Check your old headlights

Been going through the new-to-me 240- cleaning the engine compartment
and waxing the painted areas in there, shampoo the carpeting, and
similar tasks. Looking about I noticed that the headlights seemed
loose. Upon further inspection I found that the sealant that holds the
lens to the reflector had dried and had lost its seal. So today I
pulled the headlights out and it was an easy task to pull the lenses
off the reflectors (it shouldn't have been). Took my time and scraped
out all the old sealant, washed the inside of the lenses with some
dishwashing detergent, rinsed thoroughly, then blew them dry with
compressed air. Carefully and gently cleaned the reflectors and then
re-sealed them back together with clear silicone. They look nearly new
now.

The lesson is that if you have a 240 or similar car of that age with
the plastic headlight assemblies you may want to check this on your
car. Allowing dirt and moisture in there is not a good thing.

For replacing the lenses, try this: Use a Dremel with a small circular
saw blade or a hot knife, and cut the lens off, all the way around,
about 1" above where it joins the reflector. Cut down through the 4
corners of what is left, but always take care not to damage the
reflector. Then remove each of the 4 sides of what is left, one at a
time. This will greatly lessen the chance of damaging the reflector.
For broken parts (like mounting tabs and such) try some of the 'new'
two part epoxy made for plastic. The stuff really does work, even in
high stress areas.


__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"