Separating headlight lens from headlight

[rsvette182]

Unfortunately my headlight reflector has fallen off into the headlight. Only the way to fix it is by taking off the headlight lens. Just wondering if anyone has successfully done so. I’m assuming it’s a similar process to the tail lights but not certain.

 

[Txmxbarajas]

Not at all, if you attempt to bake them open, you'll ruin the grey gasket you can see from the outside. The only successful method I've seen is cutting the housing open then plastic welding it back shut

 

[mickeytee]

Ive done a few dozen and never would i cut one open. You are subjecting the sealed light to moisture and dirt . plus you just killed any value it has. Proper heat is the way to open them but it takes a good bit of time and patience and a controlled source of heat. Not an oven or heat gun. 10 degrees is the difference between melting and softening the seal.

 

[Denny Allante -XLR]

There is a good friend of the Allante XLR Invitational who is a G.M. Engineer and has his own XLR. He does repairing of the XLR Headlamps. He does not remove the cover. Very brilliant in those repairs. This is why he does it his way. Repairs only by appointment. He attends the Invitational Owners Meet every year held in August located in Grand Rapids Michigan. He is repairing two sets right now for XLR Owners who attended the meet last year.

 

[mickeytee]

You do not remove the covers You spilt the housing that the outer lens is bonded to from the housing that the electronics are mounted to. It has a butyl seal and thatbis how they are put together and how snyone that knows what they are doing repairs them. Any cutting of the light apart is a bull crap way to repair. Please provide one name of a member having them cut apart in that manner. I would love to see that as ive pulled a lot of them out of totals over the years and never seen one cut apart. A Gm engineer no less .wow that must be why Gm has so many problems with their cars. So does he have the inner lens to replace? Thats the only reason to even take them apart . there are only two sources that ive ever seen with the inner lens.

 

[Denny Allante -XLR]

Well I see your concerned Mickey... But the method will save you Six Grand for a new one if you are will to find and pay.. In my case I saved the lens from melting by him replacing the amber bulb That headlight designer supplier probably did the CTS and others . Yes he replaces the turn signal lenses and with an amber L.E.D ' instead of putting back the orginal factory bulbs that came with the car that heats up and begins to melt the lens.. He polishes up the complete headlight. To speak with him? Is with permission only and respect his personal privacy.. He attends the XLR Invitational Owners Meet and your welcome to attend and speak with him directly there.

 

[rsvette182]

Ive done a few dozen and never would i cut one open. You are subjecting the sealed light to moisture and dirt . plus you just killed any value it has. Proper heat is the way to open them but it takes a good bit of time and patience and a controlled source of heat. Not an oven or heat gun. 10 degrees is the difference between melting and softening the seal.

So if you don’t recommend an oven or heat gun, what do you recommend? Thanks.

 

[rsvette182]

There is a good friend of the Allante XLR Invitational who is a G.M. Engineer and has his own XLR. He does repairing of the XLR Headlamps. He does not remove the cover. Very brilliant in those repairs. This is why he does it his way. Repairs only by appointment. He attends the Invitational Owners Meet every year held in August located in Grand Rapids Michigan. He is repairing two sets right now for XLR Owners who attended the meet last year.

It is actually the reflector that has fallen off, not the DRL lens so it needs to be opened. And I unfortunately can’t wait a year and drive thousands of miles to have my headlight fixed but thanks.

 

[Denny Allante -XLR]

It is actually the reflector that has fallen off, not the DRL lens so it needs to be opened. And I unfortunately can’t wait a year and drive thousands of miles to have my headlight fixed but thanks.

Just remove your headlight from the XLR wrap them in bubble wrap and box it then another box to put in a sperate carton and ship to Michigan . Two week turn around. He repairs completely for $900 each headlight.

 

[mickeytee]

So what does he do for 900 thats about Three times what most cost. Unless he has the drl which i doubt al hes doing is polishing the outer lens. You can get that done locally for a 100$ almost anywhere. Only need to open them up is a repair like this poster needs or a rebuild which would include the new drl. Ill post photos of the set i am finishing up and its a heck of a lot less that 900.

 

[Denny Allante -XLR]

This would be wonderful to post your pictures Many have different methods for repairing Headlights and even the taillights for the XLR,XLR -V, CTS, CTS-V and so. We have a question and answer tech session at this years 2023 Allante XLR Invitational Owners meet end of August. I openly invite you to attend and have you involved in solving the best way for repairs. Then share an open discussion among owners attending. You have a XLR Allante club located in Canton Georgia which I am a member of.

 

[mickeytee]

Well the master tech that taught me to do repairs on million dollar restorations had a rule. If you cannot make it as good or better than it was leave it to someone that can. Never make it worse than it was and do damage that cannot be reversed . the last car i restored was gt40 108. It sold for a little over 7 million. It was a race car. No one ever considered that one day it would be worth money and get restored. Its been reviewed and was done correctly. ill leave the classes to the you tube experts.

 

[RDwilkerson]

Unfortunately my headlight reflector has fallen off into the headlight. Only the way to fix it is by taking off the headlight lens. Just wondering if anyone has successfully done so. I’m assuming it’s a similar process to the tail lights but not certain.

Okay I just removed the old lense I had warped with my buffer. The only way I could get it loose was the oven temp a 245 10-20 minutes. If planing to reuse the lense (say DIR lense removal) you need to under stand this. Remove rubber seal around the outer edge behind that, is a gray outer edge of the lense that is a part of the lense the butyl lies behind that gray edge. You will need to get a putty knife under that edge I started a the top left corner try not to break that out side edge that is a part of the lense. Picture # 1 shows the edge that I broke off,
picture #2 shows the edge intact the black strip is the butyl seal. I hope this gives some information as I could have used it my self, and happy that I had a bad lense to experment with. Remember this takes some patient's my take several heating to soften the 16 year old butyl seal