not many people have taken apart the headlights. Do you have any more pics of the headlight disassembled? I’m trying to get a look at or figure out some of the electronics in the headlight. Did you notice a circuit board or any electronics in the headlight, or wires that go to the actual high and low beam? Thanks
Unfortunately, what I took for photos are all on this thread. Since I was just adding the black appearance package, I did not pay attention to any electronics and focused more on the task at hand. Sorry I couldn't be more help!
Ah, sorry, I didn't notice this comment before, I just took apart my headlights to do the modification, and yes, there are electronics inside of the headlight and wiring harnesses...
It looks awesome! I debated the low and slow method, but my oven is consistently less warm when I cook. I figured that would probably translate to baking my headlights. If I had a better oven, I would probably do 250-270.For those of you who might want to try this, a few things because I just did it with mine. I had my oven at 240 degrees instead of 280, and it worked, but not sure how it compared with his experience, but it was a little bit of a pain to get it open and I had them in the oven longer, about 20-30 minutes each. Maybe somewhere in the middle like 250-270 would be pretty safe.
Secondly, don't just use silicone or something like that. Some of those sealants might get hard and stop sealing over time with the conditions of a car. You can buy what car companies use in their OEM headlights. Not Ford, they use what they call permaseal, which is much harder, but a lot of other companies use butyl rubber which is what I recommend you use when you're resealing the housings. This is the one I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5PM29J?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
They look great! I would love to do this but I’m pretty nervous about trying it. . How hard was it? Also do you have anymore pics and info on it? Did you just use ZEP or paint them?For those of you who might want to try this, a few things because I just did it with mine. I had my oven at 240 degrees instead of 280, and it worked, but not sure how it compared with his experience, but it was a little bit of a pain to get it open and I had them in the oven longer, about 20-30 minutes each. Maybe somewhere in the middle like 250-270 would be pretty safe.
Secondly, don't just use silicone or something like that. Some of those sealants might get hard and stop sealing over time with the conditions of a car. You can buy what car companies use in their OEM headlights. Not Ford, they use what they call permaseal, which is much harder, but a lot of other companies use butyl rubber which is what I recommend you use when you're resealing the housings. This is the one I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5PM29J?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Yep, I just used the ZEP purple degreaser from Home Depot. It only took a minute or two and the chrome came right off.
Awesome. Thanks for all the info!Yep, I just used the ZEP purple degreaser from Home Depot. It only took a minute or two and the chrome came right off.
I got a water tight plastic bin that's just big enough for the inner frame to fit into, then I just poured the degreaser right in, put the frame inside and tilted the bin back and forth a bit to have it slosh around after a few minutes. And a bit of that and a tiny little bit of rubbing with my gloved fingers (use gloves, it actually burns the skin a bit, lol) in some of the corners where the chrome stayed a bit, and that was it.
Getting the headlight apart was a bit tough though. The permaseal stuff Ford uses is very hard. I did bugger up a lot of the housing to get it open, but not to the point where it won't seal again. Using that butyl rubber it fills it all back in and forms a pretty good seal still. But definitely it needs to sit in the oven a bit longer than most youtube videos show because most of them are showing headlights using butyl rubber and not permaseal. And you'll need to pry all around it, not just a corner like they show, you'll basically have to separate the seal from the plastic little by little all around. And if you take a while and you notice the seal isn't prying, you have to put it back in the oven a bit longer before you continue around the housing. But once you get it all the way around you'll notice the housing start to lift apart from each other and it'll come open. It is a bit intimidating to be honest, but I think it's worth it.
To get the housing back closed, put that butyl rubber I linked in my other comment into the channel, if you can't get the old permaseal out, that's fine, just put butyl rubber right inside of the old permaseal. Stretch it out a make it thinner to fit into the narrower parts where the old permaseal is still there. Heat it in the oven, then join the two halves back together. I recommend using one of these to squeeze the two halves together fully:
Then reclose the tabs while the housing is still hot. Then replace the screws, but some of them won't really tighten with the plastic hot like that, but the butyl rubber and the tabs should hold everything together pretty good.
It looks awesome!@2023Area51 thanks for the info and inspiring confidence, I just finished mine. For anyone curious, I had a spare broken mav headlight and tested before doing mine to see the lowest possible temp. The sealant will get soft enough down as low as 200F but the black plastic won’t get soft enough for prying below 240F so in my opinion 240 is the lowest but probably 250-260 would be better. 15 mins initial heat up then you got about 3-4 mins working time then it’s gotta go back in 3-4 mins to keep hot. This was my tactic anyways.
I will be honest this project was a nightmare. Even after practicing on a spare headlight it was still not as smooth as I’d hoped. It’s a lot of work and takes a lot of patience. The only video I found of someone doing this was the AACstyle demon mod on yt. It looks like they mangle the outer lip getting the thing apart and I thought I could do better. I couldn’t. To anyone thinking otherwise, just be prepared, you WILL mangle the outer flange getting this open. You have to bend it out of the way (which is why it has to be 240F or higher to get the plastic soft) to then get the screwdriver under the clear plastic to separate the inner seal. Don’t worry about this mangling, It’s necessary. Once you got it all separated and off, you can reheat the housing and bend the outer lip back into shape quite nicely. I tried many tools to find the optimum tool, chisel, automotive clip remover, automotive plastic pry bars, metal pry bars, and a good ole 3/16” flathead screwdriver really is the best. It’s the perfect width for digging out the old sealant from the channel. Heres a pic of the inside.
Seriously good luck to anyone who tries. This freakin sucked and I’m glad it’s done, it took me about 7 full hours.
No issues whatsoever. I've driven a bit over 20k on my truck and through rain, snow, sleet, etc. No water issues at all.
