Is it okay - Headlight restore

[Trippen Out]

I'm in the middle of cleaning up some frosty lsc headlights. the previous owners turned out that they used RTV AND JB weld to hold the bulbs in. while i was diggin and scratching some of the dust got inside the housing. I was wonderig if its safe to just fill it up with some water and flush it out. or how would you go about getting it out of there.

sucks because the out side of the lights came out pretty nice. but now it looks like a hazey mess on the inside from all the dust. I've got some pics ill post up later after im finished.

i really wanna just smash the previous owner for what he did to these housings. anyway the screw holes were filled with rtv. gotten most of em out and retapped them with 6/32 thread which so far has only caused a small crack on one of them. and it was the bottom one. i figure some super glue or plastic weld should fix that up. and the hole should be good to go.

on a side note i wanna say original screw hole size is probably closer to 1/8th then 6/32nds either way i hope to have these finished soon. im still using the original bulbs if they will fit if not i will have to wait till my ddmtuning kit gets here some time later this week.

incase your wondering. 6000's is what i went with.



Edit: here are the pics i promised. i think i skipped a few but meh.

overall im really happy with the first step I cant wait to install the new bulbs and ballast from DDM Tuning. I think there is an issue with aiming tools as they appear to be stuck. i sprayed them with some WD40 and hopefully later this week they will start to turn so i can get a better aim on the road.

as you can see i had to go through BS in order to be able to use the DLF adapters. and it was the dust from drilling out the jb weld that really kinda ruined the inside of the lenses. this is what ill have to focus on next.

it was really nice pulling up to are local "Circle K" and i could actually see the chrome and the lincoln symbol in the reflection off the glass.

 

[Sapperfire]

Rinse them out with water and a mild detergent ... do not stick any objects in there tho.. no rags or paper towels.. blow dry them out with compressed air

 

[Trippen Out]

damn i wished i would of waited. i ended up shoving a paper town in there. it didnt hurt it to bad. but theres still crap stuck to the front . the lenses are 75 percent better then what they where. i think im gonna have to look for the method on how to seperate the lense from the base so i can clean the insides as well. maybe even do the rechroming.

i get my new bulbs some time this week so they are coming out again. ill try the mild detergent at that point.. is there anything i can put in the solution to give it sort of an abrasive bit to it. know what i mean.

 

[Epwillis]

damn i wished i would of waited. i ended up shoving a paper town in there. it didnt hurt it to bad. but theres still crap stuck to the front . the lenses are 75 percent better then what they where. i think im gonna have to look for the method on how to seperate the lense from the base so i can clean the insides as well. maybe even do the rechroming.

i get my new bulbs some time this week so they are coming out again. ill try the mild detergent at that point.. is there anything i can put in the solution to give it sort of an abrasive bit to it. know what i mean.

You don't want to use anything abrasive on the inside, because you don't want to flake the chrome.

Just use a little bit of dish soap and fill the housings with water and swash it around and blow it out with compressed a air gun

 

[NoLimit95]

I put hot water and Dawn inside mine and then cut two strips off a wash cloth. Drained that water out after a good shaking and then added hot water again with some more Dawn and then stuffed the two strips of rag into the holes so that it would reach all parts, top, sides, bottom and inside of the outer lens. Done all three holes and then rinsed them out real good with hot water and then used a blow drier and they came out much much cleaner.

 

[Trippen Out]

I put hot water and Dawn inside mine and then cut two strips off a wash cloth. Drained that water out after a good shaking and then added hot water again with some more Dawn and then stuffed the two strips of rag into the holes so that it would reach all parts, top, sides, bottom and inside of the outer lens. Done all three holes and then rinsed them out real good with hot water and then used a blow drier and they came out much much cleaner.

Damn i thought i saw that somewhere. i just couldnt find the post you mentioned that on. i will have to try that later this week.

 

[Markviiiedrea]

I'll have to try that on my town cars headlights.

