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Foggy Headlight Housing syndrome
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hippiepilot
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Joined: June 18, 2008
Posts: 455
Location: Sarasota, FL
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:42 am    Post subject: Foggy Headlight Housing syndrome Reply with quote

I did the search but could not find anything. I have a 91 Carat with fogged up headlight housings. Is there a way to clear them up? New ones are outrageously expensive.
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kamzcab86
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Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 7893
Location: Arizona
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mine before:
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(hazy). Mine after:
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(clear!).

Remove headlights.
Soak a cotton ball or facial tissue or small towel with rubbing alcohol.
Place cotton ball/tissue inside the headlight lens.
Use your finger, capped pen, eraser end of a pencil, etc. to move the soaked cotton ball/tissue all around the glass.
Remove the cotton ball/tissue.
Dry the glass with a clean, dry tissue or lint-free towel.

The main headlights are a bit more difficult than the small, inner ones. I simply dropped the cotton ball in, held the lens above my head and tilted the lens in all directions so that the cotton ball slid across the class in the areas my finger couldn't reach.

There might be easier ways, but that's how I did it. Cool
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ragnarhairybreeks
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Joined: October 26, 2009
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pull the lights and remove bulbs then rinse out lenses with distilled water. Dry them and see if that cleans up lens and reflector. If not then try some cleanser, but not too aggressive. Windex worked for me, it did not damage the silver coating on reflector when I used it on fog lights and H4 rounds. I would be reluctant to use a cloth on a stick to rub the reflector, the silvering seems to be a very thin and delicate coating. But others have done this with success. I have used cloth on a stick method to clean inside of lens.

If it turns out that the fogging is just moisture getting in the housing, maybe your rubber boots on back of housing are lost or loose. Or maybe the lens is cracked and it lets in the rain.

If it turns out that the outside of the lens is hazed/frosted, I suppose you can polish them with one of those windshield polishing kits (Cerium oxide? based polish I think). But I have no experience with this and is just a guess.

cheers

alistair
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hippiepilot
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks I was sure someone had figured this out.
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snuf
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Joined: April 15, 2008
Posts: 237
Location: TN
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

White Vineger works. Swish around , let soak awhile, rinse thoroughly with Distilled water.
Make sure completely dry before reinstalling.
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Robw_z
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Joined: April 28, 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My solution was to put a bunch of crushed ice from my fridge dispenser in there, swish it around liberally, rinse with distilled water, and finally rinse with isopropyl alcohol(73% solution in my case) to prevent water spots from drying. It worked very well and has continued to look great for about two months now.

-Rob
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