Firebird headlight motors?

[Dfk88]

I was wondering if these are suitable replacements for reatta headlight motors? I know corvette ones work but there aren't any in any at the pick n pull where I live however I was thinking about other gm vehicles that had pop ups so I checked the inventory for firebirds and they have a 92. At first my headlight would pop up as long as I helped it while it's motor was running but now it's stuck up can anyone identify what part it is that I need?

[Ronnie]

I'm almost certain that Reatta headlight motors are not interchangeable with the Firebird headlight motors. I don't believe the Reatta headlight motors are interchangeable with Corvette headlight motors either. You probably need a headlight motor repair kit to get your headlight motors working correctly again. Read the headlight repair tutorials here on ROJ and you will get a good understanding of what causes the problem you are having.

[AZ Ron]

There are different styles of C4 headlight motors.  I rebuilt the ones in my 91 Corvette by replacing the nylon pellets inside the nylon gears.  They wear out and turn to dust.

I have not rebuilt the ones in my 88 Reatta yet.  The left one does not always pop up but I have been able to get it to work for several weeks at a time by lubing the pivot points (the outer pivot point is hard to get to).

My advice is to read the tutorial here on the Journal in order to diagnose if this is your problem.  Note that the manual says to lube the pivot points on a regular basis so that should be where you start.

Next you should put 12V to the motor and see if it actually works.  If it does then remove the round cover from the motor and look at the nylon pellets.  If the pellets are trashed or badly worn then you can get a set rather inexpensively from www.corvettecentral.com

If your motor is bad then you can get one from the same website or a used one from www.vette2vette.com

Here is a website that shows the differences in the C4 headlight assemblies.  If you order a new/rebuilt/used motor then determine which one matches your Reatta.  Good luck!

http://www.mirrockcorvette.com/corvette-parts-guide-lights.html#headlight

[Dfk88]

Thanks guys I'll look into all of that