fluke

Instead of buying a set of new headlamps, i'm wondering if theres a way to get inside of the headlamp housing to clean it. I just bought an '00 GS and i think it's the inside that looks dirty and cloudy. Is that the moisture issue that i've heard of? It's no longer on warranty and i just need advice on how to take it off. I've seen people trying to sell lense cleaner on ebay and i don't know if that would work. Can you also buy a replacement lense or does the whole headlight assembly have to be removed? I wish i had a pic to show you how it looks, but it shows it on the top of the headlight.

edit: So it looks like Meguiars Plastx is the key. Looks like a fun project. Can anyone give me tips on prying the lense off of the housing?? I'm about to do a search on doing this. Any keywords to search under?

LB Lex

I need to clean the inside of mine too because it looks like it has a little dirt on the inside. The outside is flawless though. Unfortunately, I don't want to pry off the lense. I wish there was some other way to clean the inside of the lens

GSoup

of what i know just to take the headlight off you have to remove the bumper..so its not an easy task.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Trust me, taking the healight lens is about 10x easier than removing the bumper! There are so many hidden bolts holding the freaking bumper in. The first time i tried taking my bumper off....it took me 2 hours! But that was before I knew about this forum

Anyways, to clean the inside you will have to take apart the headlights. There is no way a stick and rag will fit inside the little opening from the bulbs.....and dont try that either you dont want any lint buildup nor do you want the stick to come off the rag and start scratching stuff up in there.

Just search on the forum for 'bumper removal' and there are plenty of guides showing you how to do that. Then for the headlights....you gota throw them in the oven. Preheat to 350F(headlights not in oven yet), turn off oven (make sure you do this!!!), then put the headlights in the oven 15-20mins(make sure you have plates under the headlight so the plastic does not touch anything metal in the oven or else you will have some burn marks on the housings). Remove screws along the outer casing of the headlights(5-6 or so i think). Then start to pry the housing apart. To put back together just reverse the procedure.

For the inside of the lens....if the previous owner had a problem of consensation very often then the inside of the lens may of yellowed or turned white. This yellow/white layer is actually a layer of the plastic that is damaged, not a film of stuff that you can wipe off. In that case you will need to sand it down with 800-1000-2000grit sandpaper in that order. Then use a plastic polishing compound along with a polisher.

Oh yea, for the plastic polish....I use Novus 3 step plastic polish. That stuff is AMAZING! I bought a set of used 98 housings to do my hid retrofit project. They were scratched and pitted pretty bad. After some sandpaper and plastic polish they were just as good as the ones on my car which is an '05.
Good Luck!

fluke

Thanks, that's very helpful advice. I searched and found a thread on this. I'm going to try the Meguiar's Plastx. I didn't know that the headlights were plastic, I thought glass? I hope it turns out clean and I'll wait on getting HID's until it's clean.

Exsys2000

I did purchase the head light restorer on ebay and was going to post a full write up about it but I feel the need to give a heads up now. The paste was relatively inexpensive so I figured why not. I applied the paste to my embarassingly clouded head lights on my 2002 not expecting much. When I wiped it off after leaving it on for a full 15 minutes, I was truly amazed. My head lights looked darn near new. I wish I could post pictures but I did not take "before" pictures. When I have time and daylight, I will take "after" pictures of the 2002. I plan to use the remaining paste on the 1998 GS and will take before and after pictures. The 1998 lights are not as bad as the 2002 was but could use improvement. On the 02, it looked as if someone had put Armorall on the lights and let it bake in the sun. The 02 head lights are still only slightly cloudy probably because of the condensation on the inside but I am not embarassed to back into a parking space anymore. For those that are interested, the ebay item I purchased is here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=8014928834

It came in a plain jar and could be McGuires ScratchX in a jar but it did work. It doesn't smell nice, sort of like shrimp paste but I didn't care. You should give it a try before you go through all the trouble of removing and baking the head lights. I got results that are good enough for me to be satisfied and not pursue the problem any further.

