| Author |
Message |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
GT4.0 V8
Posts: 2024
Reg: 11-2004
|
heat to make it soft, turps to clean it up. |
Patrick Chan
Tinkerer
Victoria
Soarer TT
Posts: 48
Reg: 08-2005
|
Whats the site to have the guide to do the whole project?
Thanks
And where can I get Scratch X from?
Thanks |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
GT4.0 V8
Posts: 2037
Reg: 11-2004
|
Patrick, look in the Common Fixes area here.
Scratch-X is made by Meguires, available most car part type shops. |
Ben James
Tinkerer
Queenland
Twin Turbo : )
Posts: 35
Reg: 07-2005
|
be careful what you use on your lights as some products can melt the shine of the plastic. |
Aka Abedin
Tinkerer
NSW
TT
Posts: 49
Reg: 07-2005
|
Any one in sydney area who has cleaned their head light before willing to give me a hand as i have no idea how to take it off and so forth.
I will come to them if it means i can see at night when my head lights are on.
May be a few of us can organise it together and help each other out? Anyone out there willing to help who has done it before and confident about helping others out?
Regards,
Aka. |
Dan McColl
TryHard
Victoria
UZZ32 V8 Soarer #183
Posts: 225
Reg: 07-2005
|
I'm in the middle of doing mine. Its not hard, actually very easy. Follow the guides on here and other soarer sites and you can't go wrong.
Well, you can actually, if you melt the headlight. I put mine in the oven for about 10 mins on about 80-90 degrees. Gently begin to prise it apart. When it starts getting stiff, whack it back in the oven for 2-3 mins and have another go. Keep doing this until it's apart. I said GENTLY prise.  |
Dan McColl
TryHard
Victoria
UZZ32 V8 Soarer #183
Posts: 280
Reg: 07-2005
|
Does anyone know of a reason not to seal up the little vent holes in the back of the headlights?? |
Mike Triggs
TryHard
Norfolk Island
3.0GT G-Pack
Posts: 280
Reg: 07-2005
|
Yes, Dan, they're to let condensation out, in theory. The heat inside should expand the air inside forcing any moisture out- though the vents. Headlights should never be sealed up tight, to allow for that expansion and contraction. |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
GT4.0 V8
Posts: 2230
Reg: 11-2004
|
Possibly they allow the housing to breathe, eg when the lights are on, the air will heat up and expand, then contract again when cool. Put a small wad of foam in them - which is normally in the rubber S tube attached to those outlets. |
Dan McColl
TryHard
Victoria
UZZ32 V8 Soarer #183
Posts: 282
Reg: 07-2005
|
Yeah, I've got the 'S' tubes, but I was just wondering if it would be easier just to seal the whole unit, that should be better to prevent water getting in. |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
GT4.0 V8
Posts: 2232
Reg: 11-2004
|
Not sure how much pressure increase would be generated by the heat, but the foam should certainly keep water out.
Do you have the rubber covers around the lamp sockets? |
Dan McColl
TryHard
Victoria
UZZ32 V8 Soarer #183
Posts: 288
Reg: 07-2005
|
Yeah. The headlights are complete, and I've had them apart, cleaned and properly resealed, but I was just thinking of preventing future problems.
Though they did survive a car wash today with no problems.
The heat/pressure build up shouldn't be much as air will still get in/out around the lamp socket.
I won't bother with it now as they are back in and I'll be rogered if I'm pulling them out again without a damn good reason.
Thanks for all your help though.  |
Mike Triggs
TryHard
Norfolk Island
3.0GT G-Pack
Posts: 291
Reg: 07-2005
|
I'm intrigued with the condensation problem, as neither the '95 nor the '97 suffer from the problem, although both have crap on the inside of the lens which can be seen at night. While the later car was most covered in pollution, the earlier car needed the most work on the outer surface of the lens.
I wonder if the older light (i.e. prior to the '94 model change) have slightly different light? Or whether the compound to join the two halves wasn't changed? Or maybe even something really simple like the foam which acts as a one-way valve to let vapour out (as you'd expect with all that heat) doesn't break down with age and therefore stops working.
I haven't checked ours, quite often though the effort of looking can disintegrate foam (in other words it's OK until you start poking around, whereupon it falls apart).
There has to be a reason why older cars suffer more than later models using essentially the same light fitting.
I do recall having a similar problem on a Commodore, and ended up buying a Taiwanese copy light, which itself suffered from condensation from new! |
Mark Northcott
Tinkerer
NSW
V8
Posts: 12
Reg: 10-2005
|
Hey guys I did my headlights the other week.
Used the Oven at 120 degress C to prise apart one was easier then the other due to the amount of •••• that was in the seal could be why it was leaking haha. But be wary of the rubber seals one of mine came off and it was a bastard to glue back on.
Anyways once apart I used a heat gun to heat up the goo and cleaned it out with a blunt object and just used metho to clean the excess made things alot easier.
Didn't really have anything to give a good clean with as it wasn't needed so i just used a cut and polish then a wax as well, used a mastic to put back together and left out over night to make sure it had all taken. then put back in the morning.
It so far has survived rain not a wash yet as a couple of days later i had a brake failure problem. So once that is sussed I shall let you's know how they are. Pics are available of the before and after for those who are contemplating.
Total time taken was 16hrs only cuz it was done after work and one night I lost power. That's removal, pulling apart, cleaning, putting back together and back in.
Good luck guys |
Mike Triggs
TryHard
Norfolk Island
3.0GT G-Pack
Posts: 295
Reg: 07-2005
|
I'm awaiting an SC light from US ($5!) which has broken tabs, will be interesting to pull apart and practice on. Our lights don't leak, so I'm reluctant to pull them apart (because they might start leaking, if I do!) but the inside of the lens needs polishing, or at least cleaning.
Given that there is 25 tonnes of surface mail backlogged at Yamba, I doubt this thing will be coming in a hurry though at least until the "big" ship returns to the Yamba/Norfolk run. run. |
Mark Northcott
Tinkerer
NSW
V8
Posts: 13
Reg: 10-2005
|
Yeah mike as long as you seal the bastards with that much mastic you shouldn't have any problems.
BE AWARE my glass lens the edge had been shattered around both not sure if to do with heat adn water or what but beware of the glass shards. |
Perry Morgan
TryHard
Qld
UZZ32 ( V8 )
Posts: 495
Reg: 07-2005
|
Wait until you see the cool little spirit level under the site glass on the sc lights Mike. They are pretty cool hehe. |
Don Bagnall
Moderator
New Zealand
UZZ30 GT4.0 V8
Posts: 1370
Reg: 05-2005
|
Oh Perry...............Everyone knows about the spirit levels, I mean,....Dude.....that is Soooo "Last century"  |
Perry Morgan
TryHard
Qld
UZZ32 ( V8 )
Posts: 496
Reg: 07-2005
|
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Dan McColl
TryHard
Victoria
UZZ32 V8 Soarer #183
Posts: 316
Reg: 07-2005
|
"If the line goes out of the blue area, return the vehicle to your lexus dealer for repairs" |
Tom McGruther
Tinkerer
QLD
Soarer GTT
Posts: 83
Reg: 09-2005
|
Sorry for the old post guys, but Dan your last statement about the headlight:
"If the line goes out of the blue area, return the vehicle to your lexus dealer for repairs"
what is this for? and is it a serious issue? |
Dan McColl
TryHard
Victoria
UZZ-32 V8 Soarer #138
Posts: 448
Reg: 07-2005
|
Sorry Tom. It was a joke regarding the US spec headlights. Thats what it says in the lexus SC400 owners manual.
It's not an issue at all, sorry for any confusion I may have caused. |
Gary Nimmo
Tinkerer
WA
V8
Posts: 10
Reg: 07-2005
|
I found the outside still gets Dull over time
I give mine a quick clean with Mothers Plastic polish
& Hey presto nice & clear & shiney again
Mothers is the best that I have found so far |
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