 

[Trippen Out]

I updated the orgianl post with the pics. also the retapping of the holes went descent for the most part. one on housing it was perfect. all three tapped out and screwed in just dandy. you can see that in the one picture where i show the DFL adapters. however on the second housing the bottom hole cracked and broke away. the other two holes actually tapped out a little bigger so i had to adjust by use a little bigger screw and grinding the tips off of them. but meh. its good enough for now. when i get the new bulbs in i will redo them all and litely coat the outside of the ring with RTV to seal em. I wont be a douche bag and do what the last owner did.

 

[My Great 8]

Good job man!! I remember that Dodge truck in the background!

 

[UltimateSVT]

Rinse them out with water and a mild detergent ... do not stick any objects in there tho.. no rags or paper towels.. blow dry them out with compressed air

+10! You shouldn't have stuck anything in there. They are VERY fragile.

 

[Trippen Out]

So i received my kit from DDM Tuning. friggin 2 weeks at least on the shipping. i hope these things are worth it. the ballast are small ad hell. and look like generic china junk. they dont even have lables on em.

hopefully the person who bastardize the origianl lights didnt f-up the stock connectors and maybe i can get these things wired in where it doesnt always trigger the check lights warning when i turn em on.

 

[keVIIIn]

maybe i can get these things wired in where it doesnt always trigger the check lights warning when i turn em on.

Not likely..unless you clip the wire under the dash to rid yourself of the check headlamps message, it will pop up. Mine is strange..sometimes it will give me the message right after I turn on the headlights and other times it takes 10-15 minutes of driving with the lights on until the warning pops up...not sure why..although I did notice when my alternator was going bad, the "check headlamps" message never came up..and when I replaced the alternator it was back to normal with the warning message..don't get it..maybe something to do with a drop in voltage??

 

[BIG ROLLER]

Nice job on the restore. Those lights are going to shine.

Subscribing for future reference.

 

[Stangman]

I tell ya, I bought two sets of ddm lights, and 2 relayed harnesses off ebay and everything works flawlessly for me.

 

[Trippen Out]

SO i got the new lights in. got them aimed up. everything looks great on the road. i can not believe the difference. sad to say ive been driving with busted ass lights pointing down for as long as i have.


so it appears i have one original balast in the car. someone snipped the wires on it. so pretty much getting the car to work proper is a lost cause now. ill forever have to deal with that check lights error. I know you can snip the wire but then you lose the ability to have it trigger if any of the other lights actually do malfunction.

i also saw just how bad i need to get the inside of the lenses done as well. anywhere is was a quick of them turned on and been glowing for a little bit. sadly unlike the rest of the pics my phone just didnt like the night time shot. so it is what it is.

 

[JDS353]

i have used aluminum air duct tape polished to reline the gen i lenses. getting ready to wire the rear turn signels with a kit from web electric for sequintels installing 3157 bulbs in the bar on the 95 jds.

 

[NoLimit95]

Trippen, you can clip that wire and if you have a bulb go out elsewhere, you will get the message still. Mine is clipped and one of my brake lights went out and it let me know on the message center. I went ahead and put in both new bulbs at the same time because I don't know how old either of them were and both of them weren't the same brand but now they are. Anyway, just letting you know that by clipping the wire, you're not ridding the message of another bulb outage. You'll still get it if one does go out.

 

[chris2523]

Trippen, you can clip that wire and if you have a bulb go out elsewhere, you will get the message still. Mine is clipped and one of my brake lights went out and it let me know on the message center. I went ahead and put in both new bulbs at the same time because I don't know how old either of them were and both of them weren't the same brand but now they are. Anyway, just letting you know that by clipping the wire, you're not ridding the message of another bulb outage. You'll still get it if one does go out.

yeah, there are like 4 of the lamp out trigger wires. i had to dig all of them out cuz they didn't like my LED turn signals. but yes, its a headlamp out message, not tail light out message. they are separate.

