Cloudy headlights on the inside of glass? How to fix?

[Franks89-911]

I have an 89 Carrera Targa. With I guess "H5" headlight ass'y? Honestly, still a noob on many things and frankly IDK.

Anyway, the *inside* of my left headlight is cloudy/foggy. I tried removing & cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and that seemed to work temporarily, but the problem has returned.

See pic; hopefully you can see the difference b/t headlights. Searched forum and didn't find a discussion on this precise issue. Any help/advice is appreciated as always, especially how to stop this permanently.

[DRACO A5OG]

When you removed the assembly, did you notice if the rubber drain plug and the rubber grommets for the wiring were in place?

If not then the culprit could be moisture entering the bucket and accelerating the oxidization.

[Quicksilver]

The root cause of your issue is that the desiccant pack at the bottom of the light is past its life and can't absorb any more moisture. You can do an ugly repair by heating it to 200° for a couple hours. It will distort it so it is ugly but it will dry it out. Otherwise you can just replace them.

I've seen people use alcohol and dry rice (to act as a scrubber) and slosh it around to clean off the film. I'm not a big fan so I got a small bamboo stick, heated it with a heat gun and bent it into a curve. On the end I tied a small rag ball to scrub with. A vigorous scrubbing with alcohol and it was truly clean.

[DRACO A5OG]

Desiccant Packs, Really? Wow just learned something.

Can't he just put some packs in the bucket or behind the assembly?

[jeffbottman]

I had the same problem; fog would return.

Then I invested in H4's, maybe the best improvement I've made. VASTLY better pattern than wretched H5's and much brighter. Strongly recommended.

[Tori]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Desiccant Packs, Really? Wow just learned something.

Can't he just put some packs in the bucket or behind the assembly?

Jim, here is what they look like. Well, the flat one is what they look like. If you put one in the oven at 200* you'll get the curved one. It should still work, but won't screw down. I don't really recommend that trick, maybe a lesser temp. but 200* is too much. Other threads i had read said 250* which i thought was too much, so reduced the temp. Still made artwork out of it after about 10 minutes.

[BR-549]

Five years ago I used the alcohol-soaked-rag-on-the-end-of-a-chopstick method on my 87 with the same problem. Turned out great and still looks really good. I did not mess with the desiccant. The cleaning is a pretty easy job.

Ken

[will hung]

I had the same problem and it was the gasket between the headlight assembly and body. I have H4's so maybe H5's are different. It's like $2 from our host.

[Cook&Dunning]

Similar to above - I used windex. Pull the desicant packs, remove bulbs. Then I sprayed windex in through the bulb opening. Stuck a square of microfiber towel inside. Worked it all over - including reflector - using the long handle of a wooden kitchen spoon. Go easy, work through all of the fluting and edges. Went over second time with fresh towel lightly misted with alcohol. Let it dry for a while before assembly

[darrin]

if alcohol is not enough and you need something abasive, you might consider using kosher salt -- table salt is not alcohol-soluable

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by darrin

if alcohol is not enough and you need something abasive, you might consider using kosher salt -- table salt is not alcohol-soluable

One more reason to discard the "H" poison and revert to factory intentioned sugar scoops and just walk away from the pain.

Fools and their money.............

Just spoke with Erwin Komenda. He is pissed off.

He says, "Like, H4's are gonna make you a better driver."

If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.