Front and side indicator replacement

Front and side indicator replacement

Author
Discussion

stevieeg

Original Poster:

270 posts

145 months

Saturday 14th September 2013
quotequote all
I thought I might be able to figure this out as I went along, but with my new clear lenses in hand I went to the garage... and came back to the house stumped.

Fronts seem to have some kind of interference fit, and looking at the replacement it's not entirely clear how that would work. I'm a bit worried about hearing the sound of cracking fibreglass so I've only tried some gentle cajoling on the existing orange ones.

Sides have me totally stumped... there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to get into that area of the wing at all.

I'm going to make another attempt later today but if anybody has any tips I'd sure appreciate the benefit of your experience!

minkybob

341 posts

186 months

Saturday 14th September 2013
quotequote all
Done mine last week.
Its a pig of job.
They are just silicone in place and only just clear the head lights below.
Got mine out then cut some wood wedges to hold them in place while the new silicone cured.

Cheers

potato muncher

613 posts

230 months

Saturday 14th September 2013
quotequote all
If you try and slide the side repeater to the left or right it should just pop out and new ones are easily fitted.
The new ones you can buy from any motor care shops are usually self adhesive and like I say are easy to fit.
If the ones on yours have been superglued on just try and pull them off.

MPETT

967 posts

221 months

Monday 16th September 2013
quotequote all
They are a ford fiesta/transit etc, side repeaters. Genuine ones come with a spongy seal with double sticky tape on both sides which helps with the panel curvature.

stevieeg

Original Poster:

270 posts

145 months

Saturday 21st December 2013
quotequote all
As predicted the sides were pretty easy, but I had a feeling the front mounted ones would be a real pain... and sure enough!

Having tracked through some other threads I figured I would take the approach of using O-rings to seal as opposed to silicone. It looks like it should work IF I can get the replacement unit into place within the wing, but it is slightly larger at it's widest diameter than the existing item, and while I could cajole the old one out I simply cant get its replacement past the headlamp assembly.

While removing the headlamp might be an option it looks like it could be a nightmare and prone to causing breakages... so it's back to the old one in the meantime... sealed in with the O-rings seems to be a really neat solution.

As I had to order 20 O-rings to get the 2 I needed I'm now pretty flush with O-rings, so if anyone has this job coming up let me know and I'll stick a couple of them in the post to you!

nawarne

3,126 posts

275 months

Saturday 21st December 2013
quotequote all
Hi,
I had to remove drivers side unit....to be able to get enough leverage to unscrew bulb holder part.

They are (or mine were - and another car I helped on) epoxy glued in place.
I removed dip beam light unit for better access. Once you've got the original out - it's pretty obvious how they go back. I used Araldite 'Rapid' (1/2 hour set time) and stuffed crumpled up newspaper behind the unit to hold it in place whist the glue went off.

Be sure to smear some silicone grease/Vaseline on threads of bulb holder and it'll be easy to unscrew when you have to change bulb!
Nick

ukstmoo

167 posts

201 months

Tuesday 21st January 2014
quotequote all
stevieeg said:
As predicted the sides were pretty easy, but I had a feeling the front mounted ones would be a real pain... and sure enough!

Having tracked through some other threads I figured I would take the approach of using O-rings to seal as opposed to silicone. It looks like it should work IF I can get the replacement unit into place within the wing, but it is slightly larger at it's widest diameter than the existing item, and while I could cajole the old one out I simply cant get its replacement past the headlamp assembly.

While removing the headlamp might be an option it looks like it could be a nightmare and prone to causing breakages... so it's back to the old one in the meantime... sealed in with the O-rings seems to be a really neat solution.

As I had to order 20 O-rings to get the 2 I needed I'm now pretty flush with O-rings, so if anyone has this job coming up let me know and I'll stick a couple of them in the post to you!
Hi Stevieeg,

Did you buy the replacement front indicators from Clever Trevor? I have just got mine and they are spun metal threaded casing with plastic lenses. I am concerned that you could not get them past the headlight unit.
I intend to fit these myself and any info' would be good.

Thanks

Steve