'06 Silverado Headlamps Pitted Inside ?

Beer Belly · October 8, 2011

It's the only way to describe it......look at the headlamps, they seem clear....turn on the lights, they look pitted, dusty (inside)....not fooged, but not clear at all....definetly noticable while driving, thought I had a light out. I've got the headlamp pulled out of the truck, looks like the lense can be seperated....is this as easy as it looks to seperate, clean, and put back together ???

jrrod2004 · October 8, 2011

hard to see in dark but looks something like this?:

http://www.jrrod2004.com/silverado/hidretrofit/IMAG0379.jpg

If that is what you are talking about (the pitted, dirty look) then you might be able to open up the housing and buff it a little. I did and that picture is the result of my efforts.

Beer Belly · October 8, 2011

hard to see in dark but looks something like this?:

http://www.jrrod2004.com/silverado/hidretrofit/IMAG0379.jpg

If that is what you are talking about (the pitted, dirty look) then you might be able to open up the housing and buff it a little. I did and that picture is the result of my efforts.

Yup, thats what it looks like....but a lot worse. I priced the assembly online for $200+....not sure if I want to risk breaking something trying to pry it apart, unless somebody can tell me if there any tricks to getting it done.....one thing about this forum, you guys are straight shooters, and if there is an easy way of gettin' something done, I'll find it here. I was thinking of just going out and buying the brightest bulbs I can find to burn thru this stuff.

jrrod2004 · October 8, 2011

hard to see in dark but looks something like this?:

http://www.jrrod2004.com/silverado/hidretrofit/IMAG0379.jpg

If that is what you are talking about (the pitted, dirty look) then you might be able to open up the housing and buff it a little. I did and that picture is the result of my efforts.

Yup, thats what it looks like....but a lot worse. I priced the assembly online for $200+....not sure if I want to risk breaking something trying to pry it apart, unless somebody can tell me if there any tricks to getting it done.....one thing about this forum, you guys are straight shooters, and if there is an easy way of gettin' something done, I'll find it here. I was thinking of just going out and buying the brightest bulbs I can find to burn thru this stuff.

dont try to "burn" through it.

materials

- piece of wood

- gloves for high temp work

- box cutter or other knife

- high temp silicone

- buffer/polisher (your choice)

- drill (or alot of elbow grease)

- 2-3 hours or so

what you need to do is the following:

get a piece of wood that is large enough to allow the headlight to rest on. a cut down 1' x 3' works nice.

turn on your oven to 200F and stick the piece of wood and headlight housing into the oven. Dont allow the oven to preheat, just turn it on and stick the housing and wood in. (that way that the housing heats up as the oven does).

let housing "cook" for about 20 minutes or so.

remove housing with the thick gloves, take a box cutter or knife and start prying apart the housing. you will have a mess but it will be easier to work with. once apart, take then lens and dunk them either in the kitchen sink (if large enough) or the bathtub and use a mild cleaner (non abrasive). I used dawn liquid soap. clean them up and see how they look

if they still have a bad look, use the buffer to try and clear up the lens

to put them back together, either scrape off the old silicone and rebead it OR reheat the housing pieces in the oven (same way as above) and then rebead the seal with the new silicone. I prefer to reheat, scrape off old and then rebead but that takes longer.