Headlight access 172

[sand6000]

Has anyone tried seperating the clear lens from the black backing plastic on a Xenon headlight for a 172 Ph 2? The white plastic locators that adjust the ride height are broken so I need to get them apart to fix.

 

[JBC27]

ahh i'm in exactly the same boat, mine are smashed to pieces as well so thinking about doing some sort of bodge. I've read on other forums as well as somewhere on here that the way to do it is heat the unit up and thus soften the glue. The one I saw on here mentioned using near boiling water but that seems messy and more dangerous to me. Looking at the xenons they have a few points around the rim where there appears to be a joint and some glue but i'm assuming they are glued all the way round. Basically it's gonna be a case of whack it in the oven at 70, 80, 90, 100 degrees etc until you find the heat which turns the glue soft enought to pry it apart. Obviously you need to be careful not to go so hot you melt the plastic.

the alternative would be to cut a section out of the back of the casing to give access and then glue that back on with araldite/epox, superglue or similar strong adhesive. Need to take another look at mine see if there is a suitable section to cut out.

 

[JackJack]

In the oven for a bit to soften the glue.

 

[sand6000]

Have just finished mine. Cut a square hole in the back about 60mm x 50mm which will allow access to everything. When done take it to a plastic welder who will have it looking like new. I would not now try the seperation method as it might cause a whole lot of distorsion problems if you just happen to go a couple of degree too high.

 

[JBC27]

Sand have you got a pic you could share of where the hole was cut?

JackJack - have you actually done the oven trick and if so what temp was it at?

 

[sand6000]

Sorry I didn't get a pic and as the lights and bumber are all back together it might not be too easy. The cut is pretty much exactly midway between the 2 apertures where you get at the bulbs. I will try for a photo from under the bonnet and see what I can do.
Let me have your email address and I can send a couple of pics. Don't know how to get pics on the reply. Pat

 

[JBC27]

Mate that is some quick work. I've come up with my own, somewhat crude fix. I just had a pile of tiny white bits of plastic and the majority of the ball which goes in the socket on the part of the inners which is nearest the xenon bulb. As you can't buy the white plastic assembly on its own and I can't see how it's even possible to fit I did this: Glued the ball to the end of a steel rod (yes its a nail). Chopped of the entire adjuster assembly (cog and allen key bit). Which left a hole looking directly at the socket. I've got a rubber gromet around the nail and will fill the hole in with epoxy to the extent that the nail can only move back and forth and will use some sort of gripper to prevent it from moving.
Should then allow me to hold the light assembly still, it won't snap again and will still be adjustable.

Pics is a case of either copy and paste or use the image button near the right end of the tool bar in the quick reply window to upload files from a drive location or url

View attachment 66312

 

[JBC27]

View attachment 66313

 

[JBC27]

Obviously not a 'clean' fix but it won't break again and I have no intention of selling these on, so pretty pleased with the result so far given all the posts on here saying once the plastic joint breaks your only option is a new unit or fix the inner parts still which presumably prevents the self leveling from working. This way I've retained the ability of the lights to self level as well as manually adjust the height and left/right direction.