Boxster headlights - Can you open them?

[The Glademister]

The immature PO of our '99 Boxster put high intensity zenon lamps in the headlamps. Well, that eventually burned the interior lenses. This is a track car so that's no big deal but is there anyway to access those lenses and remove or replace them?

[Wayne 962]

Do you mean the actual front lenses that are exposed to the outside? No, there's no way to replace those. Used ones can be found on eBay all the time from people upgrading to Xenon lamps.

By the way, I'm not really sure what zenon lamps are, but the previous owner probably just put higher wattage "blue" halogen lamps in there or something like that. The true, HID Xenon lamps actually burn very cool - they are more like fluorescent lamps than halogens. You can actually pick them up with your hand (in most cases, although I don't like to touch the bulbs) when they are on because they are so cool to the touch.

-Wayne

[The Glademister]

It's actually the inner lenses with the lenticular rows to spread the beam that is burnt. The protective outer clear lens are fine. Frankly, I don't know what type lamp the PO put in but surely the OEM lamps wouldn't fry those lenses.

[boxsterg]

Yep, Same thing on car I recently bought. From what I understand people try to put 65 watt instead of 55 watt bulbs in there and it causes ugly brown spots on the inner lens. If anyone has tackled replacing this lens I would be curious to hear of it also.

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by The Glademister

It's actually the inner lenses with the lenticular rows to spread the beam that is burnt. The protective outer clear lens are fine. Frankly, I don't know what type lamp the PO put in but surely the OEM lamps wouldn't fry those lenses.

Wow, you do learn something new every day. I had no idea what "lenticular" meant so I looked it up:

lenticular [lɛnˈtɪkjʊlə], lentiform [ˈlɛntɪˌfɔːm]
adj
1. (Physics / General Physics) Also lentoid [ˈlɛntɔɪd] shaped like a biconvex lens
2. (Physics / General Physics) of or concerned with a lens or lenses
3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Botany) shaped like a lentil seed
4. (Astronomy & Space / Celestial Objects) of or relating to a galaxy with a large central bulge, small disc, but no spiral arms, intermediate in shape between spiral and elliptical galaxies

As for the piece that is damaged, can you pls post a photo of it?

-Wayne

[mikefocke]

I've heard of people placing their headlights in an oven and heating them and then prying the front of the lens off to get inside to replace or polish the outer lens. These were obviously desperation cases where people didn't care if they cracked the headlight.

55W limit H7 ... mine are fine after 10 years...5 with SilverStars...have em on both high and low beams.

[Wayne 962]

I guess I was wrong. I figured these headlamps would be about $50 on eBay. I guessed incorrectly, they are more like $250: boxster headlamp items - Get great deals on eBay Motors items on eBay.com!

-Wayne

[The Glademister]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

I've heard of people placing their headlights in an oven and heating them and then prying the front of the lens off to get inside to replace or polish the outer lens. These were obviously desperation cases where people didn't care if they cracked the headlight.

55W limit H7 ... mine are fine after 10 years...5 with SilverStars...have em on both high and low beams.

Which would lead me to think that the clear protective cover is glued on with an adhesive that breaks down with heat. The only problem is knowing what temperature heat (preferably below the meting point of the housing).

[randy_k]

Just a thought. You may want to try a heat gun and lift the front lens up a little at a time. Probably less chance of damage and you can control the heat better that way.
Randy

[Showtime]

Scores of used headlights in the UK on ebay, paid £45 (GBP) for my one. (about $100 USD would see one delivered to the US easily I'm sure..just replace it..

Lenticular...what a great word, gonna use that somewhere tomorrow

[Greg986]

My PO did the same. Here's what it looks like...

[The Glademister]

[QUOTE=Greg986;5906916]My PO did the same. Here's what it looks like...

Yep, that's exactly what the dumb*** PO did to our car.

[mikefocke]

Originally Posted by Showtime

Scores of used headlights in the UK on ebay, paid £45 (GBP) for my one. (about $100 USD would see one delivered to the US easily I'm sure..just replace it..

Lenticular...what a great word, gonna use that somewhere tomorrow

RHD and LHD lights are different as the prisms have to point different directions.

[Puma]

I have the exact same problem on my car. I also have a broken orange triangular piece that I need to replace. Whilst parked at the Horse races someone backed into me, as luck would have it, I actually knew the guy. I haven't seen that part on eBay, not trying to hijack the thread but if anyone knows where to get just the triangular piece I would appreciate it.

