Hey,

I bought some new Vision Plus globes today for my TJ and just tried fitting them. I got the connector and rubber seal off alright, but was getting really impatient with the spring holding the bulb in, so got a screw driver and tried to lever it out (:rant: I'm so pissed off at myself right now for doing this!!!!) and managed to snap the plastic lug that is part of the headlight housing, where the spring locks into place - hope that makes sense!

Now it is impossible to put the bulb in securely because there's nothing to lock the spring onto... So I'm guessing that I'll have to replace some or all of the headlight housing... Anyone know what this is going to cost me?? Or anyone have an idea on how to get around this without replacing the whole thing?? Thanks for any ideas... I can't believe I managed to totally screw up such a simple thing :rant: :rant: :rant: :cry:

supaaaaaaaa glue :cool:

supaaaaaaaa glue :cool:

LOL that was my first thought... don't think it would be strong enough though... :cry:

LOL that was my first thought... don't think it would be strong enough though... :cry:
Of course it is! It's super glue! That stuff will stick anything together esp. plastic :D.

If you were smart, let some mechanic do it first to show you how it is done. $12.00 bucks isnt a expensive lesson when you are totally have no idea what needs to be done.

For those who first did their changing of globes and even they knew what they were doing is a painful lesson. You have to learn how to unclip them and clip them back in.

Thats a decent kinda oops.

The headlight bulb retainer is a **** design - read the ADR's - you must be able to change the bulb without tools, in total darkness. Probably why the parabolics aren't E marked (and don't technically meet adr's) Compare this to changing the bulbs in a BMW - they are great!

The plastic that the reflectors is made of is GRP - glass reinforced plastic - it is a bugger to get anything to stick well to it, but a good epoxy (NOT 5 MINUTE STUFF) with a longer cure time (hours) may do the trick. Give it the proper amount of time to reach full hardness before trying to put pressure on it.

If this fails, what side is it - I have some spare 3rd gen lowbeam reflectors...

Cheers
Heath Young

Thanks Heath :) I will give the glue idea a go... and it's the left hand side (the one near the battery)... If you have a spare one, let me know what you want for it in case I need it. Cheers!

I think that I have that side, I will have a look for you tonight. Probably dont want all that much for it, the rest of the headlight is hacked to bits anyways...

Dont feel so sad about it. A Nissan dealer here in Melb did the same thing to my sis inlaws pulsar. She took it in for a service asked them to replace a burnt headlight globe got it back with the lights working but not quite right. Further investigation found the clips had been snapped off on both headlights. Tech screwed one than screwed the other. Guess who paid for it?
Not the customer. $800 bucks later for two new headlight assemblies.
They tried to get the customer to pay for it even though it was their stuff up then they said 50% in regards to costs. Told my sis inlaw to tell them to go jump cause there was nothing wrong with the headlight assemblies in the first place.
So at the end dealer paid for the whole lot.

Regards

I wish I had someone else to blame for this stupid mistake... Funny part is though that last night before I went to bed I decided to try the right hand one and after actually studying the spring for a minute I found it really easy to remove... So if I just hadn't have been so impatient and grumpy with the left one, I wouldn't be in this mess... Oh well... I'll give the glue a go tonight after work... Any tips on the best brand of glue to get?? Will Araldite do??

Heath - I'll let ya know if I need the reflector, thanks a lot for your help! :)

Dont use 5 minute araldite - its crap - it doesn't last long, gives in under heat and isn't very strong. There are some proper slow setting epoxy adhesives out there that are far better.

If you can find some 'JB WELD' is is fabulous for fixing this sort of stuff. Sticks like you-know-what to a blanket.

Cheers
Heath Young

Mate, There is nothing that sticky tape cannot fix... lol

Well I got some super strength epoxy from Bunnings last night - couldn't find the JB Weld stuff - and managed to glue the broken piece back in place... Anyway it says to leave for 3 days for maximum strength to be reached, so I'll just have to keep after dark driving to a minimum for the next couple of days... Lets hope this stuff works :)

Had something like this happen to me. I lost the clip in the headlight so bought another clip from the wreckers and just took it to the auto leccy to do it lol.

I felt really dumb :redface:

Ok, I gave the glue 3 or 4 days to harden and clipped the bulb back into place, and so far it seems to be holding just fine :D Thanks for all the tips etc!

Good stuff, glad it all worked out well for you!