Guest Richard D Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Back when I was younger and believed car magazines I bought a new 1984 FIERO. As soon as the odometer hit 12,000 miles the headlight motors would not shut off. Being an engineer I was amazed that the motor switches used the worm gear on the end of the armature to actually pull or push the entire armature to stop the motor at the end of travel. This put a lot of stress on the gear train and the nylon gears would get stripped. Please someone tell me that our cars use a different mechanism. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 The motor is very similar but a motor controller has been added. It is under the relay box (drivers side) which is in front of the air cleaner. The controller has some logic and it senses the current spike when the headlights get to the end of their travel and shuts off power, then the next time you push the button it reverses the motor and repeats the process. When either the bellcrank strips or the rollers fail, there is no current spike so the motor will "time out" The controllers seldom fail, it is the mechanical parts that fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waltmail Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 The motor is very similar but a motor controller has been added. It is under the relay box (drivers side) which is in front of the air cleaner. The controller has some logic and it senses the current spike when the headlights get to the end of their travel and shuts off power, then the next time you push the button it reverses the motor and repeats the process. When either the bellcrank strips or the rollers fail, there is no current spike so the motor will "time out" The controllers seldom fail, it is the mechanical parts that fail.Nice explanation. I was theorizing something like that occurs, but didn't know the specifics.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kitskaboodle Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 (edited) Not only that, the relay or "limit switches" are sometimes finicky and the contacts dont open or close properly. By the way , them limit switches are kinda pricey. If your a " smart" Fiero owner, you would have swapped over to Gen. 2 by now . Kit Edited November 24, 2014 by Kitskaboodle Typo (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Forgot most of what I knew but the 84-85 Fiero headlight motors were stands alone but the 86-88 used a current limit module like the Reatta. That said the reatta and Fiero brackets are different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Richard D Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Thanks all, after the second engine fire GM bought the car back. What I did eas mount micro switches on home made brackets and tie them into the wire harness. Even if the gear train did not have enough force to move the armature I had the switches mounted so when headlights hit end of travel they would hit the micro switch. With fine tuning I could get them to stop at the full up position. Closed was not so criticalBest Regards to all, Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kitskaboodle Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 The Gen 2 design wasn't applied to the Fiero until 1987. The gen 1 design consists of two motor halves riveted together. Up/ down switching was controlled by limit switches. By the way, did you know the limit switches have mercury in glass tubes? As for the motor housings they are a different shape than the Reatta but the transmission internals are identical and can be swapped back and forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Kits: are you sure ? I had an 84 (early with window) and two 86's (SE and GT & not late production since both were v6-4spd). Rebuilt all & believe both 86's had the later system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kitskaboodle Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I'm 100% sure. ALL Fiero's had the GEN 1 headlight system through 1986. You have an 86 GT Padgett? Go out and take a look at it. If your motor housings are two halves riveted together, than you have the GEN 1 system. If the top half of the motors are round, barrel shaped, then someone converted your car to GEN 2. If someone wants to post a few pics I happen to have my 85 GT with me today and I could take a few pics for you. Both my GTs have been upgraded to GEN 2. Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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