Good luck.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

LexTPOP, the part I was mentioning about popping off the lens by baking in the oven....well thats if you wanted to clean the inside of the housing. If just cleaning the outside where the scratches and pits are....theres no need to take the housing apart. However I still recommend sanding the outside of the lens to get rid of the deeper pits. Keep in mind sanding is usually not recommended on polycarbonate because it usually removes a hard protective film layer on the outside, but I figure if it has been subject to that many years of scratching and pitting maybe that layer is no longer effective. I did it anyway on my retrofitted headlight housings and my lights still look great

Edit: All of these plastic polishing compounds are ALL abrasive. So they are smoothing the surface by removing the top layers of the plastic where the scratches are. I use Novus 3 step plastic polish and that stuff is downright amazing.

Exsys2000

I am familiar with the baking concept. I was just noting that it is a difficult and risky procedure. As I stated, I do still have some clouding on the lense because of what is on the inside but after I applied the paste the lights have cleared up enough where I don't feel the need to clean the inside of the lights. At least not for now. An easy and cheap fix for clearing them up about 90%. It would be a lot of work to get the remaining 10%.

fluke

I'm excited. I have everything ready for this weekend to clean it. I'll try to take a before and after pic and hopefully it'll be like night and day. I bought the Meguiar's PlastX, 1000 grit sandpaper, Clear Silicone. Now comes the work. I've tried this before on my friends Civic years ago and it was a pain to take apart. Of course all we used was a silly hairdryer. But Still it was frustrating.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

Baking lights in the oven ? Just get new ones.....There is a rubber seal around the lights guys. Plus not to mention, you will screw up the auto leeling mechanism. If you have non HID lights, then go ahead.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Yes, risky. But hey its free compared to $1000+ for a new set! The seal is a thermally active type of adhesive. It goes from being a hard sealant at room temp to a sticky/tacky (kind of like playdough) softness when heated to around 150F. I don't think 150F is enough to screw up anything in the headlights. Note....its not really baking the headlights in the oven. You are supposed to heat to 350, TURN OFF oven, and then stick the lights in there. Let the ambient heat warm up the housings(once the oven is off and you open the door the temp drops about 50F almost instantly). If you leave the oven turned ON and stick the headlights in....you will end up with a stinky pile of goo in the oven...not to mention the fact that your wife/mom will beat you s**tless!. If anyone attempts this, always add an extra layer of clear silicon sealant on top of the original adhesive to ensure the maximum barrier to water when resealing the lights.

Since this is a risky procedure....I only recommend it to Pros, whoever has a good amount of DIY or fabrication ability/experience, or if your warranty is out and you are were about to get a new set of lights anyway.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

I've baked open a few light assys, but never on a car w/ auto leveling...

if I want to clean the inside of my lens (with HID and auto leveling), am I screwed with the DIY route?

mole

iTrader: (3)

Well, still not free, but the price on the sewell lexus site is $549 for the pair of green tint HID or non-HID before clublexus discount. I think our discount is 10% but someone will have to help me by confirming or clarifying. With the discount before shipping it would be $494 and then with shipping added back in, probably something like $525 with out tax.

I am going to be doing this soon as my lights have condensation and discoloring and all kinds of crap going on.

The description is "Contents include both left and right Head Lamp Sub-Assemblies. Each head lamp is accompanied with the auto-leveling motor. Computer not included."

http://www.lexus-parts.com/partdetai...CategoryID=101

and no, I am not affiliated or anything, just bumping some information.

Kreuzer

From exp folks, don't stick something in your headlights to clean them. I have done over 100 is300 lights and have seen it all from people. I removed a red shop rag from someone's lights last week.

The inside of the lenses are SUPPPPPPPER soft, ur finger tip which could have just been cleaned and all can scratch it.......

I always say, get new lights and protect them.

D

o2GS43o

If your going to take the lense off, might as well do a retro