I'm sure I'm not the only one

One of my headlights has some yellow stains inside, algae-esque. Presumably thanks to some sort of slight water leak on the seal.

Does anyone know if it is possible to take the headlights apart and clean them out? Or is it the classic thing that as soon as you touch them they will shatter disintegrate into a thousand peices?


Quite upsetting how expensive a replacement is so would be interested to hear from anyone who's tackled this!

 

You can kinda see what I'm talking about here, right hand side in the corners of the lights.

 

My car is old and i can honestly say mine doesnt have this, you sure its mould and not a stain or somesort?

 

Search for condensation inside the headlight - you're quite correct in that you're not the only one suffering from this.

 

I did look at the condensation threads but they seem to be more about the lights steaming up. Looks like there is a rubber bit you can remove to let the light "breath" and reduce this effect but before I can do that I need to open the light to clean out the yellow stained bits somehow, which I'm thinking is when it all goes horribly wrong (and expensive)

 

I ended up buying a used headlight to solve this issue with mine (generally they go for around £200-£300 each) - but i'm told that if you take it out and get a heatgun and go around the edges over and over you can melt the seal and take it apart to clean. then re-seal afterwards - although from reading on threads, i get the impression that there is a knack to resealing as excessive resealing won't let it breath but not enough and you're back to square one... i'm sure someone with more knowledge than I will be along to tell you if that's total rubbish though!

 

The cause will be the same, condensation.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZxuWg9mXXo

 

i've not had condesation issues with any car i've owned, but would a small hole drilled in the bottom of the casing be enough for this? i'm guessing by what you've wrote, there is a gap in the sealer allowing it to breathe, therefore my thought is a small hole in the bottom of the plastic casing to allow it to breathe, but not get sh1te/water in would be a possible workaround..

just a thought...

 

Correct. A hole with a tube leading to the wheel arch would be better as the low pressure generated there would suck the moisture out.

Or you could do what I do, and remove the rubber cover around the main beam...no issues whatsoever since I removed it