Fog lights.

[mesobitchy]

FL fog lights....
how the feck do we pull em apart without breaking them?
we have tryed the oven but no go....
need to take apart the passenger side one so i can de rust it and clean it up.

any help, hints tips, anything is welcomed! i want to fit these babys ASAP!

[andyleaves]

You might try modellers de-solvent...
Type of stuff I use on my RC planes, to strip ultra-strength superglue from joint if I need to change (repair) somthing...
Comes in a small bottle, witha fine needle just becareful not to get it on the lens it will burn it if plastic....

[mesobitchy]

cool try and give that a shot :) spankies

[eyeballprawn]

I used the oven and a hair dryer. After reading everyone saying how easy the headlights come apart, I was surprised how difficult the fog lights were. Perhaps they use different type of sealant?

The sealant on my facelift fog lights was like a hard, solid plastic when cool, but softened a bit when heated up.

After disassembly I removed all traces of the sealant with a screwdriver and hair dryer and instead used butyl mastic to re-seal the casing.

[mesobitchy]

thats what we found, we tryed to do it like the headlights, so after a while gave up and made me post this. musat get rid of all the rust and nastyness befor the even go anywere near my car!

[Vince]

If you were state side would tell you to try finger nail polish remover... :D

[mesobitchy]

lol, whats that again? iv heard of it.. but not being one of the "girly girls" i cant really recall what it is let along nail polish?! /lol

[eyeballprawn]

I don't think any solvent is going to help. This stuff is like some kind of thermo-plastic. At room temperature, and even still when quite warm, it's rock solid like a normal plastic. It's not gooey or sticky like an adhesive.

Just keep the heat on it and it will come apart. I had to pop mine back in the oven a few times and even then use the hair dryer as well because it goes solid again really quickly.

Once you get it apart, you'll find the dark grey bezel is painted cast aluminium and can't be polished much without marring the finish. I think it was metallic paint too. Mine had some white marks that I managed to mostly get off. Also the turning light reflector had corroded slightly so I just touched it up with silver paint. You can't tell once the lens is back on. I noticed a lot of the bolts were rusty too.

On the outside, on the back shell there are 4 or 5 small screws that hold the bezel in place. I put a dob of silicone under them before reassembling. I also put silicone grease on the o-rings to help them seal better.

But... I noticed moisture still in there the other day! Perhaps I didn't dry them thoroughly enough. It seems to have gone away again now, however I'll throw some silica gel sachets inside when I remember and that should clear things up.