How To Crack Open Headlights (Moved)

[tx_bandit]

After reading so many posts about how difficult opening the 300 headlights could be I decided to try for myself. I will admit that when I started I was not sure how this was going to come out but fortune smiled on me so here is a step by step pictorial of how to do it.

First step to is pulling off the front bumper. There are plenty of posts on this so I won't spent any time on it. If you need directions reference this post here:

How To - Front Fascia & Grille Removal

Once you get the bumper off there are three tork screws holding the lights- two on top and one on the bottom.

Once you remove the three screws unplug all the wiring harnesses

I removed the HID bulbs but did not remove the ballasts.

Ok, here is the secret to opening the housing. Its patience. Yeah, I know that sucks as far as secrets go but it’s a fact. If you try to rush this you will either give up in frustration or ruin your headlights.

I read a lot of posts about people having to all but broil their headlights to get them to open. I never went over 230 degrees Fahrenheit. I did however wind up heating the lights several times each during the process.

First I pre-heated the oven to 230 and baked the first light for 20 minutes. When the timer went off I moved the hot headlight to the counter and put the second headlight in and re-set the timer for 20 minutes


While the second headlight was baking I began working on the hot housing. Start at a corner and slowly work the tip of the screwdriver around that corner. DO NOT USE TOO MUCH FORCE OR YOU WILL BREAK SOMETHING. If you don't have any luck with one corner go to the next.


By the time you have fiddled with the four corners on the first housing the 20 minute timer will go off. Swap the headlight housings in the oven and repeat the above process


Once you get back to the headlight housing you started with drop the timer down to 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes you are going to swap headlights. Around the second or third swap you will finally start seeing some progress, you will get the first gap to appear.


Don't try and pull it apart yet, the glue on the rest of the light is still too tight and you will crack the cover. Look for dark areas around the edge like this:


These dark areas are where the glue in on extra thick and needs to be worked with the edge of the screwdriver. If you can't get this area free then swap out for the light in the oven and work on the other housing...


Once you have worked all the dark glue areas you will start seeing some progress. Again, be patient and take your time. If you get stuck, swap out the lights and work on the hot one! As the lights cool the factory glue hardens so always work on a hot light.


Eventually your hard work and perseverance will pay off and the two sides will split


Before you start installing the halos or painting the housing you need to clean out the left over factory adhesive:


Once you clean out the groove it should look like this:


Now install halos or paint your housing then seal them up with black silicone and then go show off your work.