99 firebird headlight motor gear

just got my firebird in january, only has 17000 miles on it. just wanted to know how often does the headlight motor gear go out? i think that is the problem with mine right now. i can turn on my alarm and the headlights wanna open and close and make a horribly loud grinding noise! also when i try to turn off the headlights it does the same thing. if that is the case with the motor gear, what is the cheapest place to get one from? ive tried all the auto shops around town and they say they would have to contact pontiac...anyone with ideas on either where to find one, or how to manually keep the headlights open without having to close would be very helpful! thanks

When my headlight motors went bad i got mine through a Chevy dealer...and then a few days after that i found that you can buy brass gears on ebay to replace the plastic worn out gears from the factory. From what i have read on the forums this is a pretty simple job to do, I know that when mine got bad again i will buy the brass gears

thanks...i found another website online that offers the brass ones for only 39.99 plus 6.00 s/h. i went ahead and ordered a set after i got a quote from the dealerships....wow what a difference!!! thanks again i hope this fixes the problem