avatar28
SHO Member
So my headlights had some major condensation issues. When I got the car, one of the lights was out and when I replaced it I found the bulb was shattered. A few days ago, the other one went out. Same story. I put a new bulb in only for IT to shatter two days later (it was raining each time). No visible cracks so I can only assume moisture was getting in around the seal.
Today I set out to fix the problem. The threads on here made it seem like removing the headlight assembly was a complete PITA but it really needed to be done to do it right. I found that it wasn't NEARLY as hard as the other threads on here made it seem. I used a medium-sized pair of needle-nose pliers to spread the sides of the clip and hold it open and then used a flathead screwdriver to prise it up. The top two were pretty easy. The bottom one was harder. The top part of the clip that bends away from the assembly snapped clean off and there was nothing to grab. So I improvised. Used the screwdriver to snap off the two parts you have to spread and then bent the top corners of the remaining part of the clip outwards so I could just grab it with the pliers and work it off. Mission accomplished.
Shook out most of the loose broken glass and used a hair dryer to dry the moisture. Looking through the hole, the reflector was terrible. It was covered with a bad whitish haze. I could tell that the glue around the assembly looked pretty bad. Since I had silicone to reseal them, I carefully pried the clear front part off and went to town with some glass cleaner. Using the silicone I sealed it all back up (I hope) and after giving it some time to cure I reinstalled it on my car. Already the beam is much better, even without cleaning the haze from the front.
Before cleaning.
After cleaning.
Today I set out to fix the problem. The threads on here made it seem like removing the headlight assembly was a complete PITA but it really needed to be done to do it right. I found that it wasn't NEARLY as hard as the other threads on here made it seem. I used a medium-sized pair of needle-nose pliers to spread the sides of the clip and hold it open and then used a flathead screwdriver to prise it up. The top two were pretty easy. The bottom one was harder. The top part of the clip that bends away from the assembly snapped clean off and there was nothing to grab. So I improvised. Used the screwdriver to snap off the two parts you have to spread and then bent the top corners of the remaining part of the clip outwards so I could just grab it with the pliers and work it off. Mission accomplished.
Shook out most of the loose broken glass and used a hair dryer to dry the moisture. Looking through the hole, the reflector was terrible. It was covered with a bad whitish haze. I could tell that the glue around the assembly looked pretty bad. Since I had silicone to reseal them, I carefully pried the clear front part off and went to town with some glass cleaner. Using the silicone I sealed it all back up (I hope) and after giving it some time to cure I reinstalled it on my car. Already the beam is much better, even without cleaning the haze from the front.
Before cleaning.
After cleaning.
