Without going into details, I got water in a BA XR type headlight. Fine except with the clear lens there are now some water drop marks on the inside of the headlight. Bummer.
Anyhow, I obviously want to get rid of these but of course there's next to no access and Hella have bonded the lens on with this sealant that is real hard to get at.
I remember some places reconditioning headlights ( must be able to pull them apart) so maybe they can do an open, clean, and close job?
Or can anyone think of another way to clean the headlight's insides?
Might have an idea. The glue holding the lamps together is a heat affected type. Might be able to heat the light assy up and soften the glue enough to separate the lens.
Then again, the 8 inch cotton bud might also work.....
Swab as much as you can, the put it in the sun or somewhere hot and let the rest evaporate ( thru the bulb holes which you'd have to have at the top ) . . . a final run with a dry swap should finish it up ?
How did the moisture get in there? Not much point just drying it out if its gonna be wet again the next time it rains. Or, you could be like Strider and not drive it in the rain. :1poke:
Some of the guys with AU's have been putting their headlights in the oven to get them open. Do a search, might be the same for the BA.
I did the AU ones on my car. They didn't quite fit in the oven, so I used a towel to form a seal to keep the heat in. I put them in for around 2 minutes at 100 degrees C. This heats the silastic just enough to pry the clear cover off the body of the light.
Falkeen is also a good person to ask - perhaps you should PM him, as he has also done the AU lights.
jcv8, did you paint yours like the t-series ones?? I am thinking about doing this, how long did it roughly take, for some reason I am scared of the idea of sticking my lights in an oven
The whole process takes a couple of hours. You have to put the lights in for about 2 minutes, then it takes about 10 or so to pry the lens off the main light body. Then you have to remove the indicator. Then remove the chrome from the light surround. Then prime it, then spray it your chosen colour (black for me), then reassemble. Then do the other light.
BTW - Make sure you use a good quality acrylic paint to do this - probably engine enamel is best as the lights get pretty hot. I used standard paint and now have some bubbles in it.
It's not too bad. If you can't remove the lens after the first 2 minutes, put the light back in the oven for 1 minute - keep doing this until you can pry the lens from the body.
Aussie Pete wrote on 12th May, 2003 12:34 PM:
Can you please advise whether the heat you use to disassemble the Falcon headlights is 170/180 deg F or deg C? See my thread for what I'm trying to do.
This is for BA headlights, but the dissassembly procedures are the same for AU
howdy yeah i reco headlights for a living 160/170 degrees celcius is the temp we use our oven at be VERRY careful as the inside of the lenses is a verry soft plastic - its almost rubbery (they make the lenses in layers toughened outside some UV coating in the middle and a soft plastic inside) let the lens cool after you get them apart, and use a mist type spray bottle (we use the armourall bottles filled with clean water) then use some really soft tissues (kleenex is our brand - make sure to get the plain ones the aloe vera ones leave a wierd oily smear everywere) spray the reflector and inside of the lens with water and carefully use the tissues in straight lines dont rub or you will scratch just slide the tissue inside. before you reassemble put the lens and the body/reflector in the oven again to make sure to completeley dry em out then put em together and put back in the oven
ill warn ya tho on the BA's we have discovered ford did a boo boo and they have put a pin into the lens on the bottom just under the indicator in that little corner type bit you will see wat i mean.
they did this because they forgot to put a clip thing on the lens in that corner, and this keeps the lens in position till the silastic sets
just rip it out and put a SMALL screw in there instead VERRY CAREFULLY - you may even have to drill a new pilot hole for the screw so as to not crack the lens
ill also add i am in no way responsible for anything that may happen to your headlight in this procedure
if you be really careful you wont do anythnig that will ruin the headlight
Personally dude on a new car you should be just claiming it on warranty!
Water shouldnt be getting in there in the first place!
I would be pissed if I stuffed a new headlight that could have been replaced under warranty, when the warranty runs out that is different, anything is worth a try to save some dollars.
Time for the full story...
(AP has a golden rule - only post when you have success :running: )
I got myself into trouble because I was fitting (sorry, given some governmental revenue department people may be lurking please insert the word "maybe" wherever I say I did something) strobes to my headlights. Took the lights off and chose a spot underneath the indicator section. Drilled away using a vacuum cleaner in the globe hole to suck out the swarf.
PROBLEM! There is a gap between the outer housing and the indicator reflector so the swarf had another way to go and with the static on the lens (Polycarbonate) the swarf went like a magnet all through the headlight.
So, how do you get rid of static? It all deteriorated from there....
Anyhow, with the use of an oven last evening, a bit of supplementary Dow Corning light sealant, and patience I have two headlights sitting back on the car. The instructions from MadNC above work well. I used a temp of 80-90deg C and baked the lights for around 15 minutes. Easy disassy after that.
Time for the full story...
(AP has a golden rule - only post when you have success :running: )
I got myself into trouble because I was fitting (sorry, given some governmental revenue department people may be lurking please insert the word "maybe" wherever I say I did something) strobes to my headlights. Took the lights off and chose a spot underneath the indicator section. Drilled away using a vacuum cleaner in the globe hole to suck out the swarf.
PROBLEM! There is a gap between the outer housing and the indicator reflector so the swarf had another way to go and with the static on the lens (Polycarbonate) the swarf went like a magnet all through the headlight.
So, how do you get rid of static? It all deteriorated from there....
Anyhow, with the use of an oven last evening, a bit of supplementary Dow Corning light sealant, and patience I have two headlights sitting back on the car. The instructions from MadNC above work well. I used a temp of 80-90deg C and baked the lights for around 15 minutes. Easy disassy after that.
I'll do a tech article for ford-tech.com. Then MadNC can tell me what I did wrong (even though they seemed to work) and we'll post article revision 1 :drevil: :thup:
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