I'm with Randy on the heat gun idea. The inner plastic "looks" like it would melt at a lower temperature. If I were going to try to fix this problem I would heat up a sharp flathead screwdriver and try to score it apart but I've not tried it so take this idea at your own risk.

[randy_k]

Originally Posted by Puma

I'm with Randy on the heat gun idea. The inner plastic "looks" like it would melt at a lower temperature. If I were going to try to fix this problem I would heat up a sharp flathead screwdriver and try to score it apart but I've not tried it so take this idea at your own risk.

I was thinking more along the lines of a thin narrow metal putty knife. If you have a bench sander? You can sharpen the thing till it's almost a razor blade. Start by getting one of the corners of it worked in between the lens and the light assembly. And just work it back and forth and around the lens slowly. It may be a pain in the drain. Or it could just pop right off.

I happened to look carefully at mine after reading this and mine are the same way. But not near as burnt. But I have bigger issues with the thing right now than headlights. So they are on the bottom of the to worry about list.

Best of luck, Randy

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by Puma

I have the exact same problem on my car. I also have a broken orange triangular piece that I need to replace. Whilst parked at the Horse races someone backed into me, as luck would have it, I actually knew the guy. I haven't seen that part on eBay, not trying to hijack the thread but if anyone knows where to get just the triangular piece I would appreciate it.

We sell them in the catalog. They are like $10 each - check the headlamps section of the catalog, they are there in orange and clear.

-Wayne

[The Glademister]

Originally Posted by randy_k

But I have bigger issues with the thing right now than headlights. So they are on the bottom of the to worry about list.

Best of luck, Randy

Same with us. It's a track car after all. But we do like our cars to look good at the events

[SHBoxster]

Here goes my first contribution to the forum guys. Hopefully this will be relocated to a Sticky section on the forum (with an Admin permission and help of course).

The 986’s headlight can be opened and converted to xenon (Litronic style). You can also trash your burned (BBQ) deflectors and do below. It takes about 4 to 5 hrs to do and the complexity is medium. The results are phenomenal however!

All you need is:

1. Heat gun
2. Pair of Bi-xenon Projectors
3. HID kit (35 watts)
4. A flat head screwdriver
5. High-temp liquid silicon (black color) (e.g. gasket silicon)
6. A good doze of patience, and passion for automobiles!

All you need to do is take off the headlight from the car (the easiest part!), with the heat gun heat up the edge at medium temp and push in the screwdriver in there gently. This will cut off the factory silicon. It takes about 1 (one) hour to go around one headlight. Once opened, you need to clean off the factory silicon - make it as clean as possible. This cleaning job takes about 30min to do.

The rest really is fitting in the Bi-Xenon Projectors and cutting some cup-shaped aluminum covers that hides the projector’s internals (e.g. Art work). I’d say the hardest part here is to find some Projectors that fits into the housing. There tons of models on the market so I guess that with a bit of research you will be able to find the perfect ones just like I did.

Finishing up is also easy. Howwever, make sure that the headlight’s black housing is cleaned of old factory silicon. Once cleaned, apply a good layer of black gasket silicon – this is easy because there are edge railings that are meant to hold the silicon, let this sits there for about 10-15 mins. While waiting for the silicon to bed in, you may want to clean your clear plastic covers and internal parts. When satisfied/cleaned, install the headlight’s clear cover and let the whole thing dry for about one hour. I do recommend doing this on a sunny and “dry” day. You want to avoid humidity to be trapped inside the headlight when you put it back together.

Fitting the HID ballast is the easiest part imo; they go inside the headlight’s back housing where the bulb/wires are located. There is enough space there to fit the whole kit (cables, adapters and ballast).

There you go your're done! Replace the parking light's bulbs for LED ones and voila, high class headlights for less than half the price of a Litronic kit. Fit those awesome NEW style headlights in your Porsche and go look cool again! Hope this helps a bit guys. Any questions do not hesitate to ask.

Rgs
Fred

CLEAN CLEAN AND CLEAN!


Cover removed, Projector installed


Cup shaped aluminum covers - that's the Art work part


make sure you clean all your finger prints and dust off plastics and covers


Rear headlight housing location


Let dry for an hour or two


FINAL product!!!

[randy_k]

Looks awesome! What was the total cost for this transformation?
Randy

[The Glademister]

Originally Posted by randy_k

Looks awesome! Randy

Agreed. Outstanding work!