04-08 Headlight reflector, 3-4 dollar fix
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Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Near Houston
04-08 Headlight reflector, 3-4 dollar fix
Have your orange reflectors come loose at the corner? Are they just vibrating away in the housing?
Its not a real common problem but it does happen, and when it does the reflectors rattle and slowly rub against the clear front plastic. They can eventually wear the clear plastic and leave an ugly permanent mark if left loose.
Mine happened when i put together the housing after the projector retrofit. The ugly orange reflector popped loose while assembling the housing and i already had the gooey sealant in place.
Others happen from rough terrain.
You could bake the headlights, open them up, and then seal them again but why the hassle unless your going to black them out.
Heres what I did.
I went to the local Walmart and got the smallest bag of ballons i could find as I only need one. 40pk of 7" balloons. $1.50
Then i headed to the pet section and bought an 8FT length of tubing for aquariums. $1.57
Youll also need two pennies, a small rubber band, and just a smidge of patience $0.03-$0.04
Remove your headlamp as well as the park/turn signal bulb.
Drop two pennies into a balloon to weigh it down.
then insert about an inch and a half of tubing into the balloon end and tie it tightly with a rubber band. Tape may work too but may not seal up well enough.
Insert your balloon thru the parking lamp hole, and slowly feed it down to the outside corner under the reflector.
Once there tilt your headlamp so that the weight of the pennies pushes the deflated balloon into place in the center of the reflector. it may be necessary to flip the light upside down or shake it a bit.
It didnt take but a few seconds to move the balloon into place.
take a deep breath and inflate. It doesnt take very much pressure to pop them in, youll hear it snap.
Thats it, slowly pull the tube and balloon out and re-install your headlamp.
It took me longer to procure the materials than actually doing it, from headlamp removal to install it took me less than five min.
Its not a real common problem but it does happen, and when it does the reflectors rattle and slowly rub against the clear front plastic. They can eventually wear the clear plastic and leave an ugly permanent mark if left loose.
Mine happened when i put together the housing after the projector retrofit. The ugly orange reflector popped loose while assembling the housing and i already had the gooey sealant in place.
Others happen from rough terrain.
You could bake the headlights, open them up, and then seal them again but why the hassle unless your going to black them out.
Heres what I did.
I went to the local Walmart and got the smallest bag of ballons i could find as I only need one. 40pk of 7" balloons. $1.50
Then i headed to the pet section and bought an 8FT length of tubing for aquariums. $1.57
Youll also need two pennies, a small rubber band, and just a smidge of patience $0.03-$0.04
Remove your headlamp as well as the park/turn signal bulb.
Drop two pennies into a balloon to weigh it down.
then insert about an inch and a half of tubing into the balloon end and tie it tightly with a rubber band. Tape may work too but may not seal up well enough.
Insert your balloon thru the parking lamp hole, and slowly feed it down to the outside corner under the reflector.
Once there tilt your headlamp so that the weight of the pennies pushes the deflated balloon into place in the center of the reflector. it may be necessary to flip the light upside down or shake it a bit.
It didnt take but a few seconds to move the balloon into place.
take a deep breath and inflate. It doesnt take very much pressure to pop them in, youll hear it snap.
Thats it, slowly pull the tube and balloon out and re-install your headlamp.
It took me longer to procure the materials than actually doing it, from headlamp removal to install it took me less than five min.
^x2!!! this is awesome!
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From: latrobe, pa
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Thread Starter
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Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,460
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From: Near Houston
I figured you guys would like that lol. I took three headlights apart via the oven i wasnt doin that again! this idea popped in my head one day so i figured what the hell.
