Best Way To Clean Internal Xenon Projector Lens?

S

StudioWizard

Member
 Los Angeles, CA, USA
Hey all

I bought a used OEM (Hella) bi-xenon headlight that has a slightly cloudy internal Xenon projector lens. It's not horrible, but before I install it, I'd like to clean it up. I can see that it's cloudy on the inside.

What's the best way to do this without disassembling it?

I've taken the bulbs out and there appears to be access through the xenon bulb hole and also around the sides of the projector housing. Has anyone done this? Is there a good tool recommended to insert in there to wipe the inside of that lens?

See pix on next post.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!
 
Also, what is the best fluid to clean it with? Alcohol? Distilled water?

And what material or padding?

I'm thinking I could use a strong tape to attach the cleaning pad to a screwdriver to gently wipe that surface.
 
I think the whole assembly comes out, three nuts to undo and it pulls out of the rear access hole you've taken the picture through. Looks similar to the Halogen projectors which I've had out and cleaned previously.

On your last picture I think you can see the nuts top left, top right and then the third is somewhere down the bottom behind the wiring in the picture.
 
I decided NOT to try to remove the projector assembly. I started unscrewing the nyloc bolts very carefully and I could just tell it might be an ordeal. So, instead I used a long #2 pencil with a small lint-free cotton pad taped to the end to make a round flat cleaning surface. I dipped in 91% alcohol, inserted it into the hole, then gently wiped the inside of the lens. The first pass revealed quite a bit of black soot or whatever was clouding the lens. I did two more passes until each new clean pad came back clean. I then did one more pass with the alcohol on the pad followed immediately by a pass with another dry pad to soak up any alcohol to avoid any film. It worked like a charm and took 2 minutes. I'll let it sit for a while, then examine it carefully for any residue on the inside of the projector.

There are a few particles on the black trim and I may or may not try to "wipe" those out. It's minor and only really visible at all when the light is on. I have some long bendy tools I can attach a small lint-free cloth to and poke it through halogen hole. I could also try one of those miniature vacuums.

For now, I'm super happy I got that lens wiped!
 
I've always considered doing this, but never had the guts. Good to hear it seems to have worked. I think the seal on your headlight unit was a bit faulty and over many years, the condensation made the inside lens coating a bit grubby.
Definitely thinking I may give this a a go.
Can't recall, but is it easy to take the whole unit off the car, or is it a front bumper off first?
 
Seeing this being talked about recently on the forum, having some bumper-off work planned and wanting to refurbish my headlight I took the plunge today and took them off and opened them to get to the lenses.

First difficulty is rust on a couple of screw holding the headlights but that is happening no matter what the job is.
The other tricky bit is that the studs that hold the projector in the headlight tend to unscrew from the body entirely instead of just the nyloc nut coming off. I removed the nuts on those that messed up once the projector was out, re-installed the studs and proceeded.

I went through the effort of getting the lense out of the projectors and wiping the silver reflector in the projectors, they were dusty based on the dirt on the towel BUT did not visibly get shinier. Taking the lenses out is tricky with a metal plate and a spring clip to take out. It is otherwise possible to wipe the inside and outside of the lenses without taking them out.
 
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