Leaking headlights

[1972Ren]

In my case, the car is a Subaru Forester, but I imagine the same problem occurs with other brands, in some cases.

*Headlights started ingressing water. Very annoying! It put shadows in the light cast, blew bulbs alot, and looked shyte.
*New headlights are effing expensive. Like, hundreds of dollars each, and I would think exxy brands could be $1000 plus for a pair. Who knows, maybe each ?
*Problem was that the sealant between the body of headlight, and the clear acrylic cover, had degraded with age.
*I bought this
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2340886...m3680c5860a:g:EkYAAOSwyMlhLSwp&frcectupt=true
then removed the headlights, separated the halves, cleaned all the degraded sealant, pushed the butyl strip into the groove, heated it with a heat gun to up around 100deg, and pushed the halves back together. Net result, non leaky headlights for <$20.

I imagine most if not all 'modern' headlights are constructed the same way.
Needless to say there are YT videos to assist.

 

[Haakon]

In my case, the car is a Subaru Forester, but I imagine the same problem occurs with other brands, in some cases.

*Headlights started ingressing water. Very annoying! It put shadows in the light cast, blew bulbs alot, and looked shyte.
*New headlights are effing expensive. Like, hundreds of dollars each, and I would think exxy brands could be $1000 plus for a pair. Who knows, maybe each ?
*Problem was that the sealant between the body of headlight, and the clear acrylic cover, had degraded with age.
*I bought this
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2340886...m3680c5860a:g:EkYAAOSwyMlhLSwp&frcectupt=true
then removed the headlights, separated the halves, cleaned all the degraded sealant, pushed the butyl strip into the groove, heated it with a heat gun to up around 100deg, and pushed the halves back together. Net result, non leaky headlights for <$20.

I imagine most if not all 'modern' headlights are constructed the same way.
Needless to say there are YT videos to assist.

Some headlights are harder to separate than others... The Hellas on the Scenic were a massive PITA to get apart and the butyl stupid hard even with a heat gun. I gave up and bought new lights - the lens I could have save, and maybe could have dealt with all the exposed wiring from burnt connectors and disintegrating insulation, but the projector reflectors had lost their shine as well.

Fine German quality there