Pop Up Headlights?

[TXbarney]

I recently stumbled on some Utube videos of people showing how to replace the headlight motor and a couple that show repairing the motor.

I have lots of experience with Buick Reatta headlight motors, and while it may be common knowledge here, I am new here.

*I noticed several motor repairs where they were replacing the big gear in the motor.

The arm only swings maybe 135 degrees and is directly attached to the gear.

If the gear strips, rotate it 180 degrees from the missing teeth, and you have the equivalent of a new gear.

*There are a total of 5 adjustment screws that look like the attached picture 4 are on the cover, and one is on the radiator support inside the
headlight.

The four on the cover are for leveling the cover with the bodywork.

The one on the radiator support is what we call the UPSTOP adjustment.

You adjust the plastic head of the screw out to take the slop out of the headlight mechanism in the UP position to keep the headlights from shaking.

The common problem is the plastic nut breaks, and the adjustment screw flops in the hole and does nothing.

The plastic nuts can be found at home improvement stores for a #8 screw

 

[TXbarney]

I recently stumbled on some Utube videos of people showing how to replace the headlight motor and a couple that show repairing the motor.

I have lots of experience with Buick Reatta headlight motors, and while it may be common knowledge here, I am new here.

*I noticed several motor repairs where they were replacing the big gear in the motor.

The arm only swings maybe 135 degrees and is directly attached to the gear.

If the gear strips, rotate it 180 degrees from the missing teeth, and you have the equivalent of a new gear.

*There are a total of 5 adjustment screws that look like the attached picture 4 are on the cover, and one is on the radiator support inside the
headlight.

The four on the cover are for leveling the cover with the bodywork.

The one on the radiator support is what we call the UPSTOP adjustment.

You adjust the plastic head of the screw out to take the slop out of the headlight mechanism in the UP position to keep the headlights from shaking.

The common problem is the plastic nut breaks, and the adjustment screw flops in the hole and does nothing.

The plastic nuts can be found at home improvement stores for a #8 screw

View attachment 3083View attachment 3084View attachment 3085

The plastic nut picture is poor, so I am attaching a better one.

Note the nuts pictured have 4 segments that expand and are probably intended for a square hole.

There is also a 3 segment version that will work, but it looks like it was made for a round hole.