Tips on installing front blinker/parking light seals?

[pope]

The rubber seals of my front lights (H4s and blinker/parking) are a bit old and cracked so when I was in Germany last week I dropped by Porsche and bought, among other things, some new seals for them.

There's some info on how to replace the H4 seals in other threads - and I'll post those here later on. I couldn't find any info for the parking/blinkers though.

When I unscrewed the plastic cap I found that there is some yellow/orange crust under the old seal going round the housing. The old seal seemed stuck on there and would not come off with a relatively soft tug. I didn't have much time to negotiate more with it so I'm wondering, is it stuck on there with glue? If yes, should I glue the new one on once I remove the old and scrape that orange crust off? Or is there some other trick there which I cannot see?

[pope]

Here's how it's done.

You pull out the housing after taking out the lens and removing the two screws that hold the housing to the body of the car. Before you tug on the housing, remove the rubber drain tube (seen in the picture below) or else it won't come out.

The housing is probably a bit stuck from the crud and rust protection layers of goo that may have been sprayed on it. Just find a good hold and wiggle it out patiently. Careful not to scratch its inner shiny surface!



To remove the housing from its cable in the back, you'll have to unscrew the two screws holding the cap on the back. Once off, check that all the wires are ok (one of mine is a bit stripped here so I insulated it with some tape). Clean all the contacts with some vinegar and a brush and put a tiny bit of silicone grease on them if you like.




Now you need to clean the housing so that you can put on the new seal. One of mine had window sealant or black silicone (which comes off relatively easily) but the other one had some kind of yellowish glue (like that used for wood and carpets) which was really hard to get off.




Here's the left lens. Notice that the foremost screw is longer.




Here's the left housing with the yellow crust




There's nothing special about putting on the seal. Make sure you've got your left and right correct. The seal has a more pointy outer part that the lens sits on, while the back, behind the housing, is more flat. I did not use any adhesive because I felt that the seal is enough. If you cannot get it to stay on the housing, don't worry, as soon as you put the housing back on the body, it'll stay in place.



The most important part of the process is to get the lens to sit nicely on the seal. Start by screwing on all 3 screws just a couple of turns. Now slowly tighten them (a turn each before moving to the next) whilst making sure that the pointy part of the seal is inside the outer rim of the lens. Use a blunt screwdriver (I used a plastic scraper), so as to not damage the seal, to help the seal find its correct position.

If you want to work more carelessly, put some protection on the bumper so you won't scratch it with the housing.

If your housing is in bad condition, Porsche-O-Phile's thread on LED tail-lights has additional tips on how to restore it back to how it was.