 

[Hot*Mk8]

So which wire are you guys clipping just for the headlights? Thanks!

 

[Trippen Out]

Trippen, you can clip that wire and if you have a bulb go out elsewhere, you will get the message still. Mine is clipped and one of my brake lights went out and it let me know on the message center. I went ahead and put in both new bulbs at the same time because I don't know how old either of them were and both of them weren't the same brand but now they are. Anyway, just letting you know that by clipping the wire, you're not ridding the message of another bulb outage. You'll still get it if one does go out.

are you f-ing kidding me man. i asked when i first got my car and someone told me that all em run through that wire. or i would of snipped that bitch 2 years ago.


@ Hot*Mk8

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00096.html

down towards the bottom of the article it tells you which wire to clip. i would double check to see if its the same on a gen 2

 

[NoLimit95]

No, not kiddin lol. Only takes about 5 minutes to clip it and most of the time spent is removing glove box contents and replacing but only one little bolt holds the lamp out module and it is for the headlights only. I know for a fact that it has no interaction with the tail lights for sure because when my brake light went out, the message center told me and beeped. So, snip that bad boy and be done with it. I have two HID kits and since the wire snip, I have only seen the message once and it was the brake light going out that caused it.

Don't feel bad, it took me over 2 years to get down there and snip my wire but it's done now and haven't had any problems with anything by doing it. Usually if you get the message right off the get go, it's because one HID bulb didn't come on with the other. Someone mentioned that, I think Kevin. Any Gen 1 that has or is going to be converted over to HID lighting needs a relay kit installed too. Most Gen 2's will never throw the message but 99% of the Gen 1's will. Relay kits are easy to install and help out quite a bit to ensure that both bulbs do come on. It gives the ballasts a little more power to work with.

 

[NoLimit95]

So which wire are you guys clipping just for the headlights? Thanks!

Laurie, just remove what you have in the glove box and then drop it down. Right next to the latch, you will see one small bolt, I think a 5/16's works but could be wrong on that size. Loosen the bolt and you will find that it is a little longer than it should be. I have no idea why they put such a long bolt in but anyway, pull the lamp module down and look on the corner of the wiring. It's a brown wire with a blue stripe. Just snip it but leave room for future re-connection, just in case you want to splice it back together. Once clipped, put the module back in place and then put the bolt back in and get your glove box back in place and refill. You're done. Same color as Gen 1

 

[NoLimit95]

Here is a few shots of my view from inside the car and this is with the halogen housings put back in with 6000K lows and 10,000K highs.

Drive-Thru

 

[Trippen Out]

No, not kiddin lol. Only takes about 5 minutes to clip it and most of the time spent is removing glove box contents and replacing but only one little bolt holds the lamp out module and it is for the headlights only. I know for a fact that it has no interaction with the tail lights for sure because when my brake light went out, the message center told me and beeped. So, snip that bad boy and be done with it. I have two HID kits and since the wire snip, I have only seen the message once and it was the brake light going out that caused it.

Don't feel bad, it took me over 2 years to get down there and snip my wire but it's done now and haven't had any problems with anything by doing it. Usually if you get the message right off the get go, it's because one HID bulb didn't come on with the other. Someone mentioned that, I think Kevin. Any Gen 1 that has or is going to be converted over to HID lighting needs a relay kit installed too. Most Gen 2's will never throw the message but 99% of the Gen 1's will. Relay kits are easy to install and help out quite a bit to ensure that both bulbs do come on. It gives the ballasts a little more power to work with.

Nice. I am so clipping that fkr this weekend.

 

[MediumD]

I was about to refurbish the headlamps for my Crown Vic, they're getting hazy... Instead, I just ordered a pair of brand new headlamp assemblies. Thank you all for reminding me just what a good deal I got at $55 for a pair of (non-OEM, but still perfect looking) brand new headlamps...