S-Type Headlight Repair

Well it was time to make repairs to my wobbling and non adjustable headlights.  What I found was that all the adjusters on both sets of lights were broken causing the light reflector to float loosely causing the light not to be directed where I needed it.

I have been putting this off for a long  time and finally decided to do it.  I had seen several posts on temporary repairs  (I did that at first)  and how to do a real fix.  I elected to do the real fix this time.   

Rather than repeat myself you can go to my other repair that shows you how to remove your headlights.  You will also see the temporary repair I did to the headlight the first time.

The small broken parts of the adjusters were the first indication that things have gone bad with the headlight adjustments

I have seen several posts on how to remove the lens from just prying it off, putting it in the oven to using a hot gun.  I had a hot gun and elected to do it that way.  I was not in favor of placing it in the oven for several reasons (one was the wife).

What I elected to do was to use a stout wire from one side of the lens to the other crisscross to apply even pull so not to crack the lens.  I then used the hot gun all the way around to soften the sealant.  Then I applied pressure to separate the lens from the back.

I pulled the back  off I used the heat gun to soften the grip of the sealant to separate the lens.

I did use a screwdriver to assist in the separation to prevent an uneven pull that could crack the lens.

Photo of it pulling it apart.  Know that at no time did I force it to come apart.

Photo with the lens off.  It did not take much force to separate them.

At this point the light section fell out.  Try not to get smudges or finger prints on it.  I did find dust and a few water stains on it so I used a soft clean cloth and gently cleaned it off.

Pulled the plug from the light.

Once I got it unplugged all the parts started falling out.

This is the pile of broken parts from both lights and I must say I was surprised.

This is what a few looked like.  On the top right I used a pick to force the broken ball adjuster out and on the lower right I had to use a peg  to push the other ball out.  It was so hard to get out that I had to put a socket on the top and gently tap the ball out.

Now this was the hard part.  I know that I spent at least an hour cleaning the old sealant /calk to enable me to apply the new RV sealant and lens.

My cleaning the sealant out.

After I got everything together I sanded and polished both lenses and reinstalled them in the car.  I then took it to the local garage to have the lights set properly.

What a difference it all made.  It was a day well spent!

I guess by now you are asking where I got the replacement parts.  I got the RV calk from my local auto parts store and after much searching on the web for the adjuster parts I found them on EBay and this is the guy I got them from.