    • Remove the motor from the headlight and remove the three screws around the motor securing it to the headlight casing, and the screws on the motor arm.

    • Use the 10mm for the screws on the casing and for the nut on the arm.

    • In this step you will use the 1/4 Allen wrench to hold the arm screw in place.

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    • Remove the motor from the headlight casing and remove the last connection from the relay.

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    • Remove the arm with gentle but firm pressure, if the arm will not budge, hit it with a mallet/hammer to slide it off the rod.

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    • Now you will need to remove the cover, you should see screws all around the motor casing.

    • Remove them using the 8mm wrench and Philips head screwdriver.

    • (alt)If the motor is still factory sealed, take a 1/8th drill bit and drill through the rivets holding the casing closed.

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    • When removing the cover you should see two gears, on meatal, one plastic, and a metal lever in between.

    • Remove both gears and the lever remembering their orientation or taking a picture.

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    • Clean out the plastic gear casing as it will most likely be covered in plastic shavings and dried grease.

    • Clean the lever as it may also have what is left of a rubber spacer coating it and the residue will cause problems if left unchecked.

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    • Put new grease on a new plastic gear, then replace the old plastic gear in the motor.

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    • Put new rubber spacers in the far corners of the inside of the plastic gear.

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    • Put in a lever and make sure it fits snugly and once you do put the metal gear on.

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    • Put a resealing agent on the edges of the motor and close the casing again.

    • When closing the case there is a seal inside the top of the motor casing. use needle nose pliers or a flathead to hold it in place.

    • Do steps 1-7 backwards to reassemble and screws should come with the replacement kit if you took step 3 alt.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Sevin

Member since: 25/02/25

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