Dirt in headlamp unit

[renmure]

I seem to have some dirt in my headlight unit. There is a wee bit of condensation which disappears after a few mins of sticking the lights on, but I would really like to clean the dirt out of the unit.

Bearing in mind I am finding my feet with this diy lark, can anyone please point me in the right direction for doing this and putting them back together and perhaps reassure me that it is idiot proof.

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[renmure]

I assume it is coming from the rear of the unit since the front cover / bodywork join seems perfect. I have had a poke and prod around the back of the unit and it does look like it could be better sealed.

[renmure]

Can I ask for some helpful reassurance here:

I have removed the back panel covering the headlight unit and am looking at the back of the 4 individual lights.

The nice guy at the factory suggested the easiest way for me to do this was to remove the full beam light at the bottom and clean inside the unit by sticking a hand through this hole.

Does that light bulb unit simply pull out the back of the cluster? (I have got this far but then can't seem to get the bulb backwards out the hole) Is there a technique for doing this? Do I just need to persevere and wiggle / jiggle it around?

Grrrr. I hate stuff like this

[renmure]

mt308 said:

If I remove the lights and clean inside will the beam need to be re-aligned?

Mark

The guy from the factory suggested I remove the main beam / spotlight because it would save me having to mess around with the alignment of the headlight beam when it went back in.

[renmure]

mt308 said:

renmure said:

The guy from the factory suggested I remove the main beam / spotlight because it would save me having to mess around with the alignment of the headlight beam when it went back in.

Thanks - and then reach through, should work if not too much dirt.

Mark

Yes... but I would like someone to confirm that I just need to keep jiggling things to get the light out the back (and reassure me it will go back in again)

[renmure]

Well, with a bit of wiggling and jiggling the main beam headlight did come out the back and with a combination of cloths and pipe cleaners and bendy things I managed to clean most of the inside of the unit, although it still isn't 100%. I will probably have another go at it during the summer once I see how much of a recurring problem it is. My rear cover for the light unit isn't a fantastically great fit against the back of the bodywork so I can see where the dirt got in an will have to try to seal this up much better. Stoopid car!!