Headlight and surround removal

[cupra20v.t]

How do the headlights and surround come off the car. standard Mg midget headlights.

I removed the access pannel yesterday and couldn't see any bolts etc for the surround. I could see the butterfly nuts for the headlight adjustment but nothing else.

[markh1]

There are some wingnuts on some bolts that are fibreglassed to the headlight surround. You wont be able to see them, you will have to put your hand inside the cover you took off behind the headlight and feel round it to get to the wingnuts. The headlight surround also is stuck on with black sticky stuff so once you have the wingnuts off you will have to give it a bit of encouragement, but not too much.
Hope this helps.

[cupra20v.t]

I've undone 3 of them and the headlight seems to move about now. are these the ones or are there more that are hidden?

[mikesr]

This pic shows the holes and black sticky stuff to give you an idea of the location of the four fixings

I found that winding the wingnuts out a bit and then pushing on the them broke the seal with the black sticky stuff

Edited by mikesr on Monday 16th February 10:32

Edited by mikesr on Monday 16th February 10:36

[cupra20v.t]

so the 4 large holes in the body are for what? is that where the black stuff was or where bolts were? from what i can see there are only small holes in the headlight bucket for lamp adjustment

[markh1]

The four large holes are where the bolts go, they are that big to allow for a bit of adjustment. The sticky stuff is spread ad-hoc all over the place.

[cupra20v.t]

right i will have a feel tonight. however i had a real good feel yesterday and couldnt find them. it doesnt even look like they could be there.

[JensenA]

The bottom 2 are a real PITA to get to, make sure you have a really good feel around before assuming there arent any. I found that my ones were impossible to turn by hand because you can't get a good grip on them. Blast them with WD40, and then use a big long screwdriver or socket extension, and a hammer to tap the wingnuts loose.
Be careful when pring the pod off, they are quite brittle and can easily crack.

[peteA]

cupra20v.t said:

right i will have a feel tonight. however i had a real good feel yesterday and couldnt find them. it doesnt even look like they could be there.

Could it be that someone has removed and refitted your surrounds and not re-fitted the wing nuts and just relied on the...er...sticky black stuff...

Alternatively it might be easier to access this area from the bigger square panel at the bottom, front of the wheelarch once you have moved the AC filter bottle thingy...just a thought...apologies if you have already done this.

Good luck...

[cupra20v.t]

Sods Law I broke my lead lamp as I was fiddling around in the headlight holes so i couldnt see if the a/c compartment linked with the headlight one. there was a fair bit of room via the headlight compartment so I will have a good poke around tonight.

[peteA]

cupra20v.t said:

Sods Law I broke my lead lamp as I was fiddling around in the headlight holes so i couldnt see if the a/c compartment linked with the headlight one. there was a fair bit of room via the headlight compartment so I will have a good poke around tonight.

Mines still in bits so I will check later and let you know...

[mikesr]

This might be of some use if I post it on the right thread

Here is my thread describing getting them out

[jonbarrett]

These might help.

[ukcerb]

I had to do this job a few of weeks ago as a stone (or something) shattered the headlamp glass. Although I found all the wingnuts in place, 3 of the bolts came away from the surround where they are bonded on. I cleaned the area and stuck them back with a fibreglass hole repair kit (from Halfords) and then did the other headlight too. Found two of those had come loose too so I`m glad they didnt come off at speed! It does help to take off the square panels too and when replacing the surrounds stick a bit of sealant on the washers first so they stay in place while you put the wingnuts back on. If you are worried about dropping the wingnuts tie a long piece of cotton on. Its easier than trying to pick it up with a magnet. Good luck

[peteA]

peteA said:

cupra20v.t said:

Sods Law I broke my lead lamp as I was fiddling around in the headlight holes so i couldnt see if the a/c compartment linked with the headlight one. there was a fair bit of room via the headlight compartment so I will have a good poke around tonight.

Mines still in bits so I will check later and let you know...

I checked and it appears to be much easier to access the lower wing nuts through the larger sqaure panel than through the circular one...in fact I would have said it was impossible via the circular opening..? Is this not for bulb replacement and accessing the top wing nuts...

Good luck

Mine has been resprayed with the surrounds in place so hope I dont have reason to remove them as i will probably be looking at a front end respray....

[cupra20v.t]

i checked and felt all over mine for ages an could not find any bolts nor holes for them to protrude through.

ended up having to pull the light out with the lense, pull off the leanse seal around the light lense and body to reveal where the pods meets the body, i carefully prised the pod off the car.

low and behold it was just siliconed on with no bolts or bolt holes through the wing.