2000 Diplomat Headlight Removal

[Bob Jones]

6 hours ago, cpat_39 said:

Bob,

Here is picture of LED headlights acquired on Amazon and replaced as new shell and LED bulb a couple of years ago. A former Monaco employee took about 1 hour to remove old and install new. Did so with battery powered screwdriver. Started on passenger size and removed a self tapping screw on outside and another screw he found towards right side of old shell. Passenger side was very quick. Driver side was more awkward as Monaco had somehow run the screws in same direction so he had to work in tighter quarters. That side took probably 35-40 minutes. He did all of the work while standing. He never opened the generator door.

I had printed out the web instruction to remove FG behind the headlight working from on the ground. He ignored those and tackled the job straight away as described above. 

As rig is stored indoors about 9-10 months of year I did not coat any protection on lens.

Pat C
2000 Diplomat
2014 Honda CRV

Nice! The ones that were on the Diplomat from the factory were the Chinese ones TYC 20-3074, which kind of surprised me. I know they are the originals. How did you find the improvement with new lens and the changeover to LED ? Was it significant?

[cpat_39]

Bob,

The increase of forward light is very significant and much more comfortable to drive at dusk. Have yet to have oncoming traffic flash their headlights at me because they are bothered by our headlights.
Also changed tail/turn/brake lights to aftermarket shells and Led bulbs. Taken awhile to resolve grounding  issues, but has really made a difference in lights to rear of vehicle 

Pat C

 

[Bob Jones]

On ours I did a little re-design on the rear lights (new sockets/dielectric grease/resealing etc) to keep them operating consistently. Good to hear that the conversion to LEDs on the fronts was worth it. It's more than I wanted to do but on the other hand, I don't have to polish the housings.

[Bob Jones]

Well guys, some months later and I still can't get the headlights out 😞

I'm thinking they will have to be destroyed in order to replace them. 

The sheet metal screws on the backside are unreachable. It's also not possible to install the LED's without removing the lenses (not enough clearance). 

Monaco really screwed the pooch on this one. And then some. 

[Bob Jones]

I spoke too soon! I managed to get the passenger side in, complete with all the factory screws, which was not easy. In fact, one of the outboard screws was not accessible from the inside. This is the screw closest to the side marker. So I used vice grips on it and turned it back, almost all the way, until the frame released. ALL of the screws required me to use a short Robertson bit and a wrench on the bit to get them out. Every one of them. Anyone that has done that knows what a pain it is. 

When I got the new headlight installed, I must have adjusted the one adjuster too far (the long rod). It's now out of it's place and does nothing. Tomorrow I will take a hole saw and see if I can drill a large hole in the bottom of the fiberglass housing for an access port. 

This was, and is, a VERY poor design. I could not get all the factory screws back in without radically adjusting the lights. Many of the pre-made holes from the factory were not used and due to manufacturing tolerances, they drilled and used new holes. Lots of points of confusion and it took some real thinking to get it done, and, as it turns out, it's still not done as I need to fix that one adjuster so that it works again....

I'd have to call this one, not recommended. If a person has enough room to get an LED bulb in there, with the existing housing, it would be much smarter to do that and then just polish the lens. I could not as there is not enough room between the firewall and the housing.  

Edited February 21, 2022 by Bob Jones

[Bob Jones]

Well, it's now official - these are the world's biggest POS headlights ever made. 

I got the passenger side headlight in and then found that the long adjustment rod would not move the lens. This meant taking the whole assembly out again and looking at it. Turns out, the long shaft for the adjuster gear has splines on it. The gear does NOT. This means that the rod will easily slip in the gear making adjustment impossible. 

So I took the adjuster out of the original headlight and swapped it over. Same thing. Take a look at the picture to see what I mean. I STRONGLY suggest that an owner uses a LOT of caution before monkeying with the headlights. They are a very poor design and even adjusting them is problematic. Btw, the original headlights are the same brand as the replacement ones. 

[dereeves]

I see this is an old topic...but after spending 2 hours changing the passenger side headlight unit out...i can think of about a thousand ways Monaco could have made that a little easier...they have rigging sheet metal to hold the rigging in place. No access to some of the 4 main screws holding the assembly in, if you raise the headlight all the way up with the adjustment screw, you can tighten the inside bottom screw. Took me a few mins to figure that one out. Now to complicate things...the drivers side has about 10 miles of wiring all hanging right in the back of the unit, should add some more pleasure to swapping that one out...i need a beer.