ugh... headlight is fogged
Captain
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 548
Likes: 0
From: College Station
RE: ugh... headlight is fogged
what year is it? first gen are just sealed beam headlights that you can buy at autozone for 10$ a piece or so.
For the second gen:
"The '94s were (I believe) the only year you could get those headlights in glass. The next year they switched to Lexan. The Lexan lenses don't fog up, but are prone to scratching. They are also colored differently- the glass ones have a colored insert whereas the Lexan ones are painted on the exterior. OK. Having said all that - yes, a few people have successfully pulled the glass ones apart. They removed the few clips there are, and used a heat gun (or maybe even an hair dryer) to break the seal between the plastic body of the headlight and the glass. Once apart, they cleaned off the condensation and resealed using some type of putty or ribbon that can be bought at auto paint supply stores. (NOTE: I imagine you can use Super Fast Urethane - a 3M product used to install windshields - but that stuff is PERMANANT. It is VERY strong, won't melt, and you'd have to cut it to separate those parts again). Anyway, as I understand it, the first one takes forever to get apart, but the second goes much easier as you get a sense of where the adhesive is and where you need to apply heat. I've heard that the condensation comes back, as this was a design flaw with these headlights. But, there are drip holes that are supposed to expel this water. Someone siliconed those closed and (last I heard) hasn't had a reoccurrence of this problem. ---Ron "from: www.team3s.com/FAQheadlights.htm
For the second gen:
"The '94s were (I believe) the only year you could get those headlights in glass. The next year they switched to Lexan. The Lexan lenses don't fog up, but are prone to scratching. They are also colored differently- the glass ones have a colored insert whereas the Lexan ones are painted on the exterior. OK. Having said all that - yes, a few people have successfully pulled the glass ones apart. They removed the few clips there are, and used a heat gun (or maybe even an hair dryer) to break the seal between the plastic body of the headlight and the glass. Once apart, they cleaned off the condensation and resealed using some type of putty or ribbon that can be bought at auto paint supply stores. (NOTE: I imagine you can use Super Fast Urethane - a 3M product used to install windshields - but that stuff is PERMANANT. It is VERY strong, won't melt, and you'd have to cut it to separate those parts again). Anyway, as I understand it, the first one takes forever to get apart, but the second goes much easier as you get a sense of where the adhesive is and where you need to apply heat. I've heard that the condensation comes back, as this was a design flaw with these headlights. But, there are drip holes that are supposed to expel this water. Someone siliconed those closed and (last I heard) hasn't had a reoccurrence of this problem. ---Ron "from: www.team3s.com/FAQheadlights.htm