cleaning inside of headlights
 

Hello everyone...

On my '99 maxima, I noticed that somehow, alot of dust has accumulated inside the driver side headlight. It is pretty noticable, and I'd like to clean it out. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should use to do this? Is it possible to remove the lens and get it back on without too much trouble?

I've seen that my local dealer had a sign in their service dept advertising headlight cleaning... it didnt say how much it costs... anyone tried that??

The most important thing is I don't want anything to rust...

If anyone could post their experiences and solutions, I'd appreciate it..

Thanks

PS -- MAXIMA.ORG RULES

All you have to do, is throw the headlights in the oven around 200-250F for 5-10 mins. Then use a screw driver to lightly pry the lens off the housing (Be careful not to crack the plastic). If you notice its hard to get off, put it in the oven a little longer.

Its not too hard, just dont use excessive force to pry the lens off, it should come off easy with enough heat.

Or, you can take out the headlights and stick a vac from the car wash to the back and let it rip... May be howyou got dust in it in the first place.

There is nothing in there to rust to my knowledge. Do not use any solvents to clean the inner chrome. It will come off with anything other than water. You may need to polish the lense with palstic polish.

I just applied to Virginia Tech, lol. And I was down there 2 weeks ago.

like suggested, I'd throw it in the oven and pry off the lense and clean, might as well do the AE mod while you have everything apart.

Remove the headlights from your car. (obviously)
Put some water and soap into the assembly from the bulb hole and insert a small section of paper towel. Shake the towel and soapy water around so everything gets a nice cleaning. Turn it upside down and drain the water and get the towel out. Then rinse until the soap is gone. To dry it you can insert a small piece of towel and shake it around to absorbe some of the water, the rest can be dried by either leaving the light assembly out in direct sunlight for 2 hrs or so or putting a hair dryer, blowing in the hole on it for about 30 min. I've done mine this way with excellent results. I'd rather not distrub the seal doing the oven method.

I had a bulb blow up in one of my headlights. I had to take apart the whole assembly. I used the heat gun approach and it worked fine. BE VEREY CAREFUL once the headlight is apart and you are cleaning it with soapy water THAT YOU DO NOT RUB TOO HARD. The "chrome" paint or whatever it is is sooooo freaking thin that with any amount of pressure, it can come off. Take your time and everything will come out just fine.
GOOD LUCK

That reflector coating is microns thin, don't touch or towel it if you can avoid it. Just pull the light assembly out of the car. Slosh warm but not hot water with a little bit of dish washing detergent in the assembly. Rinse 3 times 3 ways: 1. thoroughly rinse with tap water, and follow up with 2. a rinse with a cup of distilled water and a couple drops, repeat drops, of jet dry, followed by 3. about 3 good rinsings with a couple cups each of fresh distilled water (available cheap at the grocery store, some people use it in steam irons.) These last rinses will take all the minerals out of the assembly to avoid water spotting. Don't use bottled drinking (contains minerals for taste) water at the end, use distilled. And, don't use any solvents. You can dry just by leaving the light sit lens down, tail upright under a warm incandescent lamp. Don't try to towel it out. If you scratch the reflector, and paper towel will scratch it, you'll be very disappointed with the light output forever after.

how about putting in a dish washer lol

Thanks for all the tips guys... I'll try the rinse out method first, since it seems like it would be the safest...

If it's just dust, a can of compress air should do the trick.