Cleaning foggy headlamps/glass lens

[schwoo]

Can someone help, how do i properly remove the headlight lens cover to clean the inside of the glass?


Thanks for your help

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[proporsche]

Hi ..it would help if you show the pic of your headlights and also what model they are? H4.. H5 ..or?
For removing search on top right is your answer....What i do for cleaning is once removed remove the light bulb.I put some gasoline inside with a little soft sand shake it and twist it around then clean.it works for me....again it all depend what type do you have....

Ivan

[RFP]

Originally Posted by proporsche

Hi ..it would help if you show the pic of your headlights and also what model they are? H4.. H5 ..or?
For removing search on top right is your answer....What i do for cleaning is once removed remove the light bulb.I put some gasoline inside with a little soft sand shake it and twist it around then clean.it works for me....again it all depend what type do you have....

Ivan

An even better variation of this method is to use denatured alcohol (Home Depot) and uncooked rice.

[schwoo]

89 speedster, I want to clean the inside of the lens. Thanks!

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[Bill Douglas]

I'd be inclined to remove the bulb and push a paintbrush with ether/ethanol/pant thinners through and give it a wipe.

I broke a headlamp lense and after I replaced it was qute surprised how much more light I was getting with the new clean lense.

[Franks89-911]

I see this is over a year old...but I just cleaned the insides on my 89 again with H5 lenses like yours. If you're asking whether you can remove the entire glass lens off the front, that's beyond my pay grade. I didn't do that, and disassembly of the headlight at that level looks really difficult. I'm great at taking things apart, but reassembly? Not so much.

Anyway, here's how I cleaned mine:

1. Remove painted outer ring/cowling. There's a philips screw at the bottom. remove that and ring should slide up and away. The ring kind of clips on to the body frame at the top.
2. Four philips screws bolt the lens assembly on, at 10, 2, 4 and 8 o' clock. A magnetic screwdriver is helpful to not lose these.
3. Remove assembly and disconnect h5 (9004) headlight wire. (Think here about possible lamp upgrades - I just bought these but have not reconnected them yet https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/products/headlights-and-fog-lights/silverstar-zxe/9004_silverstar_zxe.jsp).
4. As a first step, you can get some dry rice and pour in some grains to swish around and try and remove the haze.
5. Next, remove the rice and pour in isopropyl alcohol. A few ounces should be sufficient.
6. Get a small rag and a chopstick. Use the rag & stick to scrub the inside of the lens to remove haze. Be sure not to bend the metal lamp holder on the inside.
7. Allow headlight to fully air dry.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 if haze still exists.
9. Possibly consider putting a small dessicant pack inside (if it won't burn up inside housing and / or replacing the factory one 911-631-968-00, wherever that is).

My prior query on this got good responses. Cloudy headlights on the inside of glass? How to fix? Here's another query. H5 improvements Another from Rennlist with pics. https://rennlist.com/forums/964-forum/730603-headlight-removal.html

Cheers,
Frank

[schwoo]

Frank, just seeing this. Excellent advice. Thank you for your input. I’m going to give it a try.

[Duc Hunter]

I will also replace all of the rubbers inside of the housing. These lenses tend to get cloudy because moisture gets inside of there, most commonly from the headlight bucket. The wires that run in and out have a rubber grommet they go through, and there are rubber breathers to allow some moisture in air in and out. While you’re in there replace all of them, our host has everything.

[964TargaC2]

The dessicant pack on the H5 is the plastic tag lookIng thing at the bottom, i think held on by a single screw

When I had the H5 on my car I would take the dessicant pack off and put it in an oven at 150 degrees for a few hours to "recharge" it..worked for me

[Cook&Dunning]

I just want to add - be really careful when you unscrew the bulb and socket parts. They can be very brittle from age and heat and you can easily break off some of the tabs. Ask me how I know. Some of the plastic parts are fairly hard to come by.

[KTL]

You'll want to clean the lens AND the reflector housing. You'll notice pretty quickly that once you start swabbing around inside the lens, when you brush up against the reflector it too has a haze on it. Remove the reflector haze and the appearance of the H5 really improves quite a lot.

'89 Carrera headlight lens removal