Cleaning inside of headlamp

haribo · Post by **haribo** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:04 pm

Hi my car failed its mot today due one headlight being dirty on the inside!

i think the previous owner probably had a bulb blow inside the cover and left it like it.

Any advice on how to clean the inside of the plastic lens as on the leganza the headlight lens are sealed to the housing.

Only other option is to buy another headlamp which I don't really want to do.

Please help

Rodd1s · Post by **Rodd1s** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:35 pm

are you sure its completely sealed?
surely there must be a way to remove the lens from the headlamp unit.

have you taken the whole headlamp unit out of the engine bay?

haribo · Post by **haribo** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:42 pm

Yeah I have removed the whole unit. They are sealed around the edge with some kind of silicon or glue, I have been told that you can remove it but you have to heat it up to make it soft. I'm just wondering if there are are any other ways to gain access inside the lens.

Rodd1s · Post by **Rodd1s** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:53 pm

i guess if it's sealed with silicon of sorts, the only way would be to melt it and seperate the lens.

lanos2001 · Post by **lanos2001** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:30 pm

either take a heat gun to it or stick it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes on like 250degrees farenheit and it should come apart with like a flathead screwdriver pretty easily. then just stick it back in the oven when you're done and then press and hold the light for about five minutes or until cool again. oh and put the light on a baking sheet or something not on the rack.

nick

Rodd1s · Post by **Rodd1s** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:01 pm

i'd recommend using a heat gun, i dont think they're too expensive either. and it is something you can use for a lot of things.

Pir0 · Post by **Pir0** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:33 pm

haribo wrote:Yeah I have removed the whole unit. They are sealed around the edge with some kind of silicon or glue, I have been told that you can remove it but you have to heat it up to make it soft. I'm just wondering if there are are any other ways to gain access inside the lens.

Definatly wouldnt reccomend putting it in an oven lol. Most headlights have thin plastic behind the lens cover which quite easily melts, best thing to do is get a heatgun, as it's pretty much more directional than sticking it in an oven. just do it slowly, heat it a bit, then pry it with a screw driver, move on down, heat a bit, pry again etcetc.

If it's dirty ont he inside most likely the lens is cracked somewhere and you havent noticed or it's actually not that well sealed/bit of the seal has broke.

Let us know how it goes anyway, would be interesting. What type of car is it btw?

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:01 pm

ive put lanos headlights in the oven, its ok. just keep the temp low and you will be fine. this is where i got my info from for temp and every thing, yeah he has a honduh but its all the same thing.