Headlight assembly melted?
 

The drivers side headlight assembly melted where the bulb installs. I can't replace the bulb into the socket. I will have to replace the assembly. Any suggestions on where to get a new OEM assembly at a decent cost? I assume I will also have to remove the front bumper, has anyone done this? I think the assemblies are self adjusting? Or are there adjusting screws? The passenger side is also looking burnt, so I might as well change both assemblies.

Anyone have experience doing this? I don't know why these melted, any ideas?
Standard H11bulbs have been used.

Thanks all. :angry:

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

My first approach would be to call the auto wreckers to see if they have one.

As for cause, could the bulb have backed off allowing the hot glass part to contact the socket area? The reason I suggest it, is I replaced a bulb on a Mazda the other day and had one heck of a time getting the spring clip which holds the bulb in place, to lock.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

Ronald,

You will need to pull the bumper cover to replace the light. If you have not done that before, you will need to put some protective tape at the top of the cover around the headlight (inside and bottom edge) as well as some tape to the front fender/cover joint. This is to protect the paint edges.

You will then need to turn a pin clip (looks like a screw) 90 degrees to release it on each side at the front of the fenderwell.

You then need to remove the 6 screws below the bottom of the cover and 2 screws (one on each side) that bolt the cover to the fender.

At that point, remove the 2 radiator grille protectors and the center bolt from the top of the cover.

You should then be able to disengage the claw connector on each side by pulling outwards on the cover and at the same time (careful here...) ease the bumper straight up and off the car.

There should be a bolt and 2 screws that hold the headlight assembly in. Remove those, disconnect the wiring harness and remove the headlight. The install is the reverse of that.

To aim the headlights you should cheat and be smart with them. Before you start working on the car, park it about 20-25 feet away from a light colored wall and using tape, put a vertical line at the pattern center and a horizontal line at the top cutoff of the light (low beam and high beam) I use painters tape and mark on them which one is high and low. Put something in front of the other headlight or disconnect it to eliminate any cross over.

Bounce the car to settle the suspension before you do this and do not move the car from that spot until you are done. With the headlight installed, move the aim to the marks on the wall that were done in painters tape, double check it, turn off the lights and put the bumper back on.

Congrats, you have just saved an hours labor (+/-$100) for each side that you do. Don't have a heart attack when you see the price of that assembly though....Japanese made cars take one that are about $260 each and the American made cars take one that is about $340 each for OEM parts.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

By the way, if you aim the headlights by the book, they have an aimer for them or you can mark off the correct pattern on the wall based upon dimensions given in the shop manual. If your patterns are OK as is, you can use that to your advantage and cheat like I noted above.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

Thanks for the tips David and Ron. The drivers side is a loss for the tape on the wall trick it is completely unusable. I will have to fake that one. I will mark the passenger side on my garage door. I have done this before with other vehicles. I think I can get the driver side close. Maybe I can get lucky and find more aiming info on line. I know it will be slightly lower and turned toward the center of the road a little.

I found a YouTube video on replacing the assemblies also.

What is the tape you are talking about? Do I need tape for the replacements? I have two assemblies ordered, should be here next week. The passenger side is slightly burnt in the socket so I am just replacing both at once, I don't want to have to pull it back apart anytime soon.

I am debating adding HID lights for my low beams, anyone have opinions on them? Are they worth it or just a gimmick?

Glad to see you back here GeorgiaHybrid. You are a wealth of knowledge and appreciated. Thank you also Ron, I appreciate the time both of you took to answer me.

Ronald

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

Ronald,
I can tell I was up too late last night and should have proof read my comment....Put tape not pull tape.... You want to protect the paint edges around the headlight and bumper to fender joint. I will edit the original post and correct it. Sorry about that...

As far as HID lights are concerned, unless you get a reflector assembly designed for HID bulbs (not what you have now) you will putting the light out in a different pattern I can blind oncoming cars. You should also run a new headlight wiring harness with a relay to prevent pulling too much current for the HID startup. There are other issues as well but if you do decide to add them, PM me back and I can let you know the other issues involved. Give me a minute and will go check the alignment procedure on the lights.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

To aim your headlights:

Starting with a full tank of gas, everything topped off and a driver in the drivers seat on a flat and level surface, put the car 25' from a light colored wall (to see the pattern better) to the face of the headlight. Measure the distance from the floor to the center of the headlight bulb inside the housing (eyeball it for this while looking into the housing). Measure the distance between the low beam bulbs.

Go to the wall and tape a horizontal line at the height of the bulb in the car and place a vertical tape line dead in the center of the car. To do that you will to put a tall jack support, or something else tall that can be seen from the rear of the car dead center and just in front the front bumper. do the same for the rear of the car and using these as a "gun sight", make a mark on the wall for the vertical stripe that will be done in tape.

Split the dimension that you measured between the lights and place another tape stripe on the wall that distance from the center stripe. You will now have a horizontal stripe on the wall the height of the headlight bulb and a vertical stripe that is centered on each headlight.

At this point, unplug the drivers side light and with someone still sitting in the seat (to keep the stance of the car the same), adjust the passenger side light so the center of the pattern is centered on the vertical tape line (+/- 4") and the top of the "cut off" pattern is at the top of the horizontal line (+/- 4" by the book but I like to go no more than +/2" on this one).

Plug the drivers light back up and unplug the passenger side light. Do the same for the drivers side centering the pattern left/right but the vertical adjustment should have the "cut off" line 4" below the horizontal line (again, +/- 2" for this one even though "by the book" it calls for +/- 4".

Plug the lights back up and replace the bumper assembly. By the way, make sure your last turn on the adjustment screws in the headlight are clockwise. This will set the screw against the spring resistance to prevent it from changing.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

If you put in HID bulbs, you should also put in HID reflectors designed for the bulbs. Consumer Reports recently tested a number of the retrofit halogen bulbs (Silverstar, etc..). They concluded the distance limitation was the reflector, not the bulb.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

Thanks again Guys!

Great write up on the adjustment procedure GH. That will be very handy.

I will just go with standard bulbs again instead of the HID's. Thanks for the info.

Re: Headlight assembly melted?
 

If I replace the entire assemblies likeI need to will I have to readjust the headlights? It seems that the entire assembly moves for the aiming of the headlights? As long as I don't move the adjustment screws shouldn't the new assemblies be aligned?