Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting headlight lenses

Is it possible to remove the lenses on a '96 without pulling the entire assembly?..I see two plastic retainer clips on top , but I'm not about to remove bumper cover to see if there's any on bottom...any suggestions would be appreciated..

Well, I can't offer to solve you problem except to say that if you can manage it, please tell me how. I'd like to polish both the outside and inside of the lens, but can find no way to remove the lens. Hell, I couldn't even figure out how to get the housing itself off, my Haynes manual only gives directions for post-98s. The directions do include removing the bumper cover though, as I recall.

I can say that there are clips on the bottom though, because my upper clips were broken off when I got my '97 and those lens covers refuse to even budge.

I think cleaning them is fruitless....it is a common Ford problem, I have given up trying to figure it out, and am going to buy new lights.....my g/f has a 97 Mustang with the same problem.

think I'm gonna make a major mod ( jack up license plate & replace car )

I had to pull the header panel from a local salvage yard and learned a trick to removing the lights. There are mounting pegs on the back side of the lights which poke through the header panel running across the front of the car. Slide the metal clips off of these pegs and the lights will basically fall out. I think there are 3 clips for each light. Consider how/if you can get the clips back on in the limited space. I was able to mount my lights with the header panel off the car so I'm not sure about doing it in place.

Have you tried polishing your lenses with silver polish or buffing them with rubbing compound? This can help quite a bit in some cases.

my 'tour's problem is that there is moisture inside.....I did the polishing thing....shined nice on outside , but still have moisture.....

Its almost impossible to completely trap moisture inside. You dont have any cracks in the lenses? How about around where the lens connects to the reflector? Does that all appear undamaged?

I know it seems impossible , but there is moisture in there.......I've gone over the whole thing , & still have no idea how it got there..

On a dry sunny day, park the car so the sun is heating the head light. Remove the bulb and let the heat from the sun drive out the moisture. Replace bulb making sure the seal is in good shape and before temp cools/sucks dampness back inside.
This method saves removing the whole unit.
Paul

Thank you very much for that great reply......what a simple solution......I'll give that a try.....