Scott and Colleen Miller Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Headlight maintenance question: I polished the front of the headlights. I can still see oxidation/film on the inside of the headlamp cover. Can I take off the front headlamp face to polish inside, or are they a closed system? If so, would I need to purchase new ones? 2004 Endeavor Thanks again everyone for the help! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Busch Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 I replaced mine for 150 with new ones with bulbs. I had a hard time cleaning up the old ones 2005 Monaco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidL Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 If the inside needs polishing (unlikely) then it's technically possible to remove the lenses on many. Requires the headlamp to be stripped and put in an oven @ 175F for 12 minutes to loosen the sealant. But...the inside typically isn't smooth. It may have reflectors to aim the light. And you can't polish that. But it's more likely that it's just dirty. You can try to wash the housing out. Use distilled water to avoid water spots. When you get tired of doing that, then upgrade to some aftermarket projector style housings with new LED bulbs 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Hutto Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 What @DavidL said above. I originally sanded, polished, and coated the outside of my headlights and they looked great until moisture got in them an the insides got dirty... I took them out and disassembled them, but it's a fair amount of work and for me the sealant was messy... so I chunked the old headlights and bought shiny new ones... I went with the OEM 2000 Buick Century fixtures from GM rather than the TYCO knock-offs that Monaco used. (As a side note I strongly prefer to fix things to replacing them, but this was one instance I decided it just wasn't worth the time...) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailingmyway Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 With the somewhat low cost of replacing the whole assembly I just put new ones in that are much more modern looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott and Colleen Miller Posted March 16, 2021 Author Share Posted March 16, 2021 On 2/1/2021 at 1:37 PM, Paul Busch said: I replaced mine for 150 with new ones with bulbs. I had a hard time cleaning up the old ones 2005 Monaco 👍 On 2/20/2021 at 3:57 PM, sailingmyway said: With the somewhat low cost of replacing the whole assembly I just put new ones in that are much more modern looking. Thank you! On 2/2/2021 at 2:16 PM, Scotty Hutto said: What @DavidL said above. I originally sanded, polished, and coated the outside of my headlights and they looked great until moisture got in them an the insides got dirty... I took them out and disassembled them, but it's a fair amount of work and for me the sealant was messy... so I chunked the old headlights and bought shiny new ones... I went with the OEM 2000 Buick Century fixtures from GM rather than the TYCO knock-offs that Monaco used. (As a side note I strongly prefer to fix things to replacing them, but this was one instance I decided it just wasn't worth the time...) Will do. New ones on the way On 2/2/2021 at 2:16 PM, Scotty Hutto said: What @DavidL said above. I originally sanded, polished, and coated the outside of my headlights and they looked great until moisture got in them an the insides got dirty... I took them out and disassembled them, but it's a fair amount of work and for me the sealant was messy... so I chunked the old headlights and bought shiny new ones... I went with the OEM 2000 Buick Century fixtures from GM rather than the TYCO knock-offs that Monaco used. (As a side note I strongly prefer to fix things to replacing them, but this was one instance I decided it just wasn't worth the time...) Good insights! Thank you On 2/1/2021 at 1:45 PM, DavidL said: If the inside needs polishing (unlikely) then it's technically possible to remove the lenses on many. Requires the headlamp to be stripped and put in an oven @ 175F for 12 minutes to loosen the sealant. But...the inside typically isn't smooth. It may have reflectors to aim the light. And you can't polish that. But it's more likely that it's just dirty. You can try to wash the housing out. Use distilled water to avoid water spots. When you get tired of doing that, then upgrade to some aftermarket projector style housings with new LED bulbs 😉 Ha! Right. Ordered the new ones. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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