Swapping out headlights 3200 4200 and GS

Swapping out headlights 4200 and GS

Swapping out headlights in a 4200 and Gransport


With the bonnet up remove both engine bay side grills



Jack the car up so the wheel is around 3†off the ground


Re – Xennon headlights ,make sure before you touch any wiring that the headlights have been turned off for alteast half an hour so they have had time to discharge before disconnecting the wiring to the headlight,

Remove the wheel and the plastic/carpet inner wheel arch 8mm socket needed which will expose the 2 lower headlight fixing brackets and bolts


Tools needed 10mm socket and long extention needed, remove the bolts and the lower bracket nearest you



The 3rd top fixing bracket attatches to the underside of the wing at the top where it meets the drain channel , its tricky but can be accessed from inside but I found it easier
To access it from above inside the engine bay by removing the dip stick first on the drivers side if uk car , the other side you can access but its fiddly and knuckle grawnching,

Here you can just see the bracket your looking for best to leave it attached to the body and disconnect from the light itself





You can then very carefully jiggle out the headlight , personally if I was re-using the same headlight, I would mask up the lense fully before removal to prevent scratching

I would also advise using new rubber seal gaskets when re-fitting making sure to evo stick them back into place and not rely on the locating tags , this will prevent the seal moving if hit with the jet of a pressure washer whilst washing

When re-fitting I use some appropriate sized wooden wedges to hold the headlight in place, this gives you time to walk round to the front to check that the seal spot on and even all the way round, and holds it in place whilst re fixing the headlight brackets and tightening up, turn headlight on and check all sound before continuing on to

Replace wheel arch liner and wheel job done

Pics to be inserted later


Regards

loz,
is the latter xennon headlights compatable with the 3200 fitment?

Fitments to both kinds of headlights are the same Bill , electrical connectors differ and you would need a washer system in place to conform to regs ,


regards loz,

Thanks, you have been busy. If you need any help with the pics, give me a shout.

Hi Loz, I've just received replacement seals from Eurospares, as mine we're being pushed in from pressure washing, so your 'how to' is perfectly timed! The current ones are being held in place with silicon sealant at the moment. The joint is worst around the lower inner curve of the lamp, and so I wanted to adjust and make this a tighter contact between the lamp and the seal, but this would alter the lamp alignment? does this affect the lamp leveling system, which I had thought worked off the front / rear suspension compression? Any pointers gratefully received. Cheers, Emtee.

Once there in the recommended /standard fixed position in other words tight up against the bodywork/bumper they are then self leveling once there turned on , take your time emtee plenty of masking tape for protection of the clear lense and the paintwork you cant be too careful and do evo the gaskets on aswell , also suggest snooker referee gloves its tight in there and you will cut knuckles unless you can direct a good 10 year old


regards loz

Thanks guys, i finally managed to swap my LHD lights over to RHD units On my car (4200GT 2005) i had to remove the fog lights to get at the bolt holding the light at the front. You can see this bolt here:


Once i got the foglights out i managed to get a socket onto the bolt - a bit tricky with 'bloke' fingers but can be done:


I actually found there was a lot more space on the driver side than the other. On the left side i had to remove the horn
and the fan/pump (??) connected to the wing. Fitting the new lights was fairly striaght forward but masking up the lenses
was a VERY good tip!

I hope all i have to do now is align the beams ;-) oh and find out about all the strange things i noticed when i was under the
car (but thats a different story..)

Thanks again,

Martin

Glad you got it sorted in the end , that bottom bolt that you have ringed , is sometimes worth leaving in place and removing the bracket with the light still attached , good picks


regards loz

Hi Guys,

Having not removed my lights yet, I am curious. Are the lenses removable or part of the moulding. The reason I ask is that mine seem to have a lot of fine stone chipping marks and I was wondering if anyone had had theirs pollished to remove these. Iv'e heard of plastic lenses being pollished before as long as you don't allow them to overheat and melt!
Any thoughts?

Keith

Hi Keith , the lenses are sealed onto the headlight with a glue and silicone sealant , polishing out fine stone chips with a series light finishing compounds is possible , but best done in situ,

With the emphasis on preparation and mask up , any small fine electric polisher or continued elbow grease should do the trick just make sure you do a small trial area first with the finger to check the abrasiveness of the compound, obviously start off with the most coarse first and progress through to the finer ones and then use a polish

If your really brave , it is possible to separate the lens from the lamp body , indeed i have done several sets but its not for the faint hearted , i use a an industrial dremmel type machine with a mini circular saw type blade, again i mask up the whole lamp to prevent any scratching except the lens to lamp join , they are not the easy of shapes to hold down secure and work on , cut through the join untill the two separate , If your thinking why did i have occasion to do this ( its because i had a couple of sets re-sprayed to match the colour my cars , ) Re-assembly i use a special 3m two pack glue specific for type plastic , then reseal with black silicone around an hour later

No how to picks on this sorry, and im not gonna take mine apart again to do one either , when you know they cost between £6-800pounds each its a little nerve racking but well worth the saving on new

regards loz

HI Loz,
Thanks for that. I once split some lights on a new Jag S-Type in order to repair the auto adjuster, this was the same type of procedure.
If I decide to do it I will of course take pics. Buisy sorting out pics etc from the aux drive belt job I have just completed. will post soon.
Keith

Excellent Keith, I have a noisey aux belt idler, so with your help I may tackle this one.