Joined
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100 Posts
What the hell you supposed to do when that damn headlight removal/retaining thingy is broken and you need to get the light out ?!!:anger:
This was left broken for me by the last owner :???:
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I'd been putting this problem off for quite some time, as all the lights worked anyway, so there was no reason to remove the headlight unit. But the inevitable happened, the parking light in the outside corner of the headlight unit blew, and I got sick of the car screaming at me every time I started it
So I finally decided to fix this problem, but really had no luck with trying to turn the gear, on the end of the shaft that locks the headlight in place, there's just no room to get anything decent on the end of the gear, even vice grips were just slipping. I really didn't envy the thought of removing the front bumper, and what ever else, just to get to the headlight, for the sake of a $2.00 globe.
so I tried something different, with excellent results.
I pulled the other headlight out (which works fine, thankfully ) to have a look at how the locking mechanism worked, and I figured if I could get something long and thin to fit between the bottom of the light and the mounting tray, I might be able to unclip the lock that holds the light in place. so I fashioned a piece of aluminium with a wedge shape at one end and marked the approximate length to reach the lock.
![Auto part Steel Metal]()
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![Land vehicle Vehicle Headlamp Car Automotive lighting]()
It took quite a bit of playing around to finally find the lock and get it to release, because your trying to work blind, but using the other light as a guide I got the right spot.
So I now had the light released, but the damn thing wasn't going to come out that easy, there was a whole bunch of crud jamming up the catch that stops the light sliding out of the tray, so some more struggling and I finally got it free
![Auto part Automotive exhaust Exhaust system]()
So after finally getting the light out of the car, and changing the globe, I decided to eliminate the problem of the "gear drive" release mechanism, by making a different end for the release rod that simply takes a 13mm spanner to turn and release. Problem solved (but not without some cursing )
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![Auto part Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle]()
This was left broken for me by the last owner :???:
I'd been putting this problem off for quite some time, as all the lights worked anyway, so there was no reason to remove the headlight unit. But the inevitable happened, the parking light in the outside corner of the headlight unit blew, and I got sick of the car screaming at me every time I started it
So I finally decided to fix this problem, but really had no luck with trying to turn the gear, on the end of the shaft that locks the headlight in place, there's just no room to get anything decent on the end of the gear, even vice grips were just slipping. I really didn't envy the thought of removing the front bumper, and what ever else, just to get to the headlight, for the sake of a $2.00 globe.
so I tried something different, with excellent results.
I pulled the other headlight out (which works fine, thankfully ) to have a look at how the locking mechanism worked, and I figured if I could get something long and thin to fit between the bottom of the light and the mounting tray, I might be able to unclip the lock that holds the light in place. so I fashioned a piece of aluminium with a wedge shape at one end and marked the approximate length to reach the lock.
It took quite a bit of playing around to finally find the lock and get it to release, because your trying to work blind, but using the other light as a guide I got the right spot.
So I now had the light released, but the damn thing wasn't going to come out that easy, there was a whole bunch of crud jamming up the catch that stops the light sliding out of the tray, so some more struggling and I finally got it free
So after finally getting the light out of the car, and changing the globe, I decided to eliminate the problem of the "gear drive" release mechanism, by making a different end for the release rod that simply takes a 13mm spanner to turn and release. Problem solved
(but not without some cursing